24h Le Mans
French marque Alpine, with Ferdinand Habsburg at the wheel, went quickest in Hyperpole Qualifying, sending the A424 Hypercar to the fastest time of the week so far and under the 2025 pole time.
Excitement was building at Le Mans. As evening arrived, it was time for Hyperpole Qualifying. Eighteen Hypercars from eight manufacturers were unleashed onto the Circuit de la Sarthe in their lightest, most aggressive trim to date, with the sole objective of reaching tomorrow evening's Hyperpole knockout sessions. Only 15 would progress. Three would be eliminated.
In the first round of representative laps, Tom Gamble in the #007 Aston Martin Thor Team entry struck first with a 3:24.163. On the second pass, the #009 nestled in behind, with a chasing pack of three Cadillacs, two BMWs, an Alpine and a Toyota all within half a second as the session entered its second phase.
With five minutes left on the clock, teams turned up the wick, dipping below the 3:24 barrier and edging ever closer to the pole time of 3:23.166 set one year ago.
Aston Martin, then Alpine, then BMW all went quicker before the #101 WTR Cadillac broke the beam with a 3:23.323, with two minutes remaining. A tantalising one-lap shootout ensued.
New Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA recruit Louis Delétraz went faster still and under the 2025 benchmark. Then, seconds later, out of nowhere, Ferdinand Habsburg, on Alpine's Le Mans swansong, set the fastest time of the week so far with a 3:23.135.
Genesis were delighted. On its Le Mans debut, the two Magma-inspired cars successfully made it through to tomorrow's session. Meanwhile, two major stories echoed around the circuit. Peugeot were eliminated from Hyperpole Qualifying, with the French manufacturer managing only 16th and 18th places with its 9X8s, while the pain continued for the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, whose week was going from bad to worse. The reigning champions were dumped out. No matter how hard Philip Hanson tried, the yellow 499P will play no further part in tomorrow's shootout.
Kicking the evening off in cool, overcast conditions, the Goodyear-shod LMP2 and LMGT3 classes took to the track to qualify for tomorrow's Hyperpole knockout sessions. Thirty minutes on the clock; Hyperpole 1 tomorrow was the target.
The #28 IDEC Sport car, with Paul Lafargue in the hot seat, set the first representative time for those behind to chase. However, the youngest driver on the grid, Ian Aguilera in the #37 CLX Motorsport car, was first to step up to the plate, comfortably taking the top spot.
It did not last long, however, as only seconds later FP1 hero Doriane Pin arrived and smashed the benchmark with a 3:36.127 in the #30 Duqueine car. The pair traded blows, with Aguilera reclaiming the top spot a lap later, lowering the yardstick to a 3:35.229 in a tit-for-tat battle.
The young French driver was not to be outdone. Throwing caution to the wind, Pin lowered the bar again to a 3:34.662, the pair clear of the opposition. Hot on their heels, and the only other car able to get close, was the #343 Inter Europol Competition entry of Bijoy Garg.
The casualties in LMP2 were the #44 Proton Competition, #25 Algarve Pro Racing, #48 RD Limited and #3 DKR Engineering entries.
Seven different marques occupied the top seven fastest times in LMGT3, demonstrating the strength of competition between the manufacturers.
Out front early on was the #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette, driven by Peter Dempsey. The Irishman set the benchmark and then had to look over his shoulder at the scramble behind. The #77 Ford Mustang, in the hands of Eric Powell, delivered the Blue Oval's best showing to date in second, while Gray Newell showed the pace of the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, proving it had the speed to fight at the front of the category.
In LMGT3, the biggest upset came in the form of the #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes, which had run strongly earlier in the day. The Mercedes-AMG LMGT3, driven by Abdulla Al-Khelaifi, failed to make the cut by just under a tenth of a second. The other cars missing out on tomorrow's shootout were the #10 Garage 59, #33 TF Sport, #79 Iron Lynx, #150 Richard Mille AF Corse, #57 Kessel Racing and #59 Racing Spirit of Léman entries.
These crews will sadly play no further part in the qualifying knockout.
But that's not the end of the action today. Join us at 22:00 local time for Free Practice 2 and the first night-time running of the week. Le Mans at night is always magical, and this two-hour session will give us a flavour of what is to come this weekend.
