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

9 Jun, 2023

4 min read

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

Le Mans 24 Hours 8

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

Le Mans 24 Hours Porsche 2

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.