Lynn Tops Qualifying; No. 7 Toyota Misses Hyperpole

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA driver Alex Lynn set the fastest time in first qualifying for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which notably saw the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid fail to make the cut for Hyperpole in 17th place.

Lynn steered the No. 12 Cadillac V-Series.R to a best time of 3:22.847, beating a previous best effort from the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Dries Vanthoor by 0.040 seconds.

The qualifying session held on Wednesday evening was part of a newly tweaked format introduced by the ACO, during which the top 15 Hypercar runners would advance to a two-stage Hyperpole shootout on Thursday.

As a result, six cars in the Hypercar field would be eliminated from qualifying, which most notably included the No. 7 Toyota of Nyck de Vries.

The Dutchman put in a 3:25.062, 2.215 seconds off Lynn’s fastest time, and will thus not advance to Thursday’s Hyperpole segment of qualifying for the 93rd edition of the French endurance classic.

Second-placed Vanthoor also came close to missing the cut as he had three early attempts canceled due to track limits before his sole clean flying lap immediately placed him atop the leaderboards.

He would later only be beaten by Lynn, but remained clear of the No. 51 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi as well as Kevin Estre’s No. 6 Porsche 963.

Sebastien Bourdais completed the top five in the No. 38 Cadillac, followed by the No. 50 Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco.

Ferrari notably deployed a different strategy with its cars compared to the rest of the field, with Alessandro Pier Guidi and Nicklas Nielsen starting the session before a driver change took place halfway through.

Julien Andlauer was seventh in the No. 5 Porsche, with the top eight rounded out by the No. 20 BMW driven by Robin Frijns.

Porsche Penske Motorsport saw all of its three cars advance through into Hyperpole, although Felipe Nasr’s No. 4 car narrowly avoided elimination when it slotted into 14th late on.

That improvement prevented the No. 009 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Marco Sorensen from securing a Hyperpole slot, as both V12-powered machines were ultimately eliminated.

Both Peugeot 9X8s also did not make the cut in 18th and 19th, followed by the No. 99 Proton Competition Porsche while the No. 007 Aston Martin brought up the rear in class.

Deletraz, Al Harthy Quickest in LMP2, LMGT3

Louis Deletraz set the pace in the LMP2 ranks, reeling off a 3:35.472 aboard the No. 199 AO by TF Oreca 07 Gibson.

The Swiss racer led a pack of four Pro-Am runners at the top of the LMP2 ranks, with Ben Hanley second for United Autosports, followed by the No. 45 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca of Alex Quinn and TDS Racing’s Mathias Beche.

Pietro Fittipaldi was the quickest non-Pro-Am runner in fifth overall aboard the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca, with the Brazilian’s best effort 1.064 seconds off the outright quickest.

In both LMP2 and LMGT3, 12 cars would proceed into Hyperpole.

The five cars to have been eliminated from LMP2 qualifying and thus not break through into Hyperpole were both Proton Competition-run entries, the No. 18 IDEC Sport Oreca of Andre Lotterer and No. 24 Nielsen Racing machine driven by Colin Braun.

The No. 34 Inter Europol Competition car driven by Luca Ghiotto also failed to break through, having slowed on track in the latter stages of the session.

Team WRT topped LMGT3 qualifying with its No. 46 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, as Ahmad Al Harthy posted a 3:56.875 to go quickest.

The top eight in class consisted of eight different manufacturers, with the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Ian James second followed by the No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R in the hands of Ryan Hardwick.

Arnold Robin and Tom van Rompuy picked up fourth and fifth for Akkodis ASP Team and TF Sport respectively, ahead of the No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 driven by Stefano Gattuso.

The top eight was rounded out by the No. 193 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 and No. 59 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

Iron Lynx, despite a troubled session in which the No. 60 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Andrew Gilbert ground to a halt at the Dunlop Chicane, had a car in the top twelve courtesy of Martin Berry’s No. 61 machine.

The sister No. 63 car did not take part, having sustained damage in a crash during Free Practice 1 earlier on Wednesday.

Amongst the notable cars to not make Hyperpole included the No. 33 TF Sport Corvette, the No. 57 Kessel Racing Ferrari, No. 31 The Bend Team WRT BMW and No. 87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus.

Porsche, meanwhile, saw two of its three cars eliminated as Celia Martin and Antares Au qualified 19th and 20th, respectively.

The LMP2/LMGT3 session came to a premature end when the No. 150 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari caused a red flag at Mulsanne Corner.

Track action at Le Mans continues with Free Practice at 10 p.m. CEST (4 p.m. EST), while Hyperpole is scheduled to begin on Thursday at 8 p.m. CEST (2 p.m. EST).

RESULTS: Qualifying Hyperpole/Qualifying LMP2-LMGT3