24 Heures du Mans – Qualifying: Cadillac in top form, BMW sends a message in GT3
The #12 Cadillac set the best qualifying time. The Aston Martins put in a good performance, and the regular hyperpole was not far off. The #46 BMW was the fastest GT3 car. Louis Delétraz put everyone in agreement in LMP2.
The first qualifying session has already taken place at Le Mans. The GT3s and LMP2s initially took to the track to compete. The twelve best cars received their ticket for the Q1 of the hyperpole. The Hypercars then took over, and the top fifteen secured their spot.
LMP2 – GT3
First laps quite timid. The competitors in the LMP2 category ran two seconds slower on their first lap compared to the best time in free practice. The tires, probably not heated enough, trapped Esteban Masson in the connector chicane, causing him to go off track.
In GT3, only five cars went under four minutes during the first attempt. The #92 Porsche from Manthey Racing set a strong initial benchmark with a time of 3:58.055.
A first red flag disrupted this session. It was caused by the Mercedes #60, stopped under the Dunlop bridge. As a reminder, the star brand had caused a similar situation with the #63 during the first free practice session due to an accident.
A second red flag was issued following Custodio Toledo’s crash in the Ferrari #150 at the first chicane on the Mulsanne Straight. The incident brought the session to an end.
Qualified for the hyperpole in LMP2: AO by TF #199, United #23, APR #45, TDS #29, United #22, VDS Panis Racing #48, APR #25, Inter Europol #43, IDEC #28, RLR M Sport #16, AF Corse #183, and CLX #37.
Qualified for the hyperpole in GT3: WRT #46, Heart of Racing #27, Manthey #92, Akkodis #78, TF Sport #81, Proton #88, Ziggo #193, United #59, Vista AF Corse #21, Vista AF Corse #54, Iron Lynx #61 and United #95.
Hypercar
Robin Frijns immediately put the pedal to the metal. The driver of the BMW #20 immediately went under 3:25. But the three Ferraris promptly responded by going under 3:24, with the #83 clocking in at 3:23.994. We are already more than half a second faster than last year in hyperpole. Kevin Estre, in the Porsche #6, set the second fastest time on his first attempt.
At mid-session, Alessandro Pier Guidi took the provisional lead by improving the reference by 61 thousandths. Meanwhile, Dries Vanthoor, in the BMW #15, kept exceeding track limits and still didn’t have any lap times.
Jack Aitken, to everyone’s surprise, took the lead of the session with an improvement of 43 thousandths. Kevin Estre made a strong impression with a 3:23’360”. Paul-Loup Chatin, in the Alpine #35, had a huge scare in the Porsche corners; his hypercar lost grip, but miraculously, he did not hit the wall.
Dries Vanthoor put in an incredible lap at 3:22.887, leaving the French driver of the Porsche #6 nearly half a second behind. Alex Lynn pushed the limits of his Cadillac with 40 thousandths better.
The big surprise comes from the elimination of the Toyota #7. Aston Martin was very close to entering the hyperpole with a 16th place finish. However, the #009 could be reinstated, as Mick Schumacher, in the Alpine #36, is at the center of an investigation for not respecting yellow flags.
The Peugeots disappointed with the 18th and 19th fastest times.
The qualifiers for the hyperpole: Cadillac #12, BMW #15, Ferrari #51, Porsche #6, Cadillac #38, Ferrari #50, Porsche #5, BMW #20, Cadillac #311, Alpine #36, Toyota #8, Ferrari #83, Cadillac #101, Porsche #4 and Alpine #35.
