Ferrari rules as disaster strikes Bourdais

The #50 Ferrari 499P will start the 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary in pole position. Antonio Fuoco banked the fastest lap in the half-hour shoot-out. The #51 sister car was second fastest to lock out the front row of the grid in Saturday's 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary race.

The two Toyota GR010-Hybrids led the Hyperpole field out at 20:00. The Ferraris that topped the qualifying session took control on the first flying lap with Alessandro Pier Guidi flying round in 3:23.897. The two Porsche 963s remained in the pits during the early exchanges. On Antonio Fuoco’s sixth lap, the #50 Ferrari driver went top with a time of 3:22.982. Drama struck with just over five minutes to go. The #3 Cadillac V-Series.R driven by Sébastien Bourdais, who had just leapt into P3 in the standings, stopped on the Mulsanne Straight with flames and smoke emerging from the American Hypercar. The session was temporarily halted by a red flag. Hyperpole regulations meant that Bourdais’ fastest time was scratched, relegating him down the standings. Brendon Hartley improved his time in the one lap left to complete before the chequered flag, but it was not enough to upset the Ferrari applecart.

Hypercar standings 

1. #50 Ferrari 499P | Ferrari AF Corse – Antonio Fuoco*/Miguel Molina/Nicklas Nielsen – 3:22.982
2. #51 Ferrari 499P | Ferrari AF Corse – Alessandro Pier Guidi*/James Calado/Antonio Giovinazzi – 3:23.755
3. #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid | Toyota Gazoo Racing – Sébastien Buemi/Brendon Hartley*/Ryō Hirakawa – 3:24.451
4. #75 Porsche 963 | Porsche Penske Motorsport – Felipe Nasr*/Mathieu Jaminet/Nick Tandy – 3:24.531
5. #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid | Toyota Gazoo Racing – Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi*/José María López – 3:24.933
6. #2 Cadillac V-Series.R | Cadillac Racing – Earl Bamber*/Alex Lynn/Richard Westbrook – 3:25.170
7. #5 Porsche 963 | Porsche Penske Motorsport – Dane Cameron*/Michael Christensen/Frédéric Makowiecki – 3:25.176
8. #3 Cadillac V-Series.R | Cadillac Racing – Sébastien Bourdais*/Renger Van Der Zande/Scott Dixon – 3:25.521
    

IDEC Sport fastest in LMP2

The #48 IDEC Sport Oreca-07 clinched class pole position with Paul-Loup Chatin clocking a time of 3:32.923. The only Pro/Am team to qualify for the Hyperpole session since it was introduced in 2020, the #14 Nielsen Racing Oreca was fastest on the opening timed lap. Driver Ben Hanley finished P6.

LMP2 standings

1. #48 Oreca 07-Gibson | Idec Sport – Paul Lafargue/Paul-Loup Chatin*/Laurents Hörr – 3:32.923
2. #28 Oreca 07-Gibson | JOTA – David Heinemeier-Hansson/Oliver Rasmussen/Pietro Fittipaldi* – 3:33.035
3. #41 Oreca 07-Gibson | Team WRT – Rui Andrade/Robert Kubica/Louis Delétraz* – 3:33.240
4. #47 Oreca 07-Gibson | Cool Racing – Reshad de Gérus*/Vladislav Lomko/Simon Pagenaud – 3:33.580
5. #63 Oreca 07-Gibson | Prema Racing – Doriane Pin/Daniil Kvyat/Mirko Bortolotti* – 3:33.983
6. #14 Oreca 07-Gibson | Nielsen Racing – Rodrigo Sales/Mathias Beche/Ben Hanley* – 3:34.021
7. #9 Oreca 07-Gibson | Prema Racing – Bent Viscaal*/Juan Manuel Correa/Filip Ugran – 3:34.658
8. #10 Oreca 07-Gibson | Vector Sport – Ryan Cullen/Gabriel Aubry*/Matthias Kaiser – 3:35.091

 

Corvette takes LMGTE Am pole

The American challenger, with the experienced Ben Keating at the wheel, was fastest in the class, clocking a time of 3:52.376 on the final lap.

LMGTE Am standings

1. #33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R | Corvette Racing - Nicky Catsburg/Ben Keating*/Nicolas Varrone – 3:52.376
2. #25 Aston Martin Vantage AMR |ORT by TF – Ahmad Al Harthy*/Michael Dinan/Charlie Eastwood – 3:53.905
3. #54 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo | AF Corse – Thomas Flohr*/Francesco Castellacci/Davide Rigon – 3:54.582
4. #21 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo | AF Corse – Simon Mann*/Julien Piguet/Ulysse de Pauw – 3:54.744
5. #83 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo | Richard Mille AF Corse – Luís Pérez Companc*/Alessio Rovera/Lilou Wadoux – 3:55.033
6. #57 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo | Kessel Racing – Takeshi Kimura*/Scott Huffaker/Daniel Serra – 3:55.637
7. #55 Aston Martin Vantage AMR | GMB Motorsport – Gustav Dahlmann Birch/Marco Sørensen/Jens Reno Møller* – 3:57.240
8. #74 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo | Kessel Racing – Kei Cozzolino/Yorikatsu Tsujiko*/Naoki Yokomizo – 3:59.648