24h Le Mans
This Saturday at the 61st Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Porsche 963 and Cadillac V-LMDh will hit the track in competition for the first time. The two Hypercars are also set to take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary on 10-11 June.
Seven marques will fight to win the historic 24 Hours Centenary in June: Toyota, Ferrari, Porsche, Peugeot, Cadillac, Glickenhaus and Vanwall. This coming weekend, Porsche and Cadillac's new Hypercars will take the start in their first 24-hour race at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, first round of the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. During qualifying, one of Porsche Penske Motorsport's two Porsche 963s clocked the second fastest lap just 0.08 seconds behind Acura's pole position. The #02 Cadillac V-LMDh headed to the FIA World Endurance Championship qualified in fifth position. Cadillac driver Alex Lynn: "I really am enjoying driving this car and it’s giving me really good feedback. We’re improving so much with each session and it’s a really enjoyable job when you start making huge strides on improving this brand-new vehicle that we got, so I’m excited for the race." Teammate Richard Westbrook: "We had a productive three days at the Roar. We got exactly what we were searching for, which is more miles, more knowledge about the car, more knowledge about the tyres and more knowledge about the whole new formula that we’re going into. Now we’re all out there together, we can see our pace against everyone else and it just makes us all more even more determined and excited with one eye on the future."
The Porsche Penske Motorsport camp reports it has had a "productive week." Felipe Nasr qualified the #7 Porsche 963 in second position, but Nick Tandy made a mistake in the #6 at the famous Le Mans chicane (formerly Bus Stop) during his fast lap and hit the interior barricade. Porsche Penske Motorsport Managing Director, Jonathan Diuguid: "It was really fun to show the car’s true potential. Both cars had speed to run for the pole. We had a small mistake in the Bus Stop which was unfortunate, but the feedback from both Nick and Felipe were that the cars were really fantastic. We are looking forward to the Daytona 24 Hours because the cars clearly have the pace."
Competitors at the 61st Rolex 24 at Daytona will return to the track on Thursday and Friday for free practice sessions. The start of the race will be given on Saturday at 13:40 local time (18:40 GMT). Follow the race on Automoto La Chaîne or on the IMSA website.
