Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s Alex Lynn was fastest overall Wednesday (June 11) in the opening qualifying session for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Lynn set a lap at 150.267 mph, a full 1.787 seconds faster than last year’s pole.
Lynn’s lap was .040 seconds faster than BMW M Team WRT’s Dries Vanthoor. Ferrari AF Corse’s Antonio Giovinazzi was third, then Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Kevin Estre. Sebastien Bourdais in the second JOTA Cadillac was fifth.
However, after the session, Estre was disqualified from the session after his No. 6 Porsche was found to be underweight in post-qualifying inspection. As a result, the No. 6 will start Saturday’s race in 21st overall. Everyone else moves up a spot.
Qualifying Wednesday does not set the full starting grid. Instead, it determines which teams will advance to Hyperpole on Thursday. If you don’t advance, then it would set your starting position. The top 15 cars in the Hypercar class advanced, as did the top 12 in both LMP2 and LMGT3.
In Hypercar, the quick times started immediately. The first lap at speed from BMW M Team WRT’s Robin Frijns was roughly equal to last year’s pole lap. It was quickly dropped down to seventh.
All three of the Ferraris were immediately on pace. Yifei Ye in the customer Ferrari 499P set a lap at 149.422 mph to put himself on top in the opening runs. Meanwhile, Vanthoor, who has four poles in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship so far this year, failed to set a time early on due to violating track limits on his first two laps.
On the second run, Giovinazzi took the provisional pole away as the pace really ramped up. Aitken topped the chart briefly, then Vanthoor went to the top on his only lap at speed. Lynn took the pole with three minutes to go and could not be beat.
Of the IMSA regular teams, Action Express Racing’s Jack Aitken was on the provisional pole for a few minutes before dropping to eighth, 1.043 seconds off pole. Wayne Taylor Racing’s Filipe Albuquerque qualified 12th, while Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Felipe Nasr was 13th.
One of the more pleasant surprises was The Heart of Racing’s Marco Sorensen. The Aston Martin Valkyrie has shown improvement lately. As a result of Estre’s penalty, he was the last driver to advance to Hyperpole.
The biggest surprise of the session is that Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Nyck de Vries failed to advance. He struggled for pace in the session and ended up 16th, 2.215 seconds slower than Lynn. Both Peugeots, which struggled with speed in Free Practice No. 1, didn’t make it as well.
The LMP2/LMGT3 portion of qualifying was split into two halves. The red flag came out 15 minutes into the session when Iron Lynx’s Andrew Gilbert stalled in the Dunlop Chicane with a fuel issue. Having been 17th in class at the time of the stoppage, that ended qualifying for the No. 60 team right then and there.
LMP2 saw AO by TF’s Louis Deletraz put “Spike” on top early on with a lap at 141.104 mph. It was less than a tenth of a second faster than United Autosports’ Ben Hanley with Theo Pourchaire in third. With only enough time for three quick laps, everyone had to pounce.
Deletraz did just that. With a lap at 141.462 mph, he ended up fastest in class. The margin was .185 seconds over Hanley in United Autosports’ No. 23. CrowdStrike Racing by APR’s Alex Quinn was third, then TDS Racing’s Mathias Beche. Pietro Fittipaldi in the second United Autosports entry was fifth.
The notable LMP2 team not to advance was IDEC Sport’s No. 18 for Andre Lotterer. Lotterer was 14th fastest with a team that is effectively a Genesis preparation squad for next year’s factory Hypercar team.
The session was red-flagged with just under four minutes remaining when Richard Mille AF Corse’s Custodio Toledo stalled in the Porsche Curves. Without enough time for anyone to complete an out lap, the session ended right then and there.
In LMGT3, Team WRT’s Ahmad Al Harthy was fastest in class with a lap at 128.681 mph in his BMW. He was .208 seconds faster than The Heart of Racing’s Ian James. Manthey 1st Phorm’s Ryan Hardwick had the quickest Porsche in third, then Akkodis ASP Team’s Arnold Robin. TF Sport’s Tom van Rompuy was fifth in his Corvette.
Notables that failed to advance included Ben Keating in 17th in his Corvette and Andrew Wojteczko Autosport’s Orey Fidani, who qualified 21st. He was the slowest driver to keep their times.
FIA World Endurance Championship 24 Hours of Le Mans Hypercar Qualifying Results
FIA World Endurance Championship 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2/LMGT3 Qualifying Results
The Hyperpole sessions are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. ET Thursday. Coverage will stream live on Max starting at 1:45 p.m. ET.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.