Roos: First BMW Le Mans pole ‘fantastic reward’ for continued efforts
Andreas Roos, the head of BMW M Motorsport, was quite understandably thrilled upon hearing that the #15 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 had won the pole for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
It’s the first-ever pole position for BMW, whose cars had never even started on the front row of the grid until Dries Vanthoor won the pole.
“A fantastic qualifying session for the 24 Hours of Le Mans – it couldn’t have gone any better,” said Roos. “Just getting all four cars into Hyperpole 2 was a huge success in itself. But to have now secured BMW M Motorsport’s first ever pole position at Le Mans is simply fantastic! Congratulations to Dries Vanthoor on a brilliant lap and many thanks to everyone who has worked on this project over the years.
“This is a fantastic reward for their efforts. We’ll relish seeing our BMW M Hybrid V8 right at the front of the grid on Saturday. But now we’re focusing fully on race preparation.”
Vanthoor’s lap of 3:22.564 was a new course record for the Hypercar category, breaking the previous record set last year by Jack Aitken in Hyperpole 1.
Aitken: ‘It was very enjoyable for the 20 minutes I had pole’
The bizarre and frankly confusing ordeal in which Jack Aitken was awarded, and then stripped of Hypercar pole position, has seemingly been handled with grace between both BMW and Cadillac.
BMW wrote on its social media channels, “Huge respect to the Cadillac crew. Losing pole like that is tough, especially after one hell of a lap. But Le Mans writes its own stories. And this one gives us our first-ever pole at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”
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And Jack Aitken, for his part, saw the humour in the whole situation:
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Aitken later remarked, “Unfortunately, the lap was deleted due to a procedural error. However, it does show that we had fantastic pace to be quickest, third quickest and three Cadillacs all in the Hyperpole 2. And, you know, even if we don’t get to start in the pole position, we’re still going to work our way through on the weekend and have shown that we have great pace.
“The car felt really, really strong. The guys did an amazing job to just improve it step-by-step over the last couple of days. And yeah, to put a lap together like that is always something kind of special and even more at a track like this.
“So, it was very enjoyable for the 20 minutes that I had the pole. And even now it’s still, you know, still a cool lap to have done.”
Toyota TR LH2 first run
History was made Thursday afternoon when three-time Le Mans overall winner Kazuki Nakajima turned the first lap around Le Mans for the TR LH2 liquid hydrogen prototype. Nakajima and the TR LH2 were joined in the demonstration by the Alpine Alpenglow (driven by David Praschl).
It’s the biggest milestone in a project which originated with the reveal of the original GR H2 Concept in 2023, which then transitioned to the GR/TR LH2 with the adoption of liquid hydrogen power.
Following his run, Nakajima told the press, “I’m very happy to run this car in front of many spectators. The aim of this demonstration run is basically to show case what’s possible with hydrogen technology, especially with the hydrogen combustion engine.
“There’s a lot of challenge for the technology and for the engineers, which, luckily I could acknowledge throughout our shakedown, testing, and development of the car.”
It represents a massive step up in scale from the GR Corolla H2 Concept which races in the Super Taikyu Series over in Japan, and Nakajima admitted that the car needs more development before it is able to complete a full 24 hours – as is the vision of the planned Hydrogen category for Le Mans.
“This car still needs to take quite a step to make it more realistic to participate in the race. At the moment we are still at the development level, but at the same time, I think we are good enough to run the car without any issues.
“Our step from now on is to learn from this demonstration, to seek further development in terms of handling of the hydrogen system infrastructure – at the same time, maybe the performance aspect. So there is still a long way to go, but it’s a good start.
“It was a very ambitious project, but I think everyone in Toyota managed to make it happen. I think there is no doubt that we can keep moving forward – Le Mans has always been kind of a rolling laboratory, right? So I think this technology really aligns to what Le Mans has been. We have a lot of value in it.”
Cool, vintage race cars grace Manufacturers Village
A stroll through the Manufacturers Village at Le Mans this week will greet fans with some exciting cars of yesteryear, including a famous Le Mans winner.
Ford Racing’s building features the black and silver 1966 Ford GT40 which scored the manufacturer’s first of four Le Mans wins in a row, 60 years on from that momentous victory.
With the debut of the new McLaren MCL-HY prototype on the way next year, the 1967 McLaren M6A – the legendary Can-Am car which inspired its design – is being exhibited at the British manufacturer’s booth.
Porsche will have the 1951 Le Mans class-winning 356 SL on display at the Experience Centre Le Mans, but on the other side of the front straightaway, another silver 356 SL is being exhibited in the Manufacturers Village.
Finally, the 1998 Toyota GT-One (TS020) which inspires Toyota Racing’s current liveries is being shown off at the Toyota Racing booth, along with its 3.6-litre V8 powerplant in a separate display.
Genesis debuts EV ‘Box Buggy’
Genesis has shown off a head-turning electric-powered ‘Box Buggy’ in the paddock today for the first time.
Described to DSC by Genesis’ Luc Donckerwolke as “the grand daddy of golf carts’, this 1.2 tonne buggy – the only one currently in existence – has been designed as a golf buggy for paddock use.
“We have been sponsors of golf for many years but never had a golf buggy, so we wanted to design our own and have fun with it.” Donckerwolke said.
It has four off-the-shelf modules that produce 30 KW of electric power to each wheel, amounting to a top speed of 100 mph. It also has a fully kitted out interior and can turn on its axis.
Genesis plans to bring it to every WEC race going forward, and there are plans to build more.
Images © BMW, Genesis, ACO/MissionH24, Dailysportscar.com
