Hyperpole glory for Ferrari; IDEC on pole in LMP2; Corvette Racing on top in LMGTE Am
Below are the main headlines from tonight's Hyperpole at 24 Hours of Le Mans, round four of FIA WEC.
Hypercar
- Ferrari AF Corse take 1-2 in qualifying practice as No.50 Ferrari 499P Hypercar driven by Antonio Fuoco sets 3m25.213s.
- That time is just 0.199s ahead of sister Ferrari 499P as Alessandro Pier Guidi sets time.
- Pier Guidi briefly had the top lap but was immediately beaten by his countryman Fuoco.
- Toyota place third and fourth with No.7 Toyota just outpacing the No.8 car as Kamui Kobayashi and Brendon Hartley set times respectively.
- Qualifying Practice is red flagged twice during session. The first stoppage for a collision between Filipe Albuquerque in No.22 United Autosports LMP2 car and No.36 Alpine ELF Team car driven by Matthieu Vaxiviere. The second red flag was flown for an accident at Indianapolis involving the No.37 Cool Racing Oreca-Gibson with Malte Jakobsen aboard.
- In addition to the top four No.5 and No.75 Porsche Penskes with the No.3 and No.2 Cadillac Racing entries go through to Hyperpole on Thursday evening.
- No.38 Jota Porsche 963 stops on circuit in early part of one hour session and car returns to pits for repairs on hybrid system before heading out again only for reoccurrence of issue.
- Fastest non-Hybrid entry is the No.708 Glickenhaus 007LMH.
FERRARI TAKES HYPERPOLE AT LE MANS!
— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) June 8, 2023
Antonio Fuoco puts the #50 Ferrari on pole position for the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans #WEC #LeMans24 #LeMansCentenary @FerrariHypercar @24hoursoflemans pic.twitter.com/frnNPRMIaG
LMP2: Pole - No. 48 IDEC Sport
- JOTA had led early on in the LMP2 category as Pietro Fittipaldi scorched to a best lap of 3m34.751s
- Fittipaldi ensures that time is good enough to top the session.
- Second is the No.41 WRT entry as Louis Deletraz sets team who took pole last year.
- Third place is the No.63 Prema entry as Mirko Bortolotti sets last minute time.
- IDEC Sport Oreca-Gibson is fourth as Paul Loup Chatin sets time for ELMS entrant.
- In addition to the top four, also making it through to Hyperpole are: Vector Sport, No.47 Cool Racing, Racing Team Turkey, No.37 Cool Racing and No.9 Prema Racing entry.
- Mirko Bortolotti in No.63 car and No.9 sister car driven by Ben Viscaal had earlier set exactly the same time!
LMGTE Am Ben Keating in #33 Corvette Racing takes pole position with impressive last lap
— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) June 8, 2023
Here is the provisional LMGTE Am grid for the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans ↓ pic.twitter.com/NMZ0qzwy85
LMGTE AM
- Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari takes last gasp fastest lap with Alessio Rovera setting fastest lap of 3m51.877s
- No.54 AF Corse Ferrari makes it a 1-2 for the Prancing Horse with Davide Rigon lapping just 0.022s shy of Rovera.
- Points leading No.33 Corvette Racing entry is repaired after free practice accident and Nicky Catsburg goes third in LMGTE Am and makes it through to Hyperpole session in style.
- Iron Dames have tough session as Michelle Gatting spins in to gravel at Dunlop Chicane.
- In addition to the top three, also making it through to Hyperpole are: ORT by TF Sport, Kessel Racing, GMB Aston, No.21 AF Corse and No.74 Kessel Racing Ferrari
INNOVATION CLASS
- Hendrick Motorsports run Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 completes session with 3m47.976s and place 38th overall.
Click HERE for session results.
The teams will now go back to the pits to prepare for FP2, the first free practice session to be held after the sun has set.
Tomorrow’s Hyperpole will take place at 20h00 tomorrow (Thursday 8 June) to set pole position for Saturday’s 24 hour race.
