Alex Lynn was the fastest man in the first leg of Qualifying for the 93rd Le Mans 24 Hours, topping the time sheets in the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R.
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WEC News: JOTA Cadillac tops 1st Le Mans Qualifying Session

Posted by AR1 staff

Alex Lynn was the fastest man in the first leg of Qualifying for the 93rd Le Mans 24 Hours, topping the time sheets in the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R.

In a dramatic 30-minute session, only the top 15 cars out of 21 Hypercars would advance to Hyperpole on a scorching hot evening, as hot as the action proved to be.

Le Mans Hypercars

A tantalizing prospect as the sun slowly began to set at Le Mans. The 21 Hypercars were unleashed onto Circuit de la Sarthe in their lightest, most aggressive trim – with the sole objective of reaching the Hyperpole knockouts tomorrow evening.

Setting the first representative time and impressive out of the box was Robin Frijns in the #20 BMW M Team WRT M Hybrid V8 – a whisker away from last years Hyperpole time on his first flying lap. The Flying Dutchman had the BMW on rails and that time opened the floodgates with Alpine, Ferrari, Porsche, BMW and Cadillac all following suit – each flexing their muscles on the race to the top of the timing tree.

Chinese driver Yifei Yi lit-up the proceedings further – the #83 AF Corse star was the first to dip under the 3m24 mark with a 3m23.994 on his second lap. Alessandro Pier Guidi sliced six hundredths to leapfrog Yi in the works #51 Ferrari AF Corse machine before Jack Aitken in the #311 Cadillac and Kévin Estre in the #6 Porsche 963 went quicker and quicker in the 3m23 club.

With five minutes left tensions were high – a mistake from Paul-Loup Chatin resulted in an off-road excursion in the #35 Alpine A424, while Dries Vanthoor grabbed the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 by the scruff of its neck to be the first to smash the 3m23 mark with a 3m22.887. Just seconds later Alex Lynn pushed the #12 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac to the limit and to the front of the queue with a 3m22.847 to take the second session in a row for the American brand.

Alex Lynn was the fastest man in the first leg of Qualifying for the 93rd Le Mans 24 Hours, topping the time sheets in the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R.
Alex Lynn was the fastest man in the first leg of Qualifying for the 93rd Le Mans 24 Hours, topping the time sheets in the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R.

One of the biggest stories from the session was the #7 Toyota GR010 – Hybrid, only managing 17th. With only the top 15 proceeding to the next round of knockouts – the Japanese team will put all their effort behind the #8 crew tomorrow. Bowing out with the Toyota was both Aston Martin Valkyries, the Proton Competition Porsche and sadly for French fans both Peugeot 9X8s.

Le Mans LMP2 and LMGT3

Kicking the evening off  in the scorching sunshine, the Goodyear-shod LMP2 and LMGT3 classes took to the track to qualify for the knock-out and Hyperpole sessions. Bronze drivers took to the wheel in LMGT3, while the most experienced drivers in LMP2 cars spearheaded their teams efforts.

An incident filled qualifying session shortened the 30 minutes on the original clock to two short, sharp sessions.The Iron Lynx bad luck was to continue from FP1 as the #60 Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 came to a premature stop on the run up to the Dunlop chicane.

What was meant to be a 30 minute session turned into a short, sharp 15 minute blast. Louis Deletraz turned on the afterburners aboard Spike the Dragon – putting the #199 AO by TF ORECA LMP2 top the standings by 0.185 from the #23 United Autosports car in second and #45 Algarve Pro Racing in third.

Eight different marques of cars took the top eight fastest times in LMGT3 – showing the tight competition between the manufacturers. The Bavarian BMW carrying the famous #46 sealed the top spot with Ahmad Al Harthy booking the teams place in Hyperpole knckouts tomorrow, handing over to Valentino Rossi.

BMW M4 LMGT3 #46 Team WRT – Ahmad Al Harthy / Valentino Rossi / Kelvin Van Der Linde

Two of the casualties in LMP2 consisted of previous outright winner Andre Lotterer in the #18 IDEC Sport car as well as 2023 LMP2 class winners Inter Europol Competition. Meanwhile, in the GT class – the dominant #87 Lexus from Sunday failed to make it into the top 12 along with the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Le Mans Day 1 Qualifying Results – Top 12 in each class

Le Mans Hypercar

1. Cadillac V-Series.R #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA – Will Stevens / Norman Nato / Alex Lynn – 3m22.847s
2. BMW M Hybrid V8 #15 BMW M Team WRT – Dries Vanthoor / Raffaele Marciello / Kevin Magnussen – 3m22.887s
3. Ferrari 499P #51 Ferrari-AF Corse – Alessandro Pier Guidi / James Calado / Antonio Giovinazzi – 3m23.163s
4. Porsche 963 #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport – Kévin Estre / Laurens Vanthoor / Matt Campbell – 3m23.360s
5. Cadillac V-Series.R #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA – Earl Bamber / Sébastien Bourdais / Jenson Button – 3m23.467s
6. Ferrari 499P #50 Ferrari-AF Corse – Antonio Fuoco / Nicklas Nielsen / Miguel Molina – 3m23.514s
7. Porsche 963 #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport – Julien Andlauer / Michael Christensen / Mathieu Jaminet – 3m23.544s
8. BMW M Hybrid V8 #20 BMW M Team WRT – Rene Rast / Robin Frijns / Sheldon van der Linde – 3m23.805s
9. Cadillac V-Series.R #311 Cadillac Whelen – Jack Aitken / Felipe Drugovich / Frederik Vesti – 3m23.890s
10. Alpine A424 #36 Alpine Endurance Team – Mick Schumacher / Frédéric Makowiecki / Jules Gounon – 3m23.945s
11. Toyota GR010 Hybrid #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing – Sébastien Buemi / Brendon Hartley / Ryo Hirakawa – 3m23.988s
12. Ferrari 499P #83 AF Corse – Robert Kubica / Yifei Ye / Philip Hanson – 3m23.994
13. Cadillac V-Series.R #101 Cadillac WTR – Ricky Taylor / Jordan Taylor / Filipe Albuquerque – 3m24.030s
14. Porsche 963 #4 Porsche Penske Motorsport – Felipe Nasr / Nick Tandy / Pascal Wehrlein – 3m24.584s
15. Alpine A424 #35 Alpine Endurance Team – Paul-Loup Chatin / Ferdinand Habsburg / Charles Milesi – 3m24.667s

Le Mans LMP2

1. Oreca 07-Gibson #14 AO by TF – PJ Hyett / Dane Cameron / Louis Deletraz (LMP2 Pro/Am) – 3m35.472s
2. Oreca 07-Gibson #23 United Autosports – Daniel Schneider / Oliver Jarvis / Benjamin Hanley (LMP2 Pro/Am) – 3m35.657s
3. Oreca 07-Gibson #45 Algarve Pro Racing – George Kurtz / Nicky Catsburg / Alexander Quinn (LMP2 Pro/Am) – 3m35.954s
4. Oreca 07-Gibson #29 TDS Racing – Rodrigo Sales / Mathias Beche / Clément Novalak (LMP2 Pro/Am) – 3m36.163s
5. Oreca 07-Gibson #22 United Autosports – Renger Van Der Zande / Pietro Fittipaldi / David Heinemeier Hansson – 3m36.536s
6. Oreca 07-Gibson #48 Panis Racing – Oliver Gray / Esteban Masson / Franck Perera – 3m36.588s
7. Oreca 07-Gibson #25 Algarve Pro Racing – Matthias Kaiser / Lorenzo Fluxa / Théo Pourchaire – 3m36.612s
8. Oreca 07-Gibson #43 Inter Europol Competition – Jakub Smiechowski / Tom Dillmann / Nick Yelloly – 3m36.958s
9. Oreca 07-Gibson #28 IDEC Sport – Paul Lafargue / Job Van Uitert / Sebastian Alvarez – 3m37.004s
10. Oreca 07-Gibson #16 RLR M Sport – Michael Jensen / Ryan Cullen / Patrick Pilet (LMP2 Pro/Am) – 3m37.119s
11. Oreca 07-Gibson #183 AF Corse – François Perrodo / Matthieu Vaxiviere / Antonio Felix Da Costa (LMP2 Pro/Am) – 3m37.394s
12. Oreca 07-Gibson #37 Cool Racing – Aliaksandr Malykhin / Tom Blomqvist / Tristan Vautier – 3m37.652s

Le Mans LMGT3

1. BMW M4 LMGT3 #46 Team WRT – Ahmad Al Harthy / Valentino Rossi / Kelvin Van Der Linde – 3m56.875s
2. Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 #27 Heart Of Racing – Ian James / Mattia Drudi / Zacharie Robichon – 3m57.083s
3. Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 #92 Manthey 1ST Phorm – Ryan Hardwick / Riccardo Pera / Richard Lietz – 3m57.255s
4. Lexus RC F LMGT3 #78 Akkodis ASP Team – Arnold Robin / Jack Hawksworth / Finn Gehrsitz – 3m57.321s
5. Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R #81 TF Sport – Tom Van Rompuy / Rui Andrade / Charlie Eastwood – 3m57.690
6. Ford Mustang LMGT3 #88 Proton Competition – Stefano Gattuso / Giammarco Levorato / Dennis Olsen – 3m57.827s
7. Ferrari 296 LMGT3 #196 Ziggo Sport Tempesta – Jonathan Hui / Christopher Froggatt / Edward Cheever – 3m57.960s
8. McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo #59 United Autosports – James Cottingham / Grégoire Saucy / Sébastien Baud – 3m58.106s
9. Ferrari 296 LMGT3 #21 Vista AF Corse – François Heriau / Simon Mann / Alessio Rovera – 3m58.116s
10. Ferrari 296 LMGT3 #54 Vista AF Corse – Thomas Flohr / Francesco Castellacci / Davide Rigon – 3m58.632s
11. Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 #61 Iron Lynx – Martin Berry / Lin Hodenius / Maxime Martin – 3m58.732s
12. McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo #95 United Autosports – Darren Leung / Sean Gelael / Marino Sato – 3m58.977s