FIA World Endurance Championship - 24 Hours of Le Mans - Cadillac and Team WRT BMW set the pace in Le Mans Qualifying

A fierce fight for Hyperpole unfolded on Wednesday at the 24 Hours of Le Mans as Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA led the Hypercar class, and Team WRT's BMW M4 GT3 Evo topped LMGT3 with big names missing the cut, Porsche disqualified, and Iron Lynx facing a major rebuild after a heavy crash.

FREE PRACTICE 1

During the opening free practice session of the Le Mans 24 week, Stephen Grove in the #63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 Evo had a big accident with the wall just after the Dunlop Curve, suffering heavy front-end damage, even with the bonnet up. The incident ruled the car out of the qualifying practice session later on in the day, but Iron Lynx has carried out a full chassis change on the car, with mechanics working on the car throughout the night.

Sébastien Bourdais in the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R topped the opening session of the week in the Hypercar class with a 3:25.148, while LMP2 was headed by the #16 RLR M Sport Pro-Am Oreca 07 with a 3:36.888, and LMGT3 saw the #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3 at the top with a 3:57.248.

FREE PRACTICE 1 CLASS RESULTS:

• HYPERCAR: #38 - Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, Cadillac V-Series.R - Earl Bamber, Sébastien Bourdais & Jenson Button

  • #50 - Ferrari AF Corse, Ferrari 499P - Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina & Nicklas Nielsen

  • #6 - Porsche Penske Motorsport, Porsche 963 - Matt Campbell, Kévin Estre & Laurens Vanthoor

• LMP2: #16 - RLR M Sport, Oreca 07 - Ryan Cullen, Michael Jensen & Patrick Pilet

  • #43 - Inter Europol Competition, Oreca 07 - Tom Dillmann, Jakub Śmiechowski & Nick Yelloly

  • #45 - Algarve Pro Racing, Oreca 07 - Nicky Catsburg, George Kurtz & Alex Quinn

• LMGT3: #78 - Akkodis ASP Team, Lexus RC F LMGT3 - Finn Gehrsitz, Jack Hawksworth & Arnold Robin

  • #54 - Vista AF Corse, Ferrari 296 LMGT3 - Francesco Castellacci, Thomas Flohr & Davide Rigon

  • #10 - Racing Spirit of Léman - Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 Evo - Eduardo Barrichello, Derek DeBoer & Valentin Hasse-Clot

QUALIFYING PRACTICE

LMGT3:

Ahmad Al Harthy topped the LMGT3 qualifying session with his #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo, posting a 3:56.875, while all nine LMGT3 manufacturers made it through to the Hyperpole sessions on Thursday, including the struggling Mercedes-AMG’s from Iron Lynx. A strong performance from Ian James in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 Evo saw him finish second, while the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche 992 LMGT3 R of Ryan Hardwick rounded out the top three. Only two teams managed to get all of their cars through to Hyperpole, including the United Autosports McLaren 720s LMGT3 Evo’s and Vista AF Corse’s Ferrari 296 LMGT3’s.

LMP2:

Louis Delétraz set the pace in LMP2 with a 3:35.472, while the top four in LMP2 were all from the Pro-Am subcategory, with United Autosports, Algarve Pro Racing and TDS Racing rounding out those positions. Surprisingly, the #18 IDEC Sport Oreca 07, which is sporting the orange colours of the Genesis Magma Racing program, including current European Le Mans Series championship leader Jamie Chadwick, alongside Mathys Jaubert and three-time Le Mans 24 winner André Lotterer, did not make it through to Hyperpole, alongside the #11 Proton Competition, #9 Iron Lynx-Proton, #34 Inter Europol Competition and #24 Nielsen Racing Oreca’s.

HYPERCAR:

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA topped the qualifying session in Hypercar, with Alex Lynn in their #12 entry setting the pace with a 3:22.847, just four-hundredths ahead of the #15 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 and the #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P. Aston Martin and Peugeot were both the only manufacturers without any cars advancing through to Hyperpole, just before the #6 Porsche from Penske Motorsport was disqualified for failing to meet the minimum weight requirements, seeing the #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie from The Heart of Racing through to Hyperpole. A previous winning combination of the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 in Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries also did not make it through to Hyperpole, showing the pure pace and strategy from other teams and manufacturers in the ever-growing Hypercar grid.

FREE PRACTICE 2

The first night practice session of the week saw Toyota top the times with a 3:26.156. Robert Kubica was on top in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, but lost his fastest lap time of a 3:25.101 due to speeding in the pits. Unfortunately, the #33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R did not turn any laps in the night session due to a gearbox change from a seal leak earlier on. The #63 Iron Lynx Mercedes also sat out the session while the team built up a new chassis from its earlier crash in free practice.

FREE PRACTICE 2 CLASS RESULTS:

• HYPERCAR: #8 - Toyota Gazoo Racing, Toyota GR010-Hybrid - Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley & Ryō Hirakawa

  • #12 - Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, Cadillac V-Series.R - Alex Lynn, Norman Nato & Will Stevens

  • #83 - AF Corse, Ferrari 499P - Phil Hanson, Robert Kubica & Yifei Ye

• LMP2: #199 - AO by TF, Oreca 07 - Dane Cameron, Louis Delétraz & P. J. Hyett

  • #22 - United Autosports, Oreca 07 - Pietro Fittipaldi, David Heinemeier Hansson & Renger van der Zande

  • #37 - CLX - Pure Rxcing, Oreca 07 - Tom Blomqvist, Alex Malykhin & Tristan Vautier

• LMGT3: #87 - Akkodis ASP Team, Lexus RC F LMGT3 - José María López, Clemens Schmid & Răzvan Umbrărescu

  • #78 - Akkodis ASP Team, Lexus RC F LMGT3 - Finn Gehrsitz, Jack Hawksworth & Arnold Robin

  • #92 - Manthey 1st Phorm, Porsche 992 LMGT3 R - Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz & Riccardo Pera

HYPERPOLE AND RACE TO COME!

Thursday action sees another two free practice sessions, while the Hyperpole sessions will continue to build anticipation to see who will start at the front of the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans!

Join us on our Discord, as well as our Hyperpole and Race streams on our YouTube channel with live-timing and in-depth and analytical discussions!

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