For the first time since 1967, an American automaker has qualified on the pole position for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And for the first time in its history, it’s Cadillac, courtesy of a front-row lockout from new factory team Hertz Team JOTA, and led by the #12 Cadillac V-Series.R of Alex Lynn.
Lynn, Will Stevens, and Norman Nato will start on the pole with the #38 of Earl Bamber, Jenson Button, and Sebastien Bourdais alongside, after Bamber qualified second in the final stage of Hyperpole Qualifying tonight.
Tonight, spectators witnessed the brand new, two-stage Hyperpole Qualifying in action at Le Mans. In the premier Hypercar class, 15 cars in Hyperpole 1 would battle to make the top 10 and progress to Hyperpole 2, for the right to battle for pole position.
And what drama it was from the first stage: Julien Andlauer in the #5 Penske Porsche sat on the best time when he lost his right-rear wheel at the end of a lap, and Jack Aitken in the #311 Whelen Cadillac took first place in ‘H1’ with a blistering lap of 3:22.742 – a new course record for the fledgling Hypercar class.
But the major upset from H1 was two of the three Ferrari 499Ps missing the top-10 cut for H2.
2023 winner Alessandro Pier Guidi had been pushed below the cut line at the checkered flag, and his final lap in the #51 Ferrari wasn’t quick enough to breach the top ten, just one-tenth slower than the #15 Team WRT BMW of Raffaele Marciello on the bubble.
The #83 AF Corse Ferrari also missed the cut – Ye Yifei was 13th behind the #35 Alpine A424 of Paul-Loup Chatin. Ricky Taylor used H1 as a test session for the #101 WTR Cadillac but didn’t make the top ten, and Marco Sorensen’s fairy tale run in the #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie ended with a 15th-place qualifying effort.
Mathieu Jaminet looked good to give Porsche Penske Motorsport back-to-back Le Mans poles with his benchmark time of 3:23.475, but as the gold Cadillacs began to get heat into their tires, they were rapid. On their final flying laps, Lynn toppled Jaminet from the top spot with a 3:23.166 to take provisional pole with seconds remaining, and no other driver could surpass the Englishman.
“I think every time you have the opportunity to drive this kind of car around Le Mans with low fuel and new tires, it’s an honour,” Lynn said after climbing out of the V-Series.R. “It’s a pleasure to be here in front of all of you tonight. I’m truly honoured to be able to put in a performance like that in front of everyone and deliver the car to Cadillac how they deserve – in the first position.
“It’s a special feeling. I can’t describe it. It’s such a magical circuit, a wonderful place and a place where I really try to perform my best. We’ll enjoy this tonight, have a good sleep and reset.”
Bamber set a 3:23.333 to lock in second place for the ‘Mighty 38’ Cadillac.
The #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 qualified third thanks to Jaminet, ahead of the #15 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 in fourth thanks to Dries Vanthoor.
Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr’s quest for the unprecedented Triple Crown of Endurance Racing starts from fifth place in their #4 Penske Porsche, on the third row next to the #20 WRT BMW.
Antonio Fuoco’s best run in H2 was only good enough to put the #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P in seventh, not where the reigning Le Mans winner had hoped to start. The #36 Alpine Endurance Team A424 was eighth, with the #311 Whelen Cadillac clocking in ninth thanks to Felipe Drugovich.
Sebastien Buemi’s pole hopes were dashed early when he locked up big time and slid off at Mulsanne Corner. When he rejoined, he nearly collected Fuoco behind him, and a puncture left Buemi unable to set a time in the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 HYBRID.
The Hyperpole sessions for the so-called ‘lower categories’ were no less intense. Veteran Mathias Beche gave the #29 TDS Racing ORECA 07-Gibson the pole position in LMP2, in the Pro/Am car he shares with Rodrigo Sales and Clement Novalak.
And in a slugfest featuring eight LMGT3 manufacturers, Mattia Drudi gave the Heart of Racing Team’s #27 Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 the pole position with a new course record for the category, putting the Italian at the front of the GT pack with owner/driver Ian James and Zacharie Robichon.
Inter Europol Competition’s Nick Yelloly and Team WRT’s Kelvin van der Linde led their respective classes in Hyperpole 1, but the real story out of the opening 20-minute session was the resurrection of Sean Gelael.
Completely stopped in a cut-out along the Mulsanne Straight with less than five minutes left, Gelael in the #95 United Autosports McLaren was able to restart his car – without bringing out a Red Flag – and had enough time for a final push lap. And with that lap, he bumped his way into the top eight in LMGT3, and pushed out the #193 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Ferrari of Christopher Froggatt.
“We were up two tenths, I did purple sector one … and then the car stopped,” said Gelael. “We had to do a restart but it didn’t work the first time, so we had to pull over. Then the car restarted just in time to do the lap! Unfortunately, the lap was just enough to make it through… But what a rollercoaster!”
Froggatt joined the #88 Proton Competition Mustang of Giammarco Levorato and the #59 United Autosports McLaren of Sebastien Baud, who missed the cut for H2. The #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari also failed to progress, after Francesco Castellacci spun in the Porsche Curves and beached his car in the gravel, which brought out a red flag with 11m16s left.
From LMP2, the two Algarve Pro Racing cars failed to advance – even the #45 driven by Nicky Catsburg. IDEC Sport’s sole-surviving #28 car driven by Sebastian Alvarez, and the #48 VDS Panis Racing car of Franck Perera, also did not make the top eight.
There were no incidents in Hyperpole, just teams trading the top spot all the way to the chequered flag.
United Autosports’ Ben Hanley, AO by TF’s Louis Deletraz, and Inter Europol’s Tom Dillmann took their turns at the front with not much to separate them – but at the checkered flag, Beche’s final lap of 3:35.062s usurped Dillmann for ‘P1’.
“So much emotion tonight. The team did such a good job of delivering that car,” said Beche. “A big thanks to TDS Panis Racing. Without them, I couldn’t do that performance. I had a bit of traffic and knew I had one and a half tenths to gain back, but I believed it was my day. Today was the day, and it’s such a privilege to be here.”
Dillmann’s 3:35.333s was good enough to put the #43 Inter Europol ORECA in second, ahead of the #199 AO/TF car of Deletraz in third, and the #23 United Autosports car of Hanley in fourth, ahead of team-mate Pietro Fittipaldi in the #22 United car.
Tom Blomqvist (#37 CLX Pure Rxcing), Matthieu Vaxiviere (#183 AF Corse) and Ryan Cullen (#16 RLR MSport) rounded out the running order in LMP2 Hyperpole 2.
As LMGT3 made it halfway into H2, Alessio Rovera in the #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari set a new provisional course record, then improved on his next lap to a 3:53.085s. But behind him, Drudi in the Aston Martin was even faster still, putting in a 3:52.789s that wouldn’t be beaten once the clock hit zeroes.
“Of course, it’s difficult to have a super clean lap in Hyperpole. The car has behaved super nicely since Sunday. Qualifying is not the most important thing, but it’s good for us at Le Mans. It’s a good way to start my first Le Mans. Now we focus on the race,” Drudi said.
Behind Drudi and Rovera, Valentino Rossi backed up van der Linde’s H1 run with third place in H2 for the #46 WRT BMW, and Maxime Martin was fourth-fastest in the often-beleaguered #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG.
Completing the running order in LMGT3 H2 were Richard Lietz (#92 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche), Rui Andrade (#81 TF Sport Corvette), Marino Sato (#95 United Autosports McLaren), and without a clean lap, Jack Hawksworth (#78 Akkodis ASP Lexus) was stuck down in eighth.
The final, 60-minute Free Practice session before the 93rd annual Le Mans 24 Hours follows shortly, starting at 23:00 CET.
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