Aitken Loses Le Mans Pole; Vanthoor BMW Inherits Top Spot

Jack Aitken has missed out on pole position for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans despite topping Hyperpole 2 for Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA after breaching the race director’s rules, with BMW’s Dries Vanthoor inheriting top spot.

Aitken had set a 3:22.559 with his final flying lap to seemingly grab pole in a Hypercar-era record time in the No. 38 Cadillac V-Series.R by just 0.005 seconds from the No. 15 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 of Vanthoor.

However, the No. 38 Cadillac then lost that time having failed to follow the race director’s rules regarding entering the fast lane at the start of the session and will therefore start tenth on the grid.

Vanthoor’s 3:22.564 became the new benchmark as the German manufacturer continued its strong FIA World Endurance Championship form having taken a 1-2 finish last time out at Spa.

Cadillac will still be on the front row, thanks to Will Stevens’ 3:23.078 lap in the sister No. 12 JOTA machine.

Third was the pick of the Alpine A424s, the No. 35 entry of Antonio Felix da Costa with a 3:23.620, while fourth was the second of the BMWs as Robin Frijns clocked a 3:23.764.

Fifth fastest was the third of the Cadillacs, the No. 101 Wayne Taylor Racing machine of Filipe Albuquerque who posted a 3:23.778 after breaking the mould by using the Medium Michelin Pilot Sport Endurance tires while the rest used Softs.

Sixth quickest was Paul-Loup Chatin on a remarkable Le Mans debut for the Genesis GMR-001.

The Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Valkyrie was the best of the LMH-based prototypes as LMDh cars dominated, with Roman De Angelis clocking a 3:31.089 in the No. 009 machine to start seventh.

The sole Ferrari in the final Hyperpole session was eighth courtesy of a 3:25.081 from James Calado in the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P as the Italian manufacturer seeks a fourth consecutive Le Mans win, while the second Genesis was ninth.

Neither Toyota TR010 Hybrid made it into Hyperpole 2 and were slowest of the 15 Hypercar crews in the opening segment.

Masson Fastest in LMP2; IDEC Sport to Start First in Class

Forestier Racing by Panis’ Esteban Masson was another driver to top Hyperpole qualifying but will not start from pole having set the pace in the LMP2 division.

Masson recorded the fastest LMP2 time in Hyperpole 2 at the wheel of the No. 29 Oreca 07 Gibson with a 3:32.855 that was more than two seconds faster than last year’s pole time.

Masson was 0.387 seconds quicker than Job van Uitert in the No. 28 IDEC Sport entry.

However the Panis car will start the race second after being given a one-place penalty for impeding the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren 570S GT3 Evo in initial qualifying on Wednesday.

Third quickest was the No. 24 Nielsen Racing car of Jack Doohan with a 3:33.510, which was just half a tenth quicker than Nick Yelloly at the wheel of the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition machine that triumphed last year.

Fifth was Alex Quinn at the wheel of the No. 4 CrowdStrike by APR entry that Laurin Heinrich had put second quickest in Hyperpole 1.

With Julien Andlaeur sixth in the No. 30 Duqueine Team car and Kevin Estre in the No. 14 TDS entry seventh, it meant the trio of LMP2 crews featuring a Porsche IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP driver will start the race line astern.

Neither United Autosports entry featured in Hyperpole 2 as the squad that has twice tasted Le Mans victory will have to make do with 11th and 12th spots on the grid courtesy of Gregoire Saucy and Oliver Jarvis, with Saucy missing out by three tenths.

Also eliminated was Theodor Jensen in the No. 37 CLX Motorsport entry after going off at the second Mulsanne Chicane.

Heart of Racing’s Drudi Secures Back-to-Back Le Mans LMGT3 Poles

Mattia Drudi set a new qualifying record in LMGT3 to beat his own previous benchmark after posting a 3:52.433 in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo that was almost exactly one-second quicker than the opposition.

Alessio Rovera was second fastest in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo while the No. 87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3 of Jose Maria Lopez was third on a 3:53.614.

The sister No. 78 Lexus of Jack Hawksworth will start fourth despite frantic efforts from the team in the opening moments of the session to get the car’s door to shut.

The pair of WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVOs will start fifth and sixth after Sean Gelael in the No. 32 machine went two-tenths faster than Parker Thompson in the sister No. 69 car.

A late improvement from the No. 77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 EVO meant Logan Sargeant’s No. 88 machine was the first eliminated in Hyperpole 1.

Neither of the Iron Lynx-run Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos progressed, and therefore joined McLaren and Chevrolet in failing to have a presence in the top-ten.

It came after the No. 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R that topped first qualifying was subsequently disqualified from that session for excessive rear diffuser strake wear.

Also failing to progress was the No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo that triumphed in the previous two editions of the race. The team elected to field FIA-graded Silver driver Riccardo Pera while several crews ran their factory aces.

There is one final session scheduled for Thursday with one hour of night practice due to begin at 11 p.m. CEST (5 p.m. EST).

RESULTS: Qualifying