The starting grids for this week’s Road to Le Mans races will be based on the results of Free Practice, after five Red Flags prevented any representative times from being set during Qualifying.
This means that the #85 R-Ace GP Duqueine D09 – Toyota and the #16 Team Virage Ligier JS P325 – Toyota will start on pole for races three and four of the 2025 Michelin Le Mans Cup season respectively.
Qualifying 1
Qualifying 1 for Road to Le Mans was disrupted by three red flags, which prevented anyone from setting a lap time.
The first red flag was deployed after five minutes, following an incident for the #84 ANS Motorsport Ligier JS P325 – Toyota of Paul Trojani at the Porsche Curves.
Following the restart, Fraser Ross stopped at Arnage on his out lap aboard the #58 GG Classic Ligier, triggering the second Red Flag.
Finally, the #33 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of David Fumanelli stopped on the run to Indianapolis with four minutes to go. Due to the length of the Circuit De La Sarthe, following this stoppage there was not enough time to resume the session.
With no lap times on the board, the stewards enacted Article 10.2.4 of the Road to Le Mans Sporting Regulations and elected to set the grid based off of Free Practice times.
The grid for Race 1 will therefore be based on the results of Free Practice 1, giving pole position to the #85 R-Ace GP Duqueine D09 – Toyota of Hugo Schwarze and Hadrian David, ahead of the pair of Forestier Racing by VPS Ligiers.
Crucially, the three classes have been separated, meaning all 23 LMP3 entries will start in front of the LMP3 Pro-Am field, who in turn will all start ahead of the GT3s.
In LMP3 Pro/Am, pole position has gone to the #71 Rinaldi Racing Ligier, ahead of the team’s sister #66 entry. The #84 ANS Motorsport Ligier was the fastest LMP3 Pro/Am in FP1, but has been demoted to the rear of the field for bringing out a Red Flag in Qualifying 1.
AF Corse has a front row lockout in GT3, with the #51 Ferrari 296 GT3 ahead of the sister #52.
Qualifying 2
Qualifying 2 was interrupted by a further pair of red flags, both for accidents for LMP3 cars.
Stephane Lemeret triggered the first stoppage less than four minutes into the session, following an off on the entry to the Porsche Curves. The Belgian driver went off into the first right-hander, hitting the wall aboard the #31 CD Sport Ligier JS P325 – Toyota.
What followed was the longest green flag spell across both sessions, with four cars able to complete a timed lap before the Red Flags were shown for a fifth and final time following an accident at Karting for Hadrien David in the #85 R-Ace GP Duqueine D09.
With only seven minutes left on the clock, the decision was again made not to resume the session.
The fastest lap, a 3:55.499, came from the #74 Team Virage Ligier of Mikaeel Pitamber, but with so few cars able to set a time these results were disregarded.
The grid for Race 2 will instead be based on the results of Free Practice 2, giving pole position to the #16 Team Virage Ligier of Sacha Lehmann and Theo Micouris.
LMP3 Pro/Am pole belongs to the #43 Inter Europol Competition Ligier, whilst Team Motopark’s #65 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo is set to start from the front in GT3.
The LMP3 points-leading #87 CLX Motorsport Ligier of Alvise Rodella and Pierre-Alexandre Provost failed to record a valid lap time in FP2, and therefore is set to start from the back row of the LMP3 field.
Race 1 of Road to Le Mans takes place later today at 18:25 CEST
Images courtesy of Le Mans Cup and Team Virage
