A fast-and-furious qualifying session ahead of the forthcoming 94th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans (13-14 June) delivered a major surprise today, with last year’s race-winning #83 Ferrari Hypercar falling at the first hurdle in northern France.
The 30-minute blast – with the quickest 15 competitors advancing to Thursday’s Hyperpole 1 shootout – saw numerous cars top the timesheets as fresh tyres were bolted on and lap times tumbled, but all eyes were glued to the bottom of the order.
In what has been a troubled event so far for the #83 AF Corse entry – following a late ‘off’ for Yifei Ye at Mulsanne Corner during FP1 – team-mate Phil Hanson proved unable to escape the dreaded drop zone, with the Brit mowing the grass at the exit of the Forest Esses in evidence of just how hard he was pushing.
Ultimately, Hanson’s efforts were in vain, as the yellow 499P wound up just 17th in the 18-strong field, meaning it will take no part in either of tomorrow’s Hyperpole sessions. The same is true of Team Peugeot TotalEnergies’ pair of 9X8 prototypes, which struggled for speed around the Circuit de la Sarthe last season and have showed no improvement 12 months on at their home event.
In the fight for the honour of posting the fastest time, there was, contrastingly, joy for fellow French marque Alpine, as Ferdinand Habsburg narrowly pipped Cadillac’s Louis Delétraz to first place, but the Austrian’s margin of superiority – a scant 0.013 seconds – hinted at an ultra-competitive race ahead. Indeed, at one stage during the session, the top five cars were all blanketed by less than a tenth-of-a-second.
Jordan Taylor reinforced Cadillac’s strong form in third behind the wheel of the WTR-run #101 V-Series.R, with local hero Sébastien Bourdais similarly in close company in fifth in the #38 Caddy, sandwiching the #20 BMW of Spa-winner René Rast – another to briefly head the order.
Behind the sister #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Kevin Magnussen in sixth, the two Aston Martin Valkyries were both comfortably ensconced inside the top ten – having occupied first and second positions for a while – with Hypercar newcomer Genesis Magma Racing impressively getting both of its GMR-001 prototypes through to Hyperpole 1 at its maiden attempt, outpacing all three Ferraris in the process.
It was a rollercoaster qualifying ride for nine-time class-winner Corvette in the LMGT3 category. Peter Dempsey reprised his Imola heroics in the #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette to top the ‘Bronze’ driver session, but there would be a subsequent sting in the tail as a penalty for non-compliance with the rear diffuser strakes height saw the car disqualified from the results, meaning none of the four Z06s in the 25-strong field will advance to the Hyperpole stage.
That elevated Eric Powell, in the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang, to first place ahead of an impressive effort from Gray Newell in Heart of Racing Team’s #23 Aston Martin Vantage. Notably, both drivers are making their Le Mans debut this week.
James Cottingham ended up third courtesy of a late flyer after flirting with the drop zone, followed by Darren Leung in the #32 Team WRT BMW. Similarly safely through are both VISTA AF Corse Ferraris and Akkodis ASP Team Lexuses, the second Proton Ford, Heart of Racing Aston Martin and Team WRT BMW and the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG.
Yasser Shahin narrowly snuck into Hyperpole in last year’s race-winning #92 Manthey Porsche, but there was frustration for two-time LMGTE Am class conqueror Ben Keating in the #33 TF Sport Corvette, as the Texan failed to make the cut in 17th place. He was joined in missing out, surprisingly, by both Garage 59 McLarens, leaving the category’s newest winner to start the race from just 16th and 22nd positions.
LMP2 saw Peugeot Development Driver Doriane Pin continue to shine as she posted the fastest lap for Team Duqueine, beating teenage sensation Ian Aguilera in the CLX Motorsport Oreca-Gibson by just over half-a-second.
The four cars missing out on Hyperpole are the #44 Proton Competition, #25 Algarve Pro Racing, #48 RD Limited and #3 DKR Engineering entries.
The next session will be FP2, which will take place from 22:00 until midnight local time (CEST) tonight.
Check out the full qualifying lap times.
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