Le Mans 24 Hours: Ferrari Takes Front Row, Porsche Secures Top Position for LMDh Prototype in Hyperpole
Le Mans 24-Hour Race: A fire in the #3 Cadillac V-Series.R caused significant delays for Toyota and Porsche on the Mulsanne straight with six minutes remaining. A new fuel cell was installed on the car as a result of fuel leakage problems.
By Divyam Dubey
Le Mans 24-Hour Race: Ferrari will take the lead at the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time in 50 years. Hyperpole Qualifying took place on Thursday night, with Ferrari AF Corse's Antonio Fuoco taking the incredible pole position to lead a front-row lockout from two new Ferrari 499P Hypercars. However, there is still a long way to go, as the Grand Prix d'Endurance's centennial edition will put the renowned Italian brand through its paces like never before in the last few decades. The two Ferraris went out at the beginning of the 30-minute Hyperpole session, and they promptly established a breathtaking speed. Alessandro Pier Guidi's 3m23.987s in the #51 Ferrari LMH set the early pace, followed closely by Fuoco's 3m23.987s in the #50 Ferrari LMH. Fuoco increased the ante by delivering the first sub-3m23s performance of the week so far, beating his teammate by 0.773s.
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Le Mans 24-Hour Race: Hyperpole Result
Nasr was just eight hundredths of a second behind the New Zealander, while Hartley, driving the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, was over 1.5 seconds behind Fuoco. The #3 Cadillac V-Series.R caught fire on the Mulsanne straight with just six minutes remaining, causing significant delays for both Toyota and Porsche. Due to the fuel leakage problems, the car's fuel cell was changed.
| Pos | Car No. | Drivers | Car | Class | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 | Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen | Ferrari 499P | HYPERCAR | 3:22.982 |
| 2 | 51 | James Calado Antonio Giovinazzi Alessandro Pier Guidi | Ferrari 499P | HYPERCAR | 3'23.755 |
| 3 | 8 | Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa | Toyota GR010 - Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 03:24.5 |
| 4 | 75 | Mathieu Jaminet Felipe Nasr Nick TandyMathieu Jaminet Felipe Nasr Nick Tandy | Porsche 963 | HYPERCAR | 03:24.5 |
| 5 | 7 | Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez | Toyota GR010 - Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 03:24.9 |
| 6 | 2 | Earl Bamber Alex Lynn Richard Westbrook | Cadillac V-Series.R | HYPERCAR | 03:25.2 |
| 7 | 5 | Dane Cameron Michael Christensen Frédéric Makowiecki | Porsche 963 | HYPERCAR | 03:25.2 |
| 8 | 3 | Sébastien Bourdais Scott Dixon Renger van der Zande | Cadillac V-Series.R | HYPERCAR | 03:25.5 |
| 9 | 48 | Paul-Loup Chatin Laurents Hörr Paul Lafargue | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 03:32.9 |
| 10 | 28 | Pietro Fittipaldi David Heinemeier Hansson Oliver Rasmussen | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 03:33.0 |
| 11 | 41 | Rui Andrade Louis Deletraz Robert Kubica | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 03:33.0 |
| 12 | 47 | Reshad de Gerus Vlad Lomko Simon Pagenaud | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 03:33.6 |
| 13 | 63 | Mirko Bortolotti Daniil Kvyat Doriane Pin | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 03:34.0 |
| 14 | 14 | Mathias Beche Ben Hanley Rodrigo Sales | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 03:34.0 |
| 15 | 9 | Juan Manuel Correa Filip Ugran Bent Viscaal | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 03:34.7 |
| 16 | 10 | Gabriel Aubry Ryan Cullen Matthias Kaiser | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 03:35.1 |
| 17 | 33 | Nick Catsburg Ben Keating Nicolas Varrone | Chevrolet Corvette C8.R | LMGTE AM | 03:52.4 |
| 18 | 25 | Ahmad Al Harthy Michael Dinan Charles Eastwood | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 03:53.9 |
| 19 | 54 | Francesco Castellacci Thomas Flohr Davide Rigon | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 03:54.6 |
| 20 | 21 | Simon Mann Ulysse De Pauw Julien Piguet | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 03:54.6 |
| 21 | 83 | Luis Perez Companc Alessio Rovera Lilou Wadoux | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 03:55.0 |
| 22 | 57 | Scott Huffaker Takeshi Kimura Daniel Serra | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 03:55.6 |
| 23 | 55 | Gustav Birch Jens Reno Moller Marco Sorensen | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 03:57.2 |
| 24 | 74 | Kei Cozzolino Yorikatsu Tsujiko Naoki Yokomizo | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 03:59.6 |
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Le Mans 24 hours: Porsche Secures Top Position for LMDh
In the hyperpole session for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team secured places four and seven. Felipe Nasr, Mathieu Jaminet, and Nick Tandy start the race from the second row of the Porsche 963 field on the 13,626km Circuit des 24 Heures. Three places back on the grid are Frédéric Makowiecki, Michael Christensen, and Dane Cameron. Kévin Estre, André Lotterer, and Laurens Vanthoor will share the No. 6 hybrid prototype and start the endurance classic in ninth place.
Two Porsche 963s from Porsche Penske Motorsport have made it to the hyperpole, giving them a shot at the 24 Hours of Le Mans pole position shootout. Two hybrid prototypes from the factory team, with the starting numbers 5 and 75, qualified fifth and eighth, respectively, on Wednesday. The No. 6 car's sibling finished ninth, just outside the top eight spots. None of the eight Porsche 911 RSR competing in GTE-Am made it to Friday's hyperpole.
