Hartley Leads Toyota Front-Row Lockout at Le Mans

Brendon Hartley took pole position for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, leading a Toyota 1-2 in Hyperpole and ending Kamui Kobayashi’s pole streak at the race.

Hartley reeled off a best lap of 3:24.408 in the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid right at the line to lead teammate Kobayashi in the No. 7 sister car by 0.177 seconds.

Kobayashi’s best effort of 3:24.585 initially appeared to secure pole for the Japanese ace, before his time briefly disappeared off the timing screen as it was seemingly deleted before being reinstated not much later.

It then sat at the top of the charge for a few more moments before Hartley locked in pole with his best effort as the checkered flag was waved.

The New Zealander’s lap brought an end to Kobayashi’s undefeated streak in Hyperpole qualifying at Le Mans. The Japanese driver secured the pole position during the last two editions of the Le Mans qualifying format, which was introduced in 2020.

Nicolas Lapierre took third for Alpine with a best lap of 3:24.850, which sat at the top of the timesheets until improvements from both Toyota knocked it down to third.

Ryan Briscoe was fourth for Glickenhaus, with stablemate Olivier Pla rounding out the top five.

Robin Frijns took pole position in LMP2, leading a Team WRT 1-2 sweep in the process.

The Dutchman posted a 3:28.394 behind the wheel of the No. 31 Oreca 07 Gibson to lead teammate Norman Nato by 1.3 seconds.

Filipe Albuquerque secured third for United Autosports, with Antonio Felix da Costa fourth. The JOTA driver was fastest after the first set of laps, but was demoted to the edge of the second row by the three fastest drivers.

The class was rounded out by Louis Deletraz and Alex Lynn.

Tandy Takes GTE-Pro Pole for Corvette

Corvette Racing similarly took a 1-2 in GTE-Pro as Nick Tandy secured the top spot behind the wheel of the No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

The Briton’s best lap of 3:49.985 was some two-tenths faster than Antonio Garcia, with Fred Makowiecki third in the No. 91 Porsche 911 RSR-19.

Laurens Vanthoor was fourth, with the two AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evos of Antonio Fuoco and James Calado bringing up the rear.

The Italian squad did take pole position in GTE-Am, courtesy of a best lap of 3:52.594 in the No. 61 Ferrari driven by Vincent Abril.

Abril led Mikkel Jensen’s No. 57 Kessel Racing Ferrari, with Harry Tincknell third for Dempsey-Proton Racing.

Nicki Thiim saw a prospective third place turn into fourth thanks to Tincknell’s late charge.

The No. 98 NorthWest AMR Aston Martin Vantage GTE beat out Nick Cassidy’s No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari, with Rahel Frey bringing up the rear in class.

Track action continues with the final practice session at 10 p.m. CEST (4 p.m. ET).

RESULTS: Hyperpole