WEC: Ferrari locks out front row at Le Mans

Antonio Fuoco led a Ferrari AF Corse 1-2 in Hyperpole for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Italian driver turned a lap of 3m22.982s in his No. 50 Ferrari 499P to edge out teammate Alessandro Pier Guidi by 0.773 seconds in what is Ferrari’s first overall Le Mans pole since 1973.

FERRARI AF CORSE – Antonio Fuoco (ITA) – 24 Hours of Le Mans – Centenary Edition – Circuit de la Sarthe – Le Mans – France – Photo courtesy of 2023 FIA WEC / FocusPackMedia – Christian Rodriguez

A fire for the No. 3 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Sebastien Bourdais, who had just put the third quickest time of the session, brought out a red flag with 5 minutes and 15 seconds to go and stopped the clock.

Bourdais’ fastest lap was removed due to causing a red flag and Brendon Hartley and Felipe Nasr on their final laps locked in 3rd and 4th respectively.

LMP2 pole honors went to the No. 48 IDEC Sport Oreca 07 Gibson of Paul-Loup Chatin, who scored his second Le Mans class pole thanks to a 3:32.923 lap. It was Pietro Fittipaldi for JOTA who claimed second, narrowly missing out on pole by just 0.122s.

Ben Keating claimed GTE-Am pole in the No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R with a lap of 3m52.376s to beat the No. 25 ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage GTE of Ahmad Al Harthy by a whopping 1.529 seconds.

It is Corvette’s third pole at Le Mans in WEC, and second in LMGTE Am.

#33 CORVETTE RACING / Corvette C8.R – 24 Hours of Le Mans – Centenary Edition – Circuit de la Sarthe – Le Mans – France – Photo by 2023 FIA WEC / – Gabi Tomescu

Hyperpole Results

POS	No.	CLASS	TEAM	DRIVERS	CAR	TIME	BEHIND
1	50	Hypercar H	FERRARI AF CORSE	FUOCO Antonio, MOLINA Miguel, NIELSEN Nicklas	Ferrari 499P	3m22.982s	0.000s
2	51	Hypercar H	FERRARI AF CORSE	PIER GUIDI Alessandro, CALADO James, GIOVINAZZI Antonio	Ferrari 499P	3m23.755s	0.773s
3	8	Hypercar H	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING	BUEMI Sébastien, HARTLEY Brendon, HIRAKAWA Ryo	Toyota GR010 HYBRID	3m24.451s	1.469s
4	75	Hypercar H	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT	NASR Felipe, JAMINET Mathieu, TANDY Nicholas	Porsche 963	3m24.531s	1.549s
5	7	Hypercar H	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING	CONWAY Mike, KOBAYASHI Kamui, LOPEZ Jose Maria	Toyota GR010 HYBRID	3m24.933s	1.951s
6	2	Hypercar H	CADILLAC RACING	BAMBER Earl, LYNN Alex, WESTBROOK Richard	Cadillac V-Series.R	3m25.170s	2.188s
7	5	Hypercar H	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT	CAMERON Dane, CHRISTENSEN Michael, MAKOWIECKI Frédéric	Porsche 963	3m25.176s	2.194s
8	3	Hypercar H	CADILLAC RACING	BOURDAIS Sébastien, VAN DER ZANDE Renger, DIXON Scott	Cadillac V-Series.R	3m25.521s	2.539s
9	48	LM P2	IDEC SPORT	LAFARGUE Paul, CHATIN Paul Loup, HÖRR Laurents	Oreca 07 – Gibson	3m32.923s	9.941s
10	28	LM P2	JOTA	HEINEMEIER-HANSSON David, RASMUSSEN Oliver, FITTIPALDI Pietro	Oreca 07 – Gibson	3m33.035s	10.053s
11	41	LM P2	TEAM WRT	ANDRADE Rui, DELÉTRAZ Louis, KUBICA Robert	Oreca 07 – Gibson	3m33.240s	10.258s
12	47	LM P2	COOL RACING	DE GÉRUS Reshad, LOMKO Vladislav, PAGENAUD Simon	Oreca 07 – Gibson	3m33.580s	10.598s
13	63	LM P2	PREMA RACING	PIN Doriane, KVYAT Daniil, BORTOLOTTI Mirko	Oreca 07 – Gibson	3m33.983s	11.001s
14	14	LM P2 P/A	NIELSEN RACING	SALES Rodrigo, BECHE Mathias, HANLEY Ben	Oreca 07 – Gibson	3m34.021s	11.039s
15	9	LM P2	PREMA RACING	VISCAAL Bent, CORREA Juan Manuel, UGRAN Filip	Oreca 07 – Gibson	3m34.658s	11.676s
16	10	LM P2	VECTOR SPORT	CULLEN Ryan, AUBRY Gabriel, KAISER Matthias	Oreca 07 – Gibson	3m35.091s	12.109s
17	33	LM GTE Am	CORVETTE RACING	CATSBURG Nicky, KEATING Ben, VARRONE Nicolas	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	3m52.376s	29.394s
18	25	LM GTE Am	ORT BY TF	AL HARTHY Ahmad, DINAN Michael, EASTWOOD Charlie	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	3m53.905s	30.923s
19	54	LM GTE Am	AF CORSE	FLOHR Thomas, CASTELLACCI Francesco, RIGON Davide	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	3m54.582s	31.600s
20	21	LM GTE Am	AF CORSE	MANN Simon, PIGUET Julien, DE PAUW Ulysse	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	3m54.744s	31.762s
21	83	LM GTE Am	RICHARD MILLE AF CORSE	PEREZ COMPANC Luis, ROVERA Alessio, WADOUX Lilou	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	3m55.033s	32.051s
22	57	LM GTE Am	KESSEL RACING	KIMURA Takeshi, HUFFAKER Scott, SERRA Daniel	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	3m55.637s	32.655s
23	55	LM GTE Am	GMB MOTORSPORT	BIRCH Gustav, SØRENSEN Marco, MØLLER Jens Reno	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	3m57.240s	34.258s
24	74	LM GTE Am	KESSEL RACING	COZZOLINO Kei, TSUJIKO Yorikatsu, YOKOMIZO Naoki	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	3m59.648s	36.666s