Le Mans Wednesday Notebook

***Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac driver Alex Lynn’s best lap of 3:22.847 with which he topped first 24 Hours of Le Mans qualifying on Wednesday evening was faster than the previous Hypercar lap record, a 3:22.982 that Antonio Fuoco set to secure Hyperpole in 2023.

***On his session-topping lap, Lynn commented: “That was lovely! The car was great. Honestly no complaints. I didn’t make any setup adjustments between the first and second run and just improved my performance. It’s a strong start, we’ll take that one.”

***BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos downplayed suggestions of a pole challenge in Hyperpole despite Dries Vanthoor qualifying second in the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8. “We thought it might be tight to have both cars in Hyperpole 1, and we are super-happy to have both cars there,” said Roos. “The main goal was to be in the top 15 with both cars and we managed this, but it is very close. But it is not in our mind to get pole. In the end, you saw there are cars that were quicker than us.”

***In LMP2, the highly-fancied No. 18 IDEC Sport Oreca 07 running under the Genesis Magma Racing banner was among the five cars to miss Hyperpole, with three-time overall Le Mans winner Andre Lotterer ending up 14th out of 17 cars in the class.

***Lotterer said: “We need to look at where we lose time compared to the others. It seems like straight line speed is an issue. Then I was on a good lap, but I got impeded so lost three-to-four tenths there, I think on my best attempt unfortunately. It’s a long race, and I think the race car is quite good, but in qualifying it was difficult to extract the most out of it.”

***Lotterer will become the third and final member of Porsche’s No. 1 crew from the 2017 WEC season to subsequently race in LMP2 at Le Mans, following Nick Tandy in 2020 (with G-Drive Racing) and Neel Jani in 2023 (with Duqueine).

***All nine LMGT3 manufacturers progressed to Hyperpole, with the top eight places being filled by eight different manufacturers.

***TF Sport Corvette driver Ben Keating made his displeasure clear at the Z06 GT3.R’s lack of straight line speed compared to its class rivals after qualifying 17th.

***Keating said: “What irritates me more than anything else is that the No. 21 Ferrari and one of the Fords were just able to drive right around me on the straightaway and then park it in the corner. Unfortunately, I think that’s what I’m going to be looking at this weekend for 24 hours, which just really angers me. This was my best lap for the weekend. I had a better lap going at the end before the red flag. Who knows what could have been?”

***The No. 63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG, damaged in Stephen Grove’s crash in Free Practice 1, is set to be repaired in time to return to the track for Free Practice 3 on Thursday, per a manufacturer spokesperson.

***Antonio Felix da Costa missed Tuesday’s mandatory drivers’ briefing, which was to conduct a Formula E test with Porsche at Varano. The driver of the No. 183 AF Corse Oreca 07 Gibson was fined €500 and had to receive a specific driver briefing from the race director before taking to the track in Free Practice 1.

***Sportscar365 understands Porsche Penske Motorsport reserve Nico Mueller is also set to leave Le Mans for Formula E test duties on Thursday.

***Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid told reporters prior to the start of Wednesday’s track action that they feel “competitive” on straight-line speed based on the results from Sunday’s test day. “Obviously all we have is a reference to ourselves,” he said. “It was big leaving the race here last year to work on that and improve on what we could improve.”

***Porsche LMDh factory director Urs Kuratle revealed to Sportscar365 last weekend that the Porsche 963 has aero-related revisions to the car’s rear end via an Evo joker from the start of the season, but denied it has resulted in any straight-line speed gains.

***Diuguid added: “For sure, the ACO and FIA have tried to equalize the top speeds of the cars with the dual stage power and that’s definitely part of it. We tried to focus on what we can control as well and make sure we’re maximizing everything we can because that’s our job at the end of the day.”

***Porsche expects to utilize Michelin’s Medium tire for the majority of the race, except for the “very deep of the night” according to Diuguid, who confirmed they ran the test day primarily on the Medium compound.

***Diuguid confirmed there will be no change in his position within Team Penske, in maintaining his role as Porsche Penske’s managing director, despite having recently been called up to call strategy for Will Power in the NTT IndyCar Series at the Indianapolis 500 and Detroit street race.

***It follows the firing of IndyCar team president Tim Cindric, among others, from the IndyCar operation following technical infractions to multiple Team Penske cars in the build-up to the Indianapolis 500. Diuguid indicated that he could still be called up to lend a hand in the IndyCar team but said: “We’re just trying to get through this weekend, which is the main focus.”

***JOTA driver Sebastien Bourdais noted that Action Express Racing is currently seen as the “reference” in the data exchange between the three squads flying the GM flag in the Hypercar class, as it has the most Le Mans experience with the V-Series.R despite competing on a one-off basis in the last two years.

***Bourdais told Sportscar365: “Everybody is looking at AXR right now because they’re the most stable. They are the only ones who’ve been there with the same car and have the knowledge of like, ‘Yes, we know what we ran and what we are quite comfortable with and you guys are more than welcome to do the same.’ It’s the reference right now for us and the baseline. That just gives us a bit more serenity to try other things.”

***Toyota junior driver Jin Nakamura is getting his first taste of the Circuit de la Sarthe this week in a last-minute additional entry in the Road to Le Mans support race, driving a Toyota-powered Duqueine LMP3 car for R-ace GP. Nakamura raced in SUPER GT’s GT300 class last year for the apr team.

***Hydrogen-powered cars will feature in on-track demonstrations at Le Mans on Thursday and Sunday, with the Alpine Alpenglow Hy6 and the Ligier Bosch JS2 set to take to the Circuit de la Sarthe. Le Mans mayor Stephane Le Foll is set to ride as a passenger in the Alpine alongside test driver David Praschl on Thursday, while Richard Mille, President of the FIA Endurance Commission, will be in the passenger seat on Saturday.

***Alpine driver Ferdinand Habsburg has partnered with international charity Mary’s Meals to launch a fundraising campaign known as ‘Race for Meals’, which will raise money for each lap completed by the No. 35 A424 in the race. “This campaign is a way for me to give back while doing what I love,” said Habsburg. “It’s more than a race. It’s a chance to make every lap count for something far greater.”

***Track action for the 24H Le Mans continues on Thursday with Free Practice 3 at 2:45 p.m. local time (8:45 a.m. EDT), followed by Hyperpole — split this year into multiple phases, with Hypercar getting its own sessions — beginning at 8 p.m. (2 p.m. EDT).

John Dagys and Davey Euwema contributed to this report