Cars #7, #38, #52 and #88 claimed their respective class pole positions during a thrilling fight to get into tomorrow’s Hyperpole shootout.
The first of the two qualifying sessions take place in cool conditions for a 1-hour intense fight for a spot in the top-six entries in each category.
All Hypercars went through to Hyperpole but they were keen to show their pace.
Just two cars in GTE-Pro were eliminated after this session with total eight entries.
Glickenhaus Racing used two different tyre compounds between the two cars: the #709 using the soft slicks as the #708 used mediums.
Most of the field came out to begin their first flying lap, predictably setting up F1-qualifying-style congestion into the Ford Chicane en route.
A FCY was deployed 10-minutes in when Paul Loup Chatin got the left-rear wheel off-track into Tetre Rouge, thus entering a slide to put the left into the wall.
The #48’s session came to an end due to gearbox damage from the left-side impact.
Times were coming in as it emerged the LMP2 field was tightly-packed to pursue the all-important threshold.
Paul Dalla Lana got his #98 Aston Martin Racing GTE-Am stuck into the gravel trap at the Forest Curves but drove away once he was retrieved – during which a Slow Zone was declared.
Halfway through the session, the #7 lead over the #8 ahead of the #36 Alpine.
Just 15 minutes before the end, Rahel Frey in the #85 got stuck in the gravel trap at the Dunlop Chicane but drove away once helped by the marshalls.
However, the resulting slow zone affected a few cars having to back off their flying runs.
In LMP2, the #38 JOTA with Antonio Felix Da Costa behind the wheel secured top position ahead of the #26 G-Drive Racing and the #41 Team WRT.
Reigning winners United Autosports had two cars get into Hyperpole, but not their #22 which one last year.
With apparent pace, Filipe Albuquerque was frustrated with having his flying lap put to a stop by GTE traffic and a FCY from earlier in the session.
The #84 Innovative Car qualified above two LMP2 competitors by the end.
In GTE-Pro, the #72 WeatherTech Racing and #63 Corvette Racing were eliminated, the latter of whom struggling to surpass the GTE-Am times set.
Speaking of which, it was the #88 of Julien Andauler who topped the class ahead of the #86 and the #47 Cetilar Racing.
Notable work from Ben Barnicoat from the #72 Inception Racing Ferrari to make it into Hyperpole.
They make their Le Mans debut this weekend and were unable to participate at the WEC 6 Hours of Monza due to induced damage in FP2.
| OVERALL POSITION | CLASS POSITION | TEAM | Best Time |
Diff. to session pole
|
| Hypercar | ||||
| 1 | 1 | #7 Toyota GAZOO Racing | 3m26.279s | – – |
| 2 | 2 | #36 Alpine Elf Matmut | 3m27.095s | 0.816s |
| 3 | 3 | #8 Toyota GAZOO Racing | 3m27.671s | 1.392s |
| 4 | 4 | #708 Glickenhaus Racing | 3m28.256s | 1.977s |
| 7 | 5 | #709 Glickenhaus Racing | 3m29.381s | 3.102s |
| LMP2 | ||||
| 5 | 1 | #38 JOTA | 3m28.807s | 2.528s |
| 6 | 2 | #26 G-Drive Racing | 3m29.246s | 2.967s |
| 8 | 3 | #41 Team WRT | 3m29.441s | 3.162s |
| 9 | 4 | #65 Panis Racing | 3m29.508s | 3.229s |
| 10 | 5 | #32 United Autosports | 3m29.688s | 3.409s |
| 11 | 6 | #23 United Autosports | 3m29.830s | 3.551s |
| 12 | 7 | #28 JOTA | 3m29.835s | 3.556s |
| 13 | 8 | #70 Realteam Racing (Pro/Am) | 3m29.861s | 3.582s |
| 14 | 9 | #24 PR1 Motorsports Mathiasen (Pro/Am) | 3m30.123s | 3.844s |
| 15 | 10 | #48 IDEC Sport | 3m30.166s | 3.887s |
| 16 | 11 | #31 Team WRT | 3m30.182s | 3.903s |
| 17 | 12 | #22 United Autosports | 3m30.234s | 3.955s |
| 18 | 13 | #21 DragonSpeed USA (Pro/Am) | 3m30.323s | 4.044s |
| 19 | 14 | #82 Risi Competizione | 3m30.418s | 4.139s |
| 20 | 15 | #30 Duqueine Team | 3m30.691s | 4.412s |
| 21 | 16 | #17 IDEC Sport (Pro/Am) | 3m30.709s | 4.430s |
| 22 | 17 | #29 Racing Team Nederland (Pro/Am) | 3m30.843s | 4.564s |
| 23 | 18 | #34 Inter Europol Competition (Pro/Am) | 3m30.908s | 4.629s |
| 24 | 19 | #25 G-Drive Racing (Pro/Am) | 3m31.203s | 4.924s |
| 25 | 20 | #49 High Class Racing | 3m31.830s | 5.551s |
| 26 | 21 | #20 High Class Racing (Pro/Am) | 3m32.252s | 5.973s |
| 27 | 22 | #44 ARC Bratislava (Pro/Am) | 3m32.446s | 6.167s |
| 28 | 23 | #1 Richard Mille Racing | 3m32.598s | 6.319s |
| 30 | 24 | #39 SO24-DIROB by Graff (Pro/Am) | 3m34.005s | 7.726s |
| 31 | 25 | #74 Racing Team India Eurasia (Pro/Am) | 3m36.012s | 9.733s |
| Innovative Car | ||||
| 29 | 1 | #84 Association SRT41 | 3m33.538s | 7.259s |
| LM-GTE Pro | ||||
| 32 | 1 | #52 AF Corse | 3m46.011s | 19.732s |
| 33 | 2 | #51 AF Corse | 3m46.581s | 20.302s |
| 34 | 3 | #92 Porsche GT Team | 3m46.779s | 20.500s |
| 35 | 4 | #64 Corvette Racing | 3m47.074s | 20.795s |
| 36 | 5 | #72 Hub Auto Racing | 3m47.599s | 21.320s |
| 37 | 6 | #91 Porsche GT Team | 3m47.624s | 21.345s |
| 38 | 7 | #79 WeatherTech Racing | 3m47.682s | 21.403s |
| 44 | 8 | #63 Corvette Racing | 3m49.643s | 23.364s |
| LM-GTE Am | ||||
| 39 | 1 | #88 Dempsey-Proton Racing | 3m48.620s | 22.341s |
| 40 | 2 | #86 GR Racing | 3m49.100s | 22.821s |
| 41 | 3 | #47 Cetilar Racing | 3m49.102s | 22.823s |
| 42 | 4 | #71 Inception Racing | 3m49.462s | 23.183s |
| 43 | 5 | #56 Team Project 1 | 3m49.608s | 23.329s |
| 45 | 6 | #33 TF Sport | 3m49.663s | 23.384s |
| 46 | 7 | #80 Iron Lynx | 3m49.693s | 23.414s |
| 47 | 8 | #57 Kessel Racing | 3m49.715s | 23.436s |
| 48 | 9 | #99 Proton Competition | 3m49.788s | 23.509s |
| 49 | 10 | #54 AF Corse | 3m49.829s | 23.550s |
| 50 | 11 | #83 AF Corse | 3m49.881s | 23.602s |
| 51 | 12 | #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing | 3m49.913s | 23.634s |
| 52 | 13 | #18 Absolute Racing | 3m50.016s | 23.737s |
| 53 | 14 | #388 Rinaldi Racing | 3m50.018s | 23.739s |
| 54 | 15 | #95 TF Sport | 3m50.059s | 23.780s |
| 55 | 16 | #98 Aston Martin Racing | 3m50.156s | 23.877s |
| 56 | 17 | #85 Iron Lynx | 3m50.314s | 24.035s |
| 57 | 18 | #60 Iron Lynx | 3m50.768s | 24.489s |
| 58 | 19 | #777 D’station Racing | 3m51.107s | 24.828s |
| 59 | 20 | #46 Team Project 1 | 3m51.411s | 25.132s |
| 60 | 21 | #55 Spirit of Race | 3m52.088s | 25.809s |
| 61 | 22 | #66 JMW Motorsport | 3m52.304s | 26.025s |
| 62 | 23 | #69 Herbeth Motorsport | 3m52.960s | 26.681s |
