24h Le Mans
Five different Hypercar manufacturers took the lead in at least one session this week, which proves that this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans is wide open. The same goes for LMGT3 and LMP2, where gaps are so small that any of the teams could win. After a nailbiting Hyperpole session, BMW takes pole position at 16:00 CET tomorrow, for the first time ever in the history of the race.
The starting grid is decided on a moment in time. The Hyperpole session enables the perfect lap, with new tyres, an empty tank, on a cool evening. A far cry from the long stints of the free practice sessions – when you really get a feel for race pace. Read on for the lowdown on a hierarchy determined by a sprint, after a week of mounting tension.
The timesheets have had a different name at the top at almost every session this week. First, Aston Martin on Test Day. Then Cadillac dominated Free Practice 1, Toyota Free Practice 2, then Alpine edged ahead in Qualifying. BMW took over for Free Practice 3, and confirmed the performance in Hyperpole. So far, no supremacy.
The two BMWs (#15 and #20) in first and fourth place have begun the assault. But they’re not alone. The new Hyperpole format requires each crew member to take the wheel. The first one does the groundwork in Wednesday’s qualifying session, the second builds on the foundations in Hyperpole 1, and the third adds the finishing touch in the twilight Hyperpole 2 session. Dries Vanthoor’s 3:22.564 broke the Hypercar course record set by Jack Aitken last year (3:22.742). It’s the first BMW pole position, not just in the Hypercar era, but in the entire history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. “I’m delighted to be on pole position at Le Mans! It’s an event. It’s great to be out front and to give the team what the deserve. But our aim remains to win the race! We’re going to have to run clean for 24 hours to be in with a chance on Sunday”, says Vanthoor.
The #38 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac set the pole-winning time by a hair’s breadth, but the lap was discounted, Jack Aitken having entered the pit lane too early, anticipating the instruction from race control. In fact, Cadillac placed three cars in the top 10. The #12 has been in the top five all week, with track temperatures ranging from 20 to 38°C and air from 14.9 to 21.4°C. Unrivalled consistency.
The #38’s tenth place on the grid relatively little importance in a 24-hour race. Unless you’re superstitious. Jean Rondeau and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud are the only pair to have triumphed having started in P10 (with the M379B in 1980). On the other hand, 13 of the last 63 winners started in pole position (20.63%).
“Unfortunately, the lap was cancelled due to a procedure error. It still shows that we have fantastic pace, because we clocked the best time and the third best time, and that all three Cadillacs qualified for Hyperpole 2. And you know, even if we don’t start in pole position, we’re still going to fight hard all weekend. We’ve proved what we can do. The car seemed really, really good. The guys have done an incredible job bringing it on gradually in the last few days. Sure, a lap like that is always a bit special. Even more so on a circuit like this one. So I really enjoyed the 20 minutes when I was the pole sitter”, says Jack Aitken.
Ferrari and Toyota seem to be lurking in the shadows this week. Preparing for a major race quietly in their corner.Five-time winner Toyota will start in P14 and 15. The Ferrari #83, defending champion, languishes in P17, with the #51 P8 and the #51 P12. A disappointing result? These Hypercars are already primed for performance, are already winners. The race pace is there. They may be discrete so far, but they could shine in the long run. Both the Italians and the Japanese (who share the last eight editions of Le Mans between them) know how the run-up to the race works, and the importance of getting to grips with the track and how it behaves.
Alpine, who would dearly love to score a win for France, pulled out all the stops this week to that end: best qualifying time, third on the grid and admirable consistency – always in the top 7. Rather than a sudden flash of inspiration, this is the result of patient hard work, and expertise developed over the last two years. The make that won the race in 1978 and triumphed in a WEC race last year (Fuji) has probably never been as prepared for victory as now.
Si les 9X8 #93 et #94 ferment la marche des Hypercars, 16ᵉ et 18ᵉ, le début de saison permet d’espérer que le visage de la course sera différent. Pour la 94e édition, un succès de la #94 serait un symbole !
And then there’s the revelation of the week, from Korea. At its début Le Mans Genesis has qualified both GMR-001s for Hyperpole 2: the #19 will start in sixth place and the #17 in ninth. Mathys Jaubert (21), the only Silver driver in the class even clocked his fastest lap in Hyperpole 1 without any display on his screen due to a technical issue. You have to respect that. As usual, the long stints will prove decisive. The potential is there, but the race has yet to be run.
As for Aston Martin, dominant on Test Day, they have moved down the ranks as their opponents found their feet and start the race discretely in P7 for the #009 and P11 for the #007. Which just goes to show that Thursday evening’s photographic instant cannot predict the twists and turns of the plot in the 24-hour film we are about to watch.
In LMP2, there are a little over two seconds between the first and the tenth. In the hotly contested class, the best time recorded by Forestier Racing by Panis’s 21-year-old Esteban Masson (#29) did not earn him first place as he incurred a penalty for obstruction. The car starts in P2, behind the #28 IDEC Sport. The race will be decided on execution: misread traffic, a mounted kerb, or a muddled pit stop.
Youth abounds in this class, especially in the Cool Racing #37 Oreca 07-Gibson crew. Adrien Clomesnil, Ian Aguilera and Theodor Jensen average nineteen years old! Yet there’s plenty of experience too. The #43 Inter Europol Competition (P4) may not have shined yet this week, but they won in 2023 and 2025. You don’t win Le Mans on Thursday night, in LMP2 or in any class.
A notable detail on this grid: four Pro/Am teams, including the #4 Crowdstrike (with Laurin Heinrich in Hyperpole 2) and the #14 of TDS Racing (with Kévin Estre in Hyperpole 2) were in the top 10. Some amateur drivers are teamed with factory drivers, making for flattering, perhaps over-optimistic qualifying times. Success in the 24-hour race often depends on the performance of the least-experienced driver. Thursday’s ranking does not reflect the immense challenge to come, nor the importance of teamwork in sustaining pace over time.
If ever a ranking were to be taken with a pinch of salt, it’s this one. This week, six makes have finished the session in first place: Ferrari, Lexus, BMW, Aston Martin, Ford, then Corvette. It’s so tight. Nine manufacturers are within a hair’s breadth of each other.
The pole-winning time of Mattia Drudi (#27 Heart Of Racing, new record with 3:52.433) is the work of an expert. For the second year running, he claimed the LMGT3 Hyperpole, handing Aston Martin their 71st pole position in the history of the FIA WEC (since 2012). Better still, the make is the first to clinch five Hyperpoles since the introduction of the LMGT3 class in 2024. Drudi joins a select club of drivers who have put their names to at least two class pole positions.
It should be emphasised that regulations require a bronze-rated driver in each team (who took the wheel in Wednesday’s qualifying session). Those stints will prove important over the duration of the race. Therein lies the strength of Le Mans. It rewards collective performance.
The question on the lips of the LMGT3 experts is, who can knock Porsche off the perch? The German manufacturer fields two cars, one of which is unbeaten in LMGT3. Richard Lietz, Yasser Shahin and Morris Schuring won in 2024, with the #91, then Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz (again) and Riccardo Pera in 2025 with the #92. Can Porsche continue the reign?
