Ferrari locks out front row on its return to the top flight at Le Mans

World Endurance Championship

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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

PosNo.ClassTeamCarDriversTime
150Hypercar (H)Ferrari AF CorseFerrari 499PAntonio Fuoco/Miguel Molina/Nicklas Nielsen3’22.982
251Hypercar (H)Ferrari AF CorseFerrari 499PAlessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Antonio Giovinazzi3’23.755
38Hypercar (H)Toyota Gazoo RacingToyota GR010Sebastien Buemi/Brendon Hartley/Ryo Hirakawa3’24.451
475Hypercar (H)Porsche Penske MotorsportPorsche 963Felipe Nasr/Mathieu Jaminet/Nicholas Tandy3’24.531
57Hypercar (H)Toyota Gazoo RacingToyota GR010Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/Jose Maria Lopez3’24.933
62Hypercar (H)Cadillac RacingCadillac V-Series.REarl Bamber/Alex Lynn/Richard Westbrook3’25.170
75Hypercar (H)Porsche Penske MotorsportPorsche 963Dane Cameron/Michael Christensen/Frederic Makowiecki3’25.176
83Hypercar (H)Cadillac RacingCadillac V-Series.RSebastien Bourdais/Renger Van Der Zande/Scott Dixon3’25.521
948LMP2Idec SportOreca 07 – GibsonPaul Lafargue/Paul Loup Chatin/Laurents Horr3’32.923
1028LMP2JOTAOreca 07 – GibsonDavid Heinemeier Hansson/Oliver Rasmussen/Pietro Fittipaldi3’33.035
1141LMP2Team WRTOreca 07 – GibsonRui Andrade/Louis Deletraz/Robert Kubica3’33.240
1247LMP2Cool RacingOreca 07 – GibsonReshad de Gerus/Vladislav Lomko/Simon Pagenaud3’33.580
1363LMP2Prema RacingOreca 07 – GibsonDoriane Pin/Daniil Kvyat/Mirko Bortolotti3’33.983
1414LMP2 Pro/AmNielsen RacingOreca 07 – GibsonRodrigo Sales/Mathias Beche/Ben Hanley3’34.021
159LMP2Prema RacingOreca 07 – GibsonBent Viscaal/Juan Manuel Correa/Filip Ugran3’34.658
1610LMP2Vector SportOreca 07 – GibsonRyan Cullen/Gabriel Aubry/Matthias Kaiser3’35.091
1733LMGTE AmCorvette RacingChevrolet Corvette C8.RNicky Catsburg/Ben Keating/Nicolas Varrone3’52.376
1825LMGTE AmORT by TFAston Martin Vantage AMRAhmad Al Harthy/Michael Dinan/Charlie Eastwood3’53.905
1954LMGTE AmAF CorseFerrari 488 GTE EvoThomas Flohr/Francesco Castellacci/Davide Rigon3’54.582
2021LMGTE AmAF CorseFerrari 488 GTE EvoSimon Mann/Julien Piguet/Ulysse de Pauw3’54.744
2183LMGTE AmRichard Mille AF CorseFerrari 488 GTE EvoLuis Perez Companc/Alessio Rovera/Lilou Wadoux3’55.033
2257LMGTE AmKessel RacingFerrari 488 GTE EvoTakeshi Kimura/Scott Huffaker/Daniel Serra3’55.637
2355LMGTE AmGMB MotorsportAston Martin Vantage AMRGustav Dahlmann Birch/Marco Sorensen/Jens Reno Moller3’57.240
2474LMGTE AmKessel RacingFerrari 488 GTE EvoKei Cozzolino/Yorikatsu Tsujiko/Naoki Yokomizo3’59.648

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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13 comments on “Ferrari locks out front row on its return to the top flight at Le Mans”

  1. 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

    1. 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.

    2. 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

  2. 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.

    1. 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.

      1. 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.

        1. 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?

      2. Coventry Climax
        9th June 2023, 15:27

        Laptime difference here.

    2. 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.

    3. 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.

  3. This smells like bribed BoP

    1. 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.

  4. Pole last for 2 days. Win lasts for 363 days

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