Hypercar Drivers Voice Support Of New Hyperpole Format

A number of FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar drivers have expressed approval of the new split Hyperpole format for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, describing it as more fair and potentially more strategically intriguing.

Announced by the ACO last December, the revised format has split Hyperpole into two segments, ‘H1’ and ‘H2’, while also separating the Hypercar class from the LMP2 and LMGT3 cars, which will run together in their own session.

In Hypercar, 15 of the 21 cars will progress from first qualifying into ‘H1’, with a further ten then advancing to ‘H2’, while for the LMP2 and LMGT3 classes, the first Hyperpole phase features 12 cars, with eight advancing to the pole shootout.

Under the 2024 format, there was a single Hyperpole session, in which the fastest eight cars in each class would all share the track together.

First qualifying has also been split by class, with Hypercar getting its own session, while the LMP2s and LMGT3s share the track for the other.

An additional stipulation in the rules states that the same driver cannot take part in both segments of Hyperpole, although driver choice for first qualifying remains free — except for LMGT3, where the Bronze driver from each car must compete.

Most of the drivers polled by Sportscar365 felt that the new format means that traffic will no longer be an issue in qualifying, while the requirement to use different drivers in H1 and H2 could open the door for some unexpected results.

Antonio Fuoco, who scored pole at Le Mans for Ferrari in 2023, said: “I think for the show it’s really nice, because the people have more time to see the cars on track. Also, having two drivers can change a bit the result. It’s good for the show.

“I hope to be in Hyperpole, first of all! And then, we still didn’t discuss, but for sure I will be in one of the two Hyperpoles.”

Porsche driver Michael Christensen added: “I think you can be caught in traffic quite easily, whatever category you are in, and you don’t get to start where you belong due to traffic. Whereas now, you won’t have traffic, you will have a clean shot.

“In that way, it’s a bit more fair. You can perform more to your maximum.”

Toyota driver Ryo Hirakawa said he likes the rule of forcing teams to use two different drivers across the two stages of Hyperpole.

“I think it’s nice,” Hirakawa told Sportscar365. “One driver can do the first two segments [first qualifying and H1], and then another driver does the last one, or one driver does the first and third, and the other does the second. It’s quite interesting.”

Alpine’s Frederic Makowiecki believes that the new system has the potential to create some upsets, with some teams forced to use drivers who don’t usually qualify in regular FIA World Endurance Championship rounds.

“If you are not sure of making H2, everything will be concentrated on the driver doing qualifying and H1, and for sure the driver in H2 will suffer because he will have to do the job without being ready,” Makowiecki told Sportscar365.

“Some teams use the same driver to do qualifying for the whole season, it’s the case for us, some teams rotate. Qualifying is a different exercise. You need to put yourself in a certain mood, to go all-in. Sometimes this can be tough.

“We will see different strategies, and maybe a result that you don’t expect at the end.”

One dissenting voice among the Hypercar drivers was Peugeot’s Loic Duval, who said he would prefer a return to the traditional format used until 2019, whereby three lengthy sessions across Wednesday and Thursday would determine the grid.

“I preferred the one we had before with the longer sessions,” Duval told Sportscar365. “It gives the same importance to each session.

“Also, part of Le Mans is the traffic, and to try and squeeze everything to make it happen. Sometimes the guy who does the best lap is not the guy who planned for it; it was just because he had a good lap at some point.

“Is it because I’m getting older and we always say it was better before? This I don’t know, but I liked it better before!”