Brendon Hartley grabbed pole position for the 99th running of the 24 Heures du Mans in the dying seconds of a Hyperpole session that promises an absolute thriller for Saturday’s race across all classes.
A Toyota 1-2, the Kiwi snatched the Hypercar and overall pole position from team mate Kamui Kobayashi, in a ‘2 laps push, switch tyres and final 2 laps push’ strategy, the pole time for the #8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid a 3:24.408. Kobayashi had briefly held the top spot and threw the #7 car at the circuit in typical attacking style, but had a lap deleted for track limit infringements. The #7 Toyota’s front row time was 3:24.828.
For the glory of France, Alpine Elf Team’s A480-Gibson had blitzed the Toyotas early times, Nic Lapierre slamming in a 3:24.850 that truly raised the bar for the GR010’s. The top spot was also occupied by the #709 Glickenhaus, Ryan Briscoe wringing everything out of his 007 LMH to really upset the establishment. Briscoe’s 3:25.841 would be the better of the Glickenhaus pair, Olivier Pla hardly figuring, a 3:26.359 rounding off the times.
If the LMP2 race is anything like its Hyperpole shoot out we are in for a 24 hour flat out slugging match. Any of these cars and more could deliver a victory, but based on Hyperpole and indeed the preceding Free Practice session, the pace is likely to be blistering.
Robin Frijns grabbed the class by the scruff of the neck to put the #31 WRT Oreca on ‘P2 pole, 3:28.394 the best lap by some margin. Realteam by WRT’s Norman Nato will line up alongside last year’s winner having held the top spot in P2 until Frijns got into his stride, a 1.303 seconds impressive for WRT considering how times have improved in LMP2 throughout today.
Felipe Albuqurque’s effort for United Autosport delivered third for the #22 car, team mate Alex Lynn three seconds off the class pole in sixth. Antonio Felix Da Costa set the earlier benchmark in the #38 Jota car, but had to settle for fourth, Louis Deletraz fading to fourth for Prema Orlen Team having laid down the early pace in the session.
The honour of pole position for the final Le Mans GTE-Pro grid goes to Corvette Racing, the C8.R pairing bossing the session despite a very strong challenge from the Porsche GT Team entries who surely would have loved the privilege. Nick Tandy’s 3:49.985 was the endpoint for a steady improvement in the former winner’s times in the #64 car, edging out team mate Antonio Garcia by less than two tenths in a sturdy Corvette 1-2 that bodes well for the weekend.
But this is Le Mans and nothing is certain. Fred Makowiecki led the Porsche charge, the #91 911 RSR-19 piercing the Corvette shield to go second, but not breaking the line as Garcia fought back. 3:50.377 was the #91’s time, two tenths shy. Laurens Vanthoor’s 3:50.522 shadowed the top three, Porsche looking solid as the day has progressed.
AF Corse had fought amongst themselves, the #52 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Antonio Fuoco posting third quickest with James Calado fourth in the #51 car before the Porsches got down to work, ending up more than a second away from the Corvette pole time.
GTE-Am saw Vincent Abril deliver a solid pole position for AF Corse in its #61 Ferrari, alongside the equally dangerous looking Kessel Racing car that has figured well all week. Abril’s 3:52.594 was an improvement over the class pole position he held throughout the session, Mikkel Jensen’s 3:52.751 also an improvement delivered on the #57 Car Guy Ferrari’s second set of tyres.
The Iron Dames Ferrari looked good for third before a lap for Rahel Frey was disallowed for a track limits infringement, leaving Harry Tincknell’s 3:53.006 to put the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche third. Northwest AMR will line up alongside, Nicki Thiim’s 3:53.578 demoted to fourth by Tincknells late charge.
