LE MANS, France — As evening arrived at the Circuit de la Sarthe, it was time for Hyperpole Qualifying for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Eighteen Hypercars from eight manufacturers were unleashed in their lightest, most aggressive trim to date, with the sole objective of reaching tomorrow evening’s Hyperpole knockout sessions. Only 15 would progress. Three would be eliminated.
In the first round of representative laps, Tom Gamble in the No. 007 Aston Martin Thor Team entry struck first with a 3:24.163. On the second pass, the No. 009 nestled in behind, with a chasing pack of three Cadillacs, two BMWs, an Alpine and a Toyota all within half a second as the session entered its second phase.
With five minutes left on the clock, teams turned up the wick, dipping below the 3:24 barrier and edging ever closer to the pole time of 3:23.166 set one year ago.
Aston Martin, then Alpine, then BMW all went quicker before the No. 101 WTR Cadillac broke the beam with a 3:23.323, with two minutes remaining. A one-lap shootout ensued.
New Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA recruit Louis Delétraz went faster still and under the 2025 benchmark. Then, seconds later, out of nowhere, Ferdinand Habsburg, on Alpine’s Le Mans swansong, set the fastest time of the week so far with a 3:23.135.
Genesis was delighted. On its Le Mans debut, the two Magma-inspired cars successfully made it through to tomorrow’s session. Meanwhile, two major stories echoed around the circuit. Peugeot was eliminated from Hyperpole Qualifying, with the French manufacturer managing only 16th and 18th places with its 9X8s, while the pain continued for the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, whose week was going from bad to worse. The reigning champions were dumped out.
Kicking the evening off in cool, overcast conditions, the Goodyear-shod LMP2 and LMGT3 classes took to the track to qualify for tomorrow’s Hyperpole knockout sessions.
The No. 28 IDEC Sport car, with Paul Lafargue in the hot seat, set the first representative time for those behind to chase. However, the youngest driver on the grid, Ian Aguilera in the #37 CLX Motorsport car, was first to step up to the plate, comfortably taking the top spot.
It did not last long, however, as only seconds later FP1 hero Doriane Pin arrived and smashed the benchmark with a 3:36.127 in the No. 30 Duqueine car. The pair traded blows, with Aguilera reclaiming the top spot a lap later, lowering the yardstick to a 3:35.229 in a tit-for-tat battle.
The young French driver was not to be outdone. Throwing caution to the wind, Pin lowered the bar again to a 3:34.662, the pair clear of the opposition. Hot on their heels, and the only other car able to get close, was the #343 Inter Europol Competition entry of Bijoy Garg.
Seven different marques occupied the top seven fastest times in LMGT3, demonstrating the strength of competition between the manufacturers.
Out front early on was the No. 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette, driven by Peter Dempsey. The Irishman set the benchmark and then had to look over his shoulder at the scramble behind. The No. 77 Ford Mustang, in the hands of Eric Powell, delivered the Blue Oval’s best showing to date in second, while Gray Newell showed the pace of the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, proving it had the speed to fight at the front of the category.
In LMGT3, the biggest upset came in the form of the No. 62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes, which had run strongly earlier in the day. The Mercedes-AMG LMGT3, driven by Abdulla Al-Khelaifi, failed to make the cut by just under a tenth of a second.
The other cars missing out on tomorrow’s shootout were the No. 10 Garage 59, No. 33 TF Sport, No. 79 Iron Lynx, No. 150 Richard Mille AF Corse, No. 57 Kessel Racing and No. 59 Racing Spirit of Léman entries.
The Qualifiers
Hypercar
Alpine A424 #35 Alpine Endurance Team – António Félix Da Costa / Charles Milesi / Ferdinand Habsburg
Cadillac V-Series.R #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA – Louis Delétraz / Will Stevens / Norman Nato
Cadillac V-Series.R #101 Cadillac WTR – Ricky Taylor / Jordan Taylor / Filipe Albuquerque
BMW M Hybrid V8 #20 BMW M Team WRT – Robin Frijns / Rene Rast / Sheldon van der Linde
Cadillac V-Series.R #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA – Sébastien Bourdais / Earl Bamber / Jack Aitken
BMW M Hybrid V8 #15 BMW M Team WRT – Kevin Magnussen / Raffaele Marciello / Dries Vanthoor
Aston Martin Valkyrie #009 Aston Martin THOR Team – Alex Riberas / Marco Sørensen / Roman De Angelis
Toyota GR010 Hybrid #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing – Sébastien Buemi / Brendon Hartley / Ryo Hirakawa
Aston Martin Valkyrie #007 Aston Martin THOR Team – Harry Tincknell / Tom Gamble / Ross Gun
Alpine A424 #36 Alpine Endurance Team – Frédéric Makowiecki / Jules Gounon / Victor Martins
Genesis GMR-001-Hypercar #19 Genesis Magma Racing – Mathieu Jaminet / Paul-Loup Chatin / Daniel Juncadella
Toyota GR010 Hybrid #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing – Mike Conway / Kamui Kobayashi / Nyck de Vries
Genesis GMR-001-Hypercar #17 Genesis Magma Racing – André Lotterer / Luis Felipe Derani / Mathys Jaubert
Ferrari 499P #50 Ferrari-AF Corse – Antonio Fuoco / Nicklas Nielsen / Miguel Molina
Ferrari 499P #51 Ferrari-AF Corse – Alessandro Pier Guidi / James Calado / Antonio Giovinazzi
LMP2 Qualifiers
Oreca 07-Gibson #30 Duqueine Team – Doriane Pin / Julien Andlauer / Richard Verschoor
Oreca 07-Gibson #37 Cool Racing – Adrien Clomesnil / Ian Aguilera / Theodor Jensen
Oreca 07-Gibson #343 Inter Europol Competition – Bijoy Carg / Reshad De Gérus / Nico Müller
Oreca 07-Gibson #29 Forestier Racing by Panis – Louis Rousset / Esteban Masson / Oliver Gray
Oreca 07-Gibson #26 Vector Sport – Ryan Cullen / Vladislav Lomko / Pietro Fittipaldi
Oreca 07-Gibson #43 Inter Europol Competition – Jakub Smiechowski / Tom Dillmann / Nicholas Yelloly
Oreca 07-Gibson #22 United Autosports – Rasmus Lindh / Grégoire Saucy / Mikkel Jensen
Oreca 07-Gibson #24 Nielsen Racing – David Heinemeier Hansson / Edward Pearson / Jack Doohan
Oreca 07-Gibson #28 IDEC Sport – Paul Lafargue / Valerio Rinicella / Job Van Uitert
Oreca 07-Gibson #9 Iron Lynx-Proton – Jonas Ried / Kakunoshin Ohta / Harry King
Oreca 07-Gibson #99 AO by TF – PJ Hyett / James Allen / Dane Cameron (LMP2 Pro/Am)
Oreca 07-Gibson #4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR – George Kurtz / Alexander Quinn / Laurin Heinrich (LMP2 Pro/Am)
Oreca 07-Gibson #183 AF Corse – François Perrodo / Matthieu Vaxiviere / Ben Barnicoat (LMP2 Pro/Am)
Oreca 07-Gibson #14 TDS Racing – Tobias Lutke / Mathias Beche / Kévin Estre (LMP2 Pro/Am)
Oreca 07-Gibson #222 United Autosports – Daniel Schneider / Benjamin Hanley / Oliver Jarvis (LMP2 Pro/Am)
LMGT3 Qualifiers
Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF – Peter Dempsey / Salih Yoluç / Charlie Eastwood
Ford Mustang LMGT3 #77 Proton Competition – Eric Powell / Ben Tuck / Sebastian Priaulx
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 #23 Heart Of Racing – Gray Newell / Eduardo Barrichello / Jonny Adam
Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 #91 Manthey DK Engineering – James Cottingham / Timur Boguslavskiy / Ayhancan Güven
BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo #32 Team WRT – Darren Leung / Sean Gelael / Augusto Farfus
Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo #74 Kessel Racing – Dustin Blattner / Lorenzo Patrese / Dennis Marschall
Lexus RC F LMGT3 #87 Akkodis ASP Team – Petru Umbrărescu / Clemens Schmid / José María López
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 #27 Heart Of Racing – Ian James / Zacharie Robichon / Mattia Drudi
BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo #69 Team WRT – Anthony McIntosh / Parker Thompson / Daniel Harper
Ford Mustang LMGT3 #88 Proton Competition – Stefano Gattuso / Giammarco Levorato / Logan Sargeant
Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 #61 Iron Lynx – Martin Berry / Rui Andrade / Maxime Martin
Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo #21 Vista AF Corse – François Heriau / Simon Mann / Alessio Rovera
Lexus RC F LMGT3 #78 Akkodis ASP Team – Tom Van Rompuy / Hadrien David / Jack Hawksworth
Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo #54 Vista AF Corse – Thomas Flohr / Francesco Castellacci / Davide Rigon
Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 #92 The Bend Manthey – Yasser Shahin / Riccardo Pera / Richard Lietz