Le Mans quali practice: BMW fastest while Proton Ford Mustang sets pace in LMGT3

Hypercar

• The eight cars that will take part in Thursday evenings are set after a thrilling qualifying practice at Le Mans this evening. Teams juggle their tyre allocations in perfect conditions
• Dries Vanthoor scorches to an exceptional 3m24.465s lap to take BMW to the top of the pile with the No.15 BMW M Hybrid V8
• That time just heads the No.3 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R lap by the hometown veteran hero Sebastien Bourdais setting a best of 3m24.642s, just 0.177s behind the BMW
• Last year’s polesitter Antonio Fuoco is third on a 3m24.731s in No.50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P Hypercar
• Kobayashi was pushing in final minutes when he went off on the exit of the Porsche Curves and spun in to the gravel bringing out the red flags. He initially finished fourth but following a stewards' decision had all his times deleted for causing the red flag
• Fourth, therefore, was taken by Alpine Racing's No.35 A424 Hypercar driven by Paul Loup Chatin after a strong showing by Les Bleues at their home race
• Cadillac Racing was fifth fastest with the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R
• 2023 Le Mans winning Ferrari places sixth as the No.51 driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi peaks with seventh fastest time.
• Seventh was the No.6 Porsche Penske 963 as Kevin Estre survives a scary lock-up at Mulsanne Chicane and trip down escape road to be only Porsche to make it through
• No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA entry was the final car to make it through to the Hyperpole session 
• The top eight are covered by just 0.5s in close and competitive session

The BMW @followWRT #15 records the best time of the qualifying session!#LeMans24 #WEC pic.twitter.com/lAQR6T500q

— 24 Hours of Le Mans (@24hoursoflemans) June 12, 2024

LMGT3

• Ben Barker in No.77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3 creates major surprise by claiming best lap in LMGT3 as British racer peaks on a 3m55.263s in first appearance for the new-look Mustang at La Sarthe
• Barker’s best is 0.143s clear of the Inception Racing McLaren as Frederik Schandorff continues strong form
• Third in LMGT3 is the No.82 TF Sport run Corvette as Daniel Juncadella completes a best lap of 3m56.105s
• No.60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini with Franck Perera continues strong form at Le Mans with fourth ahead of the Qatar winning Manthey PureRxcing Porche 911 RSR driven by Klaus Bachler
• Heart of Racing Aston Martin, JMW Ferrari and D’Station Aston Martin meaning that seven manufacturers will be represented in tomorrow’s Hypercar session
• The Riccardo Pera, Daniel Serra and Michael Wainwright GR Racing Ferrari 296 LMGT3 that stopped in FP1 does not appear for the qualifying practice session as car continues to go through technical changes

​​LMP2

• The No.37 Cool Racing Oreca-Gibson driven by ELMS young gun Malthe Jakobsen sets the pace and sets best lap time of 3m32.827s after tight battle with AO by TF Sport entry
• Louis Deletraz took initial the best time in crowd pleasing ‘Spike’ car but Jakobsen’s best is 0.307s clear as red flag falls
• Ben Hanley puts the No.23 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson third with strong time for U.S entered, British based car
• Panis Racing fightback from tough free practice one to take fourth with Matthias Beche using all his experience to get through to Hyperpole
• IDEC Sport take fifth as Job van Uitert sets best lap just ahead of the Patrick Pilet driven Vector Sports Oreca-Gibson
• DKR Engineering create another surprise with seventh best time via the hands of Rene Binder, while the No.22 United Autosports car is the final entry to make it through to Hyperpole

Click HERE for results