Le Mans Wednesday Notebook

Photo: Fabrizio Boldoni/DPPI

***Sarah Bovy, who is serving as the grand marshal for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, waved the green flag to start official on-track action on Wednesday for the start of Free Practice 1. Bovy, Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting are all on-site this weekend despite there being no Iron Dames entry. Frey now serves as the sporting director with Team WRT, while Gatting, who raced last year with a broken foot, is part of the WEC commentary team on FIAWEC+.

***While Ferdinand Habsburg ended up with the quickest time in qualifying heading into Hyperpole 1, all three Cadillac V-Series.Rs slotted into the top-five, led by second-placed Louis Deletraz in the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA entry. “Le Mans, low fuel with new tires, is always the best,” he said. “No traffic as well so it was fun. The car felt good and we were P2, so very close. Qualifying doesn’t mean much here, but I’m happy to be up front.”

***The big news was that the defending race-winning No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P failed to advance, with Phil Hanson qualifying 17th out of 18 Hypercar entries, although the third-string Ferrari started last year’s race from 13th, which was the third-lowest of all-time. However, no car has ever won Le Mans from 17th or lower.

***Both Toyota TR010 Hybrids will advance tomorrow, marking the Japanese manufacturer’s first Hyperpole appearance since 2023.

***Peugeot team principal Emmanuel Esnault struggled to hide his disappointment as the French marque again failed to get either of its two 9X8s through to Hyperpole, with Stoffel Vandoorne in the No. 93 car missing the top 15 cut-off by 0.355 seconds. Peugeot has still yet to make Hyperpole at Le Mans.

***Esnault told assembled reporters post-qualifying: “Of course it’s extremely frustrating to move from competitors for pole at Imola and Spa, and for our home race to be two tenths per kilometer away from the pace. It’s the same package, the same people, the same car as the past two races. We expected to struggle a bit less, to be honest. But that’s the way it is.”

***He added: “It looks similar to last year in terms of pace to last year, even if the gap is a bit closer than last year, but we cannot be happy with it as you can imagine when you are presenting a brand like Peugeot with such a rich heritage. It’s not the way we want to race.”

***Adding insult to injury, the No. 94 Peugeot of Malthe Jakobsen was given a three-position grid penalty for the race due to impending the No. 101 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac of Jordan Taylor during a fast lap in qualifying. Jakobsen had already qualified dead last in class.

***The No. 29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca 07 Gibson, which does advance to Hyperpole 1 in LMP2, has a pending one-grid position penalty for an impending infraction as well, which will be applied after Hyperpole tomorrow.

***Genesis Magma Racing became the first Korean manufacturer to officially qualify for the race, with Dani Juncadella and Pipo Derani having both secured places in the pair of GMR-001s, qualifying 11th and 13th, respectively, in a surprising run that’s provisionally placed them ahead of all Ferrari 499Ps.

***However, Derani said there was more performance available: “It was nice to get to see what the car can do. Obviously, we believe there’s a couple of things that could be better but let’s take the positives from today, it was great for the team.”

***Juncadella added: “P11 so very happy with that. Only nine tenths from the quickest cars, very exciting for our first time here in Le Mans.”

***While Genesis is making its Le Mans debut, it is technically not the first South Korean manufacturer to mount an effort on the French endurance classic, with SsangYong (now known as KGM) having made an attempt in the 1996 edition with a Nicholson-McLaren Engines-tuned, Mercedes-based four-cylinder turbo in a WR LMP2 car run by Bertrand Gachot. The car failed to qualify, back when the ACO held  a pre-qualifying event in April.

***Heart of Racing Team’s Gray Newell said he “wasn’t expecting” to put the No. 23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo third quickest in LMGT3 qualifying, in his Le Mans debut. “It’s funny because you hear people say qualifying doesn’t really matter in a 24-hour race, but that a meant a lot to go in and get that done,” he said. “I feel like qualifying has always been a kind of weaker point for me, going and getting that one last percent out of the car is always a big challenge, and it’s hard. So extra satisfying for me to have got it right today.”

***All four of the Heart of Racing Aston Martins, in Hypercar and LMGT3, are sporting the Union Jack on each car’s splitter for the first time. Both the Aston Martin Valkryries and Vantages continue to run under the American flag officially.

***BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos revealed the German manufacturer has so far taken three of the five Evo jokers permitted until the end of next year for its BMW M Hybrid V8. Its aero overhaul, which also included cooling updates, counted as two jokers, he said, along with its previously confirmed brake updates for the start of the 2025 seasons.

***Roos said they’re currently in discussions with chassis partner Dallara on what could be possible in terms of the potential utilization of the final two jokers, which will expire at the end of 2027. “We bring all the topics on the table,” he told Sportscar365. “When you talk to the engineers, there’s a wish list [that’s very long] for sure. There’s a lot of things where clever people come up with clever ideas. But we have to bring it down to discuss what are the costs and what are the benefit and what makes sense and what is not.”

***Sportscar365 understands that the remainder of Ford Racing’s 2027 Hypercar driver lineup will be announced on Friday. The final three pilots will join the previously announced Logan Sargeant, Seb Priaulx and Mike Rockenfeller that were confirmed back in January.

***Felipe Drugovich is on-site as Cadillac’s reserve driver, with the Brazilian having two previous starts in the race with Action Express Racing, which is not present for the first time since 2022.

***AXR team manager Gary Nelson and technical director Iain Watt, however, will be here this weekend to assist with the effort and to have “extra voices in the room” according to Cadillac Racing program manager Keely Bosn, who suggested both will be helping from a strategy standpoint on the two Hertz Team JOTA and single Wayne Taylor Racing entries.

***Bosn told Sportscar365: “I would say bringing four cars to Le Mans is nearly unheard of. Last year was a big effort putting in all the time and energy that it took to coordinate. This year we still have folks from the AXR team here. We’re trying to come in with our ‘one team’ approach just like last year, and I think having them here on the ground will be a big help.”

***Darren Leung said he’s relishing the chance to race at Le Mans for a third time when he again lines up alongside Augusto Farfus and Sean Gelael in the No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO, the trio having finished second on Leung’s race debut in 2024 when they previously competed together.

***He told Sportscar365: “It’s where you really get to know yourself because there’s the most to gain, the most to lose, the most pressure. All of these things give rise to a feeling of that it’s the most important thing you do all year. It’s quite nice coming back for a third time because it feels like I’m able to come back here without that anticipation and nervousness and kind of know what the score is.”

***Both of the WRT LMGT3 crews tested at Interlagos late last month, in preparation for the next WEC round in Sao Paulo, with Leung and Farfus actually taking part in the Endurance Brasil race in one of Paradine Competition’s M4 GT3 EVOs that Leung had freighted over. Teammates Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson and Dan Harper were also present for the test, utilizing a locally owned chassis.

***Algarve Pro Racing’s privacy board behind the team’s pix box features a unique collage of photos, organized to depict its two LMP2 entries taking the checkered flag in last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, to mark the team’s 11th Le Mans appearance and 16 years in sports car racing.

***Team co-owner Stewart Cox said: “If you look at everybody’s else’s [privacy boards], they’re very corporate, aren’t they? Big, big, huge companies. I thought, ‘You know what, let’s do something nice, which is what motor racing is for me.’ It’s about team and everybody working together, and do something that’s a bit different.”

***Valentin Haase Clot and Matteo Cressoni are the only two drivers that are set to pull double duty between the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Friday’s newly expanded three-hour Road to Le Mans race. The Aston Martin factory driver is at the wheel of Racing Spirit of Leman Vantages in both events, while Cressoni is in the No. 79 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo for the 24-hour and a Dinamic GT Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo for the Michelin Le Mans Cup contest.

***Racing Spirit of Leman is one of nine teams also in both paddocks, including Nielsen Racing, Vector Sport (RLR), Inter Europol Competition, CLX Motorsport, DKR Engineering, Kessel Racing, AF Corse and Team WRT.

***Among the other support series in action this year is Ferrari Challenge Europe and Porsche Carrera Cup Brasil.

***A two-hour night practice session is on tap for 10 p.m.-12 a.m. CEST (4-6 p.m. EST) before tomorrow’s activities for 24 Hours of Le Mans competitors kicking off with Free Practice 3 at 2:45 p.m. CEST (8:45 a.m. EST), followed by Hyperpole 1 and Hyperpole 2 to set the top end of the grid, beginning at 8 p.m. CEST (2 p.m. EST).

Jamie Klein & Stephen Lickorish contributed to this report

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John