Ferrari secured a front row lock-out in hyperpole qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours, claiming their first pole in the famous race in half a century.
The number 50 Ferrari shared by Antonio Fuoco – who drove the pole-winning lap – Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen will start famous 24-hour endurance race from the front of the field, ahead of their team mates in the number 51 car. Toyota will start third on the grid with the number eight car, ahead of the number 75 Porsche Penske.The half-hour hyperpole session, unlike other rounds of the World Endurance Championship, saw all classes on the track at the same time. After Wednesday’s qualifying session, the eight hypercars participating included both Toyotas, both Ferraris, two Cadillacs – the number two and number three – and two Porsche Penskes, the number five car and number 75.
The Toyotas were the first cars over the line to begin their first flying laps of the session on the medium compound tyres, with the number eight Toyota of Brendon Hartley ahead of the number seven car of Kamui Kobayashi with the Ferraris behind. Earl Bamber’s first push lap in the number two Porsche was deleted due to exceeding track limits at Tertre Rouge, before Hartley crossed the line to set the initial benchmark time of a 3’26.398.
That was immediately beaten by the second Toyota by just over a tenth of a second, before the two Ferraris easily beat them both, with the number 51 Ferrari driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi posting a 2’23.897 just ahead of the number 50 sister Ferrari. Both Toyotas improved on their second laps, but were still over a second slower than the Ferraris at the top of the times.
The Toyotas and Ferraris returned to the pits to make adjustments for their final runs, heading out with just under 15 minutes remaining. Pier Guidi shaved four tenths of a second off his own provisional pole time, but lost the lap after it was deleted for exceeding track limits at the exit of Karting. That allowed the sister Ferrari, driven by Fuoco, to jump up to provisional pole with an improvement of almost a full lap.
The number three Cadillac jumped to the second row courtesy of Sebastien Bourdais, but he was then forced to stop at the first chicane on the Mulsanne with a problem. After stopping, the Cadillac suddenly burst into flames, with fire coming from underneath the car. The session was immediately red-flagged, stopping the clock with 5’15 remaining.
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With enough time for drivers to start a final flying lap before the chequered flag dropped, cars queued up at the end of the pit lane for the Cadillac to be cleared. When it was, the session resumed instantly, with both Toyotas, both Porsche Penskes and the number two Cadillac joining the circuit, while the Ferrari pair sitting on the front row opted not to go back out for a final run.
Hartley was again the first over the line, followed by Kobayashi. However, while both Toyotas set personal best sectors, they were comfortably slower than the Ferraris. Hartley crossed the line to improve up to third, but only for a matter of seconds as Kobayashi took the position from him. However, that secured pole position for Ferrari with a front row lockout with the number 50 car of Fuoco, Molina and Nielsen.
The number 51 Ferrari will start alongside in second, with the number eight Toyota of Hartley, Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa third on the grid. Felipe Nasr put the number 75 Porsche Penske fourth on the grid after Kobayashi’s best time at the chequered flag was deleted for track limits. The number two Cadillac took sixth ahead of the number five Porsche Penske seventh and Bourdais eighth in the Cadillac after his car’s best time was deleted for causing the red flag.
Paul Loup Chatin secured LMP2 pole for IDEC sport, while Corvette will start the GT class from pole position after Ben Keating secured pole by well over a second.
Le Mans 24 Hours Hyperpole results
| Pos | No. | Class | Team | Car | Drivers | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 | Hypercar (H) | Ferrari AF Corse | Ferrari 499P | Antonio Fuoco/Miguel Molina/Nicklas Nielsen | 3’22.982 |
| 2 | 51 | Hypercar (H) | Ferrari AF Corse | Ferrari 499P | Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Antonio Giovinazzi | 3’23.755 |
| 3 | 8 | Hypercar (H) | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota GR010 | Sebastien Buemi/Brendon Hartley/Ryo Hirakawa | 3’24.451 |
| 4 | 75 | Hypercar (H) | Porsche Penske Motorsport | Porsche 963 | Felipe Nasr/Mathieu Jaminet/Nicholas Tandy | 3’24.531 |
| 5 | 7 | Hypercar (H) | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota GR010 | Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/Jose Maria Lopez | 3’24.933 |
| 6 | 2 | Hypercar (H) | Cadillac Racing | Cadillac V-Series.R | Earl Bamber/Alex Lynn/Richard Westbrook | 3’25.170 |
| 7 | 5 | Hypercar (H) | Porsche Penske Motorsport | Porsche 963 | Dane Cameron/Michael Christensen/Frederic Makowiecki | 3’25.176 |
| 8 | 3 | Hypercar (H) | Cadillac Racing | Cadillac V-Series.R | Sebastien Bourdais/Renger Van Der Zande/Scott Dixon | 3’25.521 |
| 9 | 48 | LMP2 | Idec Sport | Oreca 07 – Gibson | Paul Lafargue/Paul Loup Chatin/Laurents Horr | 3’32.923 |
| 10 | 28 | LMP2 | JOTA | Oreca 07 – Gibson | David Heinemeier Hansson/Oliver Rasmussen/Pietro Fittipaldi | 3’33.035 |
| 11 | 41 | LMP2 | Team WRT | Oreca 07 – Gibson | Rui Andrade/Louis Deletraz/Robert Kubica | 3’33.240 |
| 12 | 47 | LMP2 | Cool Racing | Oreca 07 – Gibson | Reshad de Gerus/Vladislav Lomko/Simon Pagenaud | 3’33.580 |
| 13 | 63 | LMP2 | Prema Racing | Oreca 07 – Gibson | Doriane Pin/Daniil Kvyat/Mirko Bortolotti | 3’33.983 |
| 14 | 14 | LMP2 Pro/Am | Nielsen Racing | Oreca 07 – Gibson | Rodrigo Sales/Mathias Beche/Ben Hanley | 3’34.021 |
| 15 | 9 | LMP2 | Prema Racing | Oreca 07 – Gibson | Bent Viscaal/Juan Manuel Correa/Filip Ugran | 3’34.658 |
| 16 | 10 | LMP2 | Vector Sport | Oreca 07 – Gibson | Ryan Cullen/Gabriel Aubry/Matthias Kaiser | 3’35.091 |
| 17 | 33 | LMGTE Am | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet Corvette C8.R | Nicky Catsburg/Ben Keating/Nicolas Varrone | 3’52.376 |
| 18 | 25 | LMGTE Am | ORT by TF | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | Ahmad Al Harthy/Michael Dinan/Charlie Eastwood | 3’53.905 |
| 19 | 54 | LMGTE Am | AF Corse | Ferrari 488 GTE Evo | Thomas Flohr/Francesco Castellacci/Davide Rigon | 3’54.582 |
| 20 | 21 | LMGTE Am | AF Corse | Ferrari 488 GTE Evo | Simon Mann/Julien Piguet/Ulysse de Pauw | 3’54.744 |
| 21 | 83 | LMGTE Am | Richard Mille AF Corse | Ferrari 488 GTE Evo | Luis Perez Companc/Alessio Rovera/Lilou Wadoux | 3’55.033 |
| 22 | 57 | LMGTE Am | Kessel Racing | Ferrari 488 GTE Evo | Takeshi Kimura/Scott Huffaker/Daniel Serra | 3’55.637 |
| 23 | 55 | LMGTE Am | GMB Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | Gustav Dahlmann Birch/Marco Sorensen/Jens Reno Moller | 3’57.240 |
| 24 | 74 | LMGTE Am | Kessel Racing | Ferrari 488 GTE Evo | Kei Cozzolino/Yorikatsu Tsujiko/Naoki Yokomizo | 3’59.648 |
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asd
8th June 2023, 20:53
I’m cheering for:
Hypercar: #3 Cadillac with Dixon and all the Porsches for being the best looking cars.
LMP2: #41 Team WRT with Kubica and #47 Cool Racing with Simon Pagenaud
Markp
8th June 2023, 21:10
Can’t argue with that. I am a huge Ferrari fan but everyone at LeMans is amazing much like the TT that’s also going on this week. Sadly F1 feels bit sterile at the moment so this week and weekend is likely to be my motorsport highpoint of the year.
kpcart
9th June 2023, 3:13
Kubicas third time at lemans. first time, his car failed on last lap while in the lead (lmp2 class). 2nd time podium (lmp2 class). this year hopefully win. Next year hopefully racing in hyperclass
Coventry Climax
8th June 2023, 22:24
Slower, heavier, bigger, less powerful compared to LMP1, by quite a margin. Less costly, sure, but more of a spec car.
FIA’s approach to getting teams back into the Le Mans series. And drive the old fans away.
I’m sure Ferrari are proud of themselves.
MichaelN
9th June 2023, 0:21
It’s only six seconds up on the P1 record, in the first season with all these new cars. LMP1 was a zombie class, it was great in the early 2010s, but long overstayed its welcome.
Having all these manufacturers involved is great, and everyone who dismisses LMH on account of its performance limitations and BoP can bet on Peugeot winning and see how that works out.
Coventry Climax
9th June 2023, 14:58
Having no manufacturers at all would have been even greater. Let them stick to their road relevant stuff, while true raceteams build the real thing.
anon
9th June 2023, 17:42
Where are those supposed “true raceteams” meant to come from? And if you are so upset about the use of a spec LMP2 chassis, shouldn’t you be criticising those privateer teams that used LMP2 chassis for far longer during that period of LMP cars you hark back to?
Coventry Climax
9th June 2023, 15:27
Laptime difference here.
anon
9th June 2023, 7:25
As noted by others, the old LMP1 category had also completely collapsed and couldn’t be sustained, with Toyota being the only team that was competing in that class. It raised the question of whether there is any point in having a category where there was only one real competitor, and serious thought was given to just removing the class altogether and having LMP2 take over as the top class.
You do also seem to have made a few mistakes with your rant – the cars are not bigger: they are in fact about 10 percent smaller than the LMP1 cars were.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
9th June 2023, 12:08
Way better looking, though (and sounding if it’s a Cadillac) The Alpine looks promising, whereas the last few LMP1s were like a truck or cheap SUV. Arguably marketing rather than performance-led, but I know which ones I’d rather watch.
John Plato
9th June 2023, 4:24
This smells like bribed BoP
MichaelN
9th June 2023, 17:21
The Ferrari has always been quick over one lap. They just lack a bit in race pace and, especially, operationally Toyota is just near perfect.
Qeki (@qeki)
10th June 2023, 10:30
Pole last for 2 days. Win lasts for 363 days