On November 1, 1755, a devastating earthquake rocked Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, and killed approximately 20% of the city's inhabitants. On June 25, 1960, Carlos Manuel Reis became the first Portuguese driver to take the start at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

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It's time for the Hyperpole (in its new format)! Who will score pole position at the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans? The electrifying support races Road to Le Mans, the Porsche Sprint Challenge and the Ford Mustang Challenge are also on today's programme.

<h2>24 Hours of Le Mans | Free Practice</h2>

<p>Four additional&nbsp;hours of track time across&nbsp;two sessions&nbsp;are in store this afternoon for 24 Hours entrants. This is their final opportunity&nbsp;to finesse settings ahead of the big race. Drivers take&nbsp;turns doing&nbsp;laps to&nbsp;become&nbsp;intimately acquainted with this&nbsp;notoriously demanding circuit. Two sessions are scheduled: the first from 14:45&nbsp;to 17:45 and&nbsp;the second at night from 23:00&nbsp;to midnight.</p>

<h2>24 Hours of Le Mans | Hyperpole&nbsp;</h2>

<p>Two Hyperpole sessions (H1 and&nbsp;H2) are scheduled for today in its new format. In&nbsp;H1, the&nbsp;24 cars that qualified the day before in&nbsp;LMP2 and&nbsp;LMGT3 (2 x 12) battle it out for&nbsp;20 minutes to secure a spot in the top 8 and permission to take&nbsp;part in H2.&nbsp;This elimination format is&nbsp;then be repeated by the&nbsp;Hypercars&nbsp;with the top 15 prototypes competing in H1 to determine the 10 finalists. In H2, qualifiers have 15 minutes to put the pedal to the metal and earn&nbsp;the best possible starting grid position. Hyperpole is scheduled between&nbsp;20:00 and&nbsp;21:55.</p>

<p>The Hyperpole is brought to a close with&nbsp;an unforgettable ceremony.&nbsp;The drivers who have distinguished themselves are invited to take&nbsp;the podium, accompanied by their team manager, at 22:05. A Hyperpole trophy is&nbsp;presented&nbsp;to reward their performance&nbsp;and&nbsp;determination&nbsp;to clinch&nbsp;the pole.</p>

<h2>Road To Le Mans</h2>

<p>Road to Le Mans competitors&nbsp;hit the track today in a race against the clock for two qualifying sessions from&nbsp;11:45 to&nbsp;12:05 and&nbsp;12:20 to&nbsp;12:40. Then, they line up for the first 55-minute race starting at 18:25.&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Porsche Sprint Challenge</h2>

<p>After Qualifying 1 (09:00 to 09:20) and&nbsp;2 (09:35 to 09:55), drivers face off in Race 1 starting at 13:10. Don&#39;t miss seeing&nbsp;71 Porsches snaking through the&nbsp;Dunlop chicane and hurtling down the Mulsanne Straight!</p>

<h2>Ford Mustang Challenge</h2>

<p>This American one-make championship is always a favourite at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Each competitor&nbsp;will take the wheel of a&nbsp;Ford Mustang Dark Horse R&nbsp;equipped with a 5.0-litre, naturally aspirated 500-hp V8 for&nbsp;two qualifying sessions. Join us from 10:30 to 11:15&nbsp;to enjoy the roar!</p>

<h2>Arnage in the Race</h2>

<p>Arnage in the Race highlights car and moto&nbsp;racing&nbsp;through an exhibition, meet-and-greets with local motorsport&nbsp;figures and a parade in the city centre&nbsp;of Arnage. The exhibition is&nbsp;launched this year with Club Lotus France.</p>

<h2>Pascal Obispo and&nbsp;Roszalie Concerts</h2>

<p>To continue his triumphant tour of sold-out Z&eacute;niths and multiple festivals, Pascal Obispo invites you to discover his brand new show &quot;Correspondance&quot;. Live an unforgettable experience&nbsp;as this artist celebrates his 30-year career with&nbsp;great classics and much more.&nbsp;This phenomenal&nbsp;concert will get underway&nbsp;right after the Hyperpole!&nbsp;</p>

<h4><u>Thursday&nbsp;12 June Programme</u></h4>

<p>09:00 &ndash; 09:20&nbsp;: Porsche Sprint Challenge&nbsp;| Qualifying&nbsp;1<br />
09:00 &ndash; 23:00&nbsp;: 24 Hours Museum open<br />
09:35 &ndash; 09:55&nbsp;: Porsche Sprint Challenge&nbsp;| Qualifying 2<br />
10:00 &ndash; 00:00&nbsp;: Fan&nbsp;Zones, Kids Zone, ACO H2 Hydrogen and Constructors Villages open; hydrogen demonstration at&nbsp;14:10<br />
10:30 &ndash; 11:15&nbsp;: Ford Mustang Challenge | Qualifying&nbsp;1 &amp; 2&nbsp;<br />
11:45 &ndash; 12:05&nbsp;: Road To Le Mans | Qualifying 1<br />
12:20 &ndash; 12:40&nbsp;: Road To Le Mans | Qualifying&nbsp;2&nbsp;<br />
13:10 &ndash; 13:55&nbsp;: Porsche Sprint Challenge | Race 1<br />
14:45 &ndash; 17:45&nbsp;: 24 Hours of Le Mans | Free Practice 3<br />
15:00 &ndash; 22:00&nbsp;: Support race&nbsp;paddocks open&nbsp;(Maison Blanche)<br />
18:25 &ndash; 19:25&nbsp;: Road to&nbsp;Le Mans | Race 1<br />
20:00 &ndash; 20:20&nbsp;: LMP2 &amp;&nbsp;LMGT3 Hyperpole 1<br />
20:00 &ndash; 00:00&nbsp;: Pascal Obispo and&nbsp;Roszalie concerts<br />
20:35 &ndash; 20:50&nbsp;: LMP2 &amp;&nbsp;LMGT3&nbsp;Hyperpole 2<br />
21:05 &ndash; 21:25&nbsp;: Hypercar Hyperpole 1&nbsp;<br />
21:40 &ndash; 21:55&nbsp;: Hypercar Hyperpole 2<br />
22:05 &ndash; 22:25&nbsp;: Hyperpole ceremony<br />
23:00 &ndash; 00:00&nbsp;: 24 Hours of Le Mans | Free Practice 4</p>

<p>Watch the&nbsp;<strong><a href="http://fiawec.tv/page/679a56921229db49627128a6">FIA WEC live</a></strong>&nbsp;or on demand on the official&nbsp;FIA WEC TV app, your all-access pass to the FIA World Endurance&nbsp;Championship including the&nbsp;24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans. Don&#39;t miss a second of the action! For more info, go to the app.</p>

2025 24 Hours of Le Mans – Thursday 12 June programme

The #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR10 - Hybrid of Ryo Hirakawa ended Wednesday at the stroke of midnight on top in the menacing ‘dark knight’ Toyota - but it wasn’t without drama at the end!

<p>The sun went down&hellip; the lights got turned on for the first time, with Free Practice 2 ending the track action for the teams taking part in the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans. Two hours on the clock for the 62 cars to dial themselves in, and acclimatise themselves to the blanket of darkness. The dance of the headlights, searching into the distance, trailing brake lights, the glow from the brake disks, the pops from the exhausts - who&rsquo;s on a mission and who is adjusting their braking points. There is something special about night time at Le Mans.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<h2>Hypercar</h2>

<p>The ever present #83 AF Corse run Ferrari 499P has been near the sharp end in many of the sessions so far this week and they set the initial pace in the opening hour of the session with Phillp Hanson at the wheel of the striking yellow prancing horse. Sebastien Buemi in menacing black #8 Toyota was 1.065 seconds behind and the star of this afternoon, Alex Lynn in the thunderous #12 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac in third a further half a second back. With the fastest time from the #83 - a sub 03:26 time deleted, this shuffled the pack as the clock hit zero with the #8 Toyota on top, #12 Cadillac second and the #83 Ferrari rustling up on its 22nd lap a third fastest time.</p>

<p>As track temperatures dropped, movement on the leaderboard was gradual or sporadic. Teams only get three hours over the two days in the darkness and even with a brief Red Flag stopage - teams went straight back out to make every kilometre count. Last years victors the #50 Ferrari put in a giant shift - gathering 28 laps in total, amassing over 380 kilometres of data.</p>

<p>One of the positives to take away from FP2 was a glimpse of pace from Peugeot TotalEnergies, with the #93 Peugeot 9X8 running well into the top 10 at various points - with fellow French hopefuls Alpine trading times.</p>

<p>Aston Martin fans can see the progress of the Valkyrie. After the #009 rounded out the top 15 qualifiers for Hyperpole 1 and 2 tomorrow, the Aston Martin Thor Team finished the session in 13th - improving with every run in the car.</p>

<p>The #8 Toyota was in the wars after the chequered flag had fallen - making contact and glancing the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 LM6T3. Both drivers are ok - but the teams will have a long night ahead to check over both cars.</p>

<h2>LMP2</h2>

<p>In the LMP2 category Spike gained his wings with Louis Deletraz flying around Circuit de la Sarthe. The Swiss driver right at home in the AO by TF ORECA was quickest this afternoon and continued that trend when the sun went down, eking out a margin of 1.1 seconds early in the session. The #22 United Autosports version of the LMP2 car was second while #37 CLX - Pure Racing were happy with their nights work in third.</p>

<h2>LMGT3</h2>

<p>It was a flying formation for the Akkofis ASP Team who marched both of their Lexus RC F LMGT3 cars to first and second respectively in the LMGT3 order - a position they held for most of the session. Keeping in touch, and the only other GT car under the 03:56 barrier was the #92 Manthey 1ST Phorm Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3.<br />
<br />
Two cars failed to make it out of the garages for Free Practice 2. The #33 TF Sport Corvette saw the mechanics poring over the rear of the car all night, while the #63 Iron Lynx garage was a hive of activity with the engine out of the Mercedes-AMG - and the car being rebuilt with what looked like donor parts from another car.&nbsp;</p>

<h4><u>Free Practice 1: Top 5 Classification:</u></h4>

<p>1. Toyota GR010 Hybrid #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing &ndash; S&eacute;bastien Buemi / Brendon&nbsp; Hartley / Ryo Hirakawa - 3:26.156<br />
2. Cadillac V-Series.R #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA &ndash; Will Stevens / Norman Nato / Alex Lynn - 3:26.607<br />
3. Ferrari 499P #83 AF Corse &ndash; Robert Kubica / Yifei Ye / Philip Hanson - 03:26.680<br />
4. Porsche 963 #4 Porsche Penske Motorsport &ndash; Felipe Nasr / Nick Tandy / Pascal Wehrlein - 03:26.748<br />
5. Ferrari 499P #50 Ferrari-AF Corse &ndash; Antonio Fuoco / Nicklas Nielsen / Miguel Molina - 3:26.809</p>

<h4><u>Free Practice 2: Fastest times in the LMP2 and LMGT3 categories:</u></h4>

<ul>
	<li>LMP2 : Oreca 07-Gibson #199 AO by TF &ndash; PJ Hyett / Dane Cameron / Louis Deletraz (LMP2 Pro/Am)</li>
	<li>LMGT3: Lexus RC F LMGT3 #87 Akkodis ASP Team &ndash; Petru Umbrarescu / Jos&eacute; Mar&iacute;a L&oacute;pez / Clemens Schmid</li>
</ul>

<p>Tomorrow, we will take it up a level. We have Free Practice 3, kicking things off at 14:45 local time followed by the new format Hyperpole, with the final dress rehearsal - Free Practice 4 coming tomorrow night. Who will show their true colours. Who will take pole for the 93rd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans . You don&rsquo;t want to miss a thing!&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

Toyota fires back with night session topping form in FP2

Road to Le Mans, the Porsche Sprint Challenge France and the Ford Mustang Challenge are all exhilarating support races at the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans. Here's a round-up after the first free practice sessions.

<h2>ROAD TO LE MANS Free Practice: Th&eacute;o Micouris the Fastest ahead of qualifying</h2>

<p>The fourth of six&nbsp;Michelin Le Cup rounds,&nbsp;Road to Le Mans is the high point of the season. The&nbsp;58 entrants&nbsp;(116 drivers, two per car) took advantage of two one-hour free practices today. The field is made up of three categories: LMP3, LMP3 Pro-Am and&nbsp;GT3.</p>

<p>The morning session went off without a hitch. In the head category, David Hadrien (R-ace GP&#39;s #85 Duqueine D09) topped the timesheet in 3:50.288. In Pro-Am, Julien Lemoine clocked a respectable&nbsp;time of 3:53.259 (Ans Motorsport&#39;s #84 LMP3 Ligier) and the Ferrari 296 GT3 driven by Eliseo Donno dominated&nbsp;GT3 in 3:58.303.</p>

<p>The night&nbsp;session (20:30&ndash;21:30) was slightly disrupted when&nbsp;contact was made between the #6&nbsp;LMP3 Ligier JS P325 and the #7&nbsp;Adess AD25.&nbsp;as de quoi, toutefois, perturber le train des meilleurs. Already one to watch&nbsp;in the&nbsp;previous session, cooler temps helped Team Virage Ligier improve its times&nbsp;(P1 and P3).&nbsp;Brazilian driver&nbsp;S&eacute;rgio Sette C&acirc;mara, a former reserve and development driver for&nbsp;McLaren F1 Team in 2019 then&nbsp;Red Bull Racing in&nbsp;2020, secured the second fastest time&nbsp;(P1 in Pro-Am). Team Motopark&#39;s #65 Mercedes-AMG GT3 driven by Lukas Dunner clocked the best time in&nbsp;GT3.</p>

<p>The&nbsp;58 Road to Le Mans competitors will hit the track again tomorrow, Thursday 12 June, when things get serious:&nbsp;qualifying from&nbsp;11:45 to&nbsp;12:40 and the start of Race&nbsp;1 at&nbsp;18:25!</p>

<h2>Enzo Jouli&eacute; and&nbsp;Cl&eacute;ment Loeul Leading the Charge in the Porsche Sprint Challenge France</h2>

<p>Entrants in the&nbsp;Porsche Sprint Challenge France participated in two free practices. This&nbsp;championshipnat de France groups together various racing Porsches&nbsp;as well as series-produced Porsches adapted for&nbsp;circuits. For example,&nbsp;Porsche 911 type 992 GT3 Cups, 911 type 992 GT3 Rs and&nbsp;GT4 RSs. During the morning&nbsp;FP1, young French hopeful Enzo Joulie&nbsp;made his mark at the wheel of Martinet by Alm&eacute;ras&#39; #97&nbsp;Porsche 992 GT3 Cup ahead of Louis Meric in Racetivity&#39;s #31 Porsche LM31 and&nbsp;Sylvain No&euml;l in Racing Technology&#39;s #111 Porsche.</p>

<p>This relatively calm session was followed by another early in the afternoon with current 992 GT3 Cup leader&nbsp;Victor Blugeon in ABM&#39;s #74 Porsche quickly snatching P1. Shortly after a Full Course Yellow, the times went crazy. Kim Andr&eacute; Hauschild in HRT Performance&#39;s #48&nbsp;Porsche slipped into the lead only to be immediately overtaken by Cl&eacute;ment Loeul in Ancel Motorsport&#39;s #100 Porsche. Times were only slightly slower than the morning session, but the gaps at the top of the timesheet were extremely tight. Loeul finished in the lead thanks to a time of&nbsp;4:04.531, though&nbsp;Blugeon did almost catch up to him in the final lap. Joulie rounded out the top 3.</p>

<p>The first qualifying session for the Porsche Sprint Challenge is tomorrow at&nbsp;09:00.</p>

<h2>The Fun Cut Short for the&nbsp;Mustangs</h2>

<p>Robert Noaker of&nbsp;Robert Noaker Racing clocked the fastest time of the two&nbsp;Mustang Challenge free practices. The American turned in a lap in&nbsp;4:20.174 then 4:21.271 at the wheel of his&nbsp;Mustang Dark Horse R. Only one other competitor clocked a time under&nbsp;4:24 (Cameron McLeod of&nbsp;Ryan McLeod Racing Cars in 4:23.963). The second session was ended prematurely by a red flag. The most consistent drivers on the track were able to complete&nbsp;six laps. A red flag had already shortened the morning session&nbsp;when the engine bonnet of Academy Motorsport&#39;s #97 driven by Marco Signoretti became detached and went flying at Mulsanne.</p>

2025 24 Hours of Le Mans – Support race results after first free practices

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA claimed their second session in a row with the #38 car sealing top spot in FP1 before the sister car - the #12 scooped top-spot ahead of BMW, Ferrari and Porsche - while the biggest shock of the night was the early exit of the experienced #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing crew.

<h4>Hypercar</h4>

<p>1. Cadillac V-Series.R #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA &ndash; Will Stevens / Norman Nato / Alex Lynn &ndash; 03.22.847<br />
2. BMW M Hybrid V8 #15 BMW M Team WRT &ndash; Dries Vanthoor / Raffaele Marciello / Kevin Magnussen &ndash; 03.22.887<br />
3. Ferrari 499P #51 Ferrari-AF Corse &ndash; Alessandro Pier Guidi / James Calado / Antonio Giovinazzi &ndash; 03.23.163<br />
4. Cadillac V-Series.R #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA &ndash; Earl Bamber / S&eacute;bastien Bourdais / Jenson Button &ndash; 03.23.467<br />
5. Ferrari 499P #50 Ferrari-AF Corse &ndash; Antonio Fuoco / Nicklas Nielsen / Miguel Molina &ndash; 03.23.514<br />
6. Porsche 963 #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport &ndash; Julien Andlauer / Michael Christensen / Mathieu Jaminet &ndash; 03.23.544<br />
7. BMW M Hybrid V8 #20 BMW M Team WRT &ndash; Rene Rast / Robin Frijns / Sheldon van der Linde &ndash; 03.23.805<br />
8. Cadillac V-Series.R #311 Cadillac Whelen &ndash; Jack Aitken / Felipe Drugovich / Frederik Vesti &ndash; 03.23.890<br />
9. Alpine A424 #36 Alpine Endurance Team &ndash; Mick Schumacher / Fr&eacute;d&eacute;ric Makowiecki / Jules Gounon &ndash; 03.23.945<br />
10. Toyota GR010 Hybrid #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing &ndash; S&eacute;bastien Buemi / Brendon Hartley / Ryo Hirakawa &ndash; 03.23.988<br />
11. Ferrari 499P #83 AF Corse &ndash; Robert Kubica / Yifei Ye / Philip Hanson &ndash; 03.23.994<br />
12. Cadillac V-Series.R #101 Cadillac WTR &ndash; Ricky Taylor / Jordan Taylor / Filipe Albuquerque &ndash; 03.24.030<br />
13. Porsche 963 #4 Porsche Penske Motorsport &ndash; Felipe Nasr / Nick Tandy / Pascal Wehrlein &ndash; 03.24.584<br />
14. Alpine A424 #35 Alpine Endurance Team &ndash; Paul-Loup Chatin / Ferdinand Habsburg / Charles Milesi &ndash; 03.24.667<br />
15.&nbsp;Aston Martin Valkyrie #009 Aston Martin THOR Team &ndash; Alex Riberas / Marco S&oslash;rensen / Roman De Angelis</p>

<h4>LMP2</h4>

<p>1. Oreca 07-Gibson #14 AO by TF &ndash; PJ Hyett / Dane Cameron / Louis Deletraz (LMP2 Pro/Am) &ndash; 03.35.472<br />
2. Oreca 07-Gibson #23 United Autosports &ndash; Daniel Schneider / Oliver Jarvis / Benjamin Hanley (LMP2 Pro/Am) &ndash; 03.35.657<br />
3. Oreca 07-Gibson #45 Algarve Pro Racing &ndash; George Kurtz / Nicky Catsburg / Alexander Quinn (LMP2 Pro/Am) &ndash; 03.35.954<br />
4. Oreca 07-Gibson #29 TDS Racing &ndash; Rodrigo Sales / Mathias Beche / Cl&eacute;ment Novalak (LMP2 Pro/Am) &ndash; 03.36.163<br />
5. Oreca 07-Gibson #22 United Autosports &ndash; Renger Van Der Zande / Pietro Fittipaldi / David Heinemeier Hansson &ndash; 03.36.536<br />
6. Oreca 07-Gibson #48 Panis Racing &ndash; Oliver Gray / Esteban Masson / Franck Perera &ndash; 03.36.588<br />
7. Oreca 07-Gibson #25 Algarve Pro Racing &ndash; Matthias Kaiser / Lorenzo Fluxa / Th&eacute;o Pourchaire &ndash; 03.36.612<br />
8. Oreca 07-Gibson #43 Inter Europol Competition &ndash; Jakub Smiechowski / Tom Dillmann / Nick Yelloly &ndash; 03.36.958<br />
9. Oreca 07-Gibson #28 IDEC Sport &ndash; Paul Lafargue / Job Van Uitert / Sebastian Alvarez &ndash; 03.37.004<br />
10. Oreca 07-Gibson #16 RLR M Sport &ndash; Michael Jensen / Ryan Cullen / Patrick Pilet (LMP2 Pro/Am) &ndash; 03.37.119<br />
11. Oreca 07-Gibson #183 AF Corse &ndash; Fran&ccedil;ois Perrodo / Matthieu Vaxiviere / Antonio Felix Da Costa (LMP2 Pro/Am) &ndash; 03.37.394<br />
12. Oreca 07-Gibson #37 Cool Racing &ndash; Aliaksandr Malykhin / Tom Blomqvist / Tristan Vautier &ndash; 03.37.652</p>

<h4>LMGT3</h4>

<p>1. BMW M4 LMGT3 #46 Team WRT &ndash; Ahmad Al Harthy / Valentino Rossi / Kelvin Van Der Linde &ndash; 03.56.875<br />
2. Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 #27 Heart Of Racing &ndash; Ian James / Mattia Drudi / Zacharie Robichon &ndash; 03.57.083<br />
3. Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 #92 Manthey 1ST Phorm &ndash; Ryan Hardwick / Riccardo Pera / Richard Lietz &ndash; 03.57.255<br />
4. Lexus RC F LMGT3 #78 Akkodis ASP Team &ndash; Arnold Robin / Jack Hawksworth / Finn Gehrsitz &ndash; 03.57.321<br />
5. Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R #81 TF Sport &ndash; Tom Van Rompuy / Rui Andrade / Charlie Eastwood &ndash; 03.57.690<br />
6. Ford Mustang LMGT3 #88 Proton Competition &ndash; Stefano Gattuso / Giammarco Levorato / Dennis Olsen &ndash; 03.57.827<br />
7. Ferrari 296 LMGT3 #196 Ziggo Sport Tempesta &ndash; Jonathan Hui / Christopher Froggatt / Edward Cheever &ndash; 03.57.960<br />
8. McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo #59 United Autosports &ndash; James Cottingham / Gr&eacute;goire Saucy / S&eacute;bastien Baud &ndash; 03.58.106<br />
9. Ferrari 296 LMGT3 #21 Vista AF Corse &ndash; Fran&ccedil;ois Heriau / Simon Mann / Alessio Rovera &ndash; 03.58.116<br />
10. Ferrari 296 LMGT3 #54 Vista AF Corse &ndash; Thomas Flohr / Francesco Castellacci / Davide Rigon &ndash; 03.58.632<br />
11. Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 #61 Iron Lynx &ndash; Martin Berry / Lin Hodenius / Maxime Martin &ndash; 03.58.732<br />
12. McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo #95 United Autosports &ndash; Darren Leung / Sean Gelael / Marino Sato &ndash; 03.58.977</p>

<h2>Hypercars</h2>

<p>A tantalising prospect as the sun slowly began to set at Le Mans. The 21 Hypercars were unleashed onto Circuit de la Sarthe in their lightest, most aggressive trim - with the sole objective of reaching the Hyperpole knockouts tomorrow evening.</p>

<p>Setting the first representative time and impressive out of the box was Robin Frijns in the #20 BMW M Team WRT M Hybrid V8 - a whisker away from last years Hyperpole time on his first flying lap. The Flying Dutchman had the BMW on rails and that time opened the floodgates with Alpine, Ferrari, Porsche, BMW and Cadillac all following suit - each flexing their muscles on the race to the top of the timing tree.</p>

<p>Chinese driver Yifei Yi lit-up the proceedings further - the #83 AF Corse star was the first to dip under the 03:24 mark with a 03:23.994 on his second lap. Alessandro Pier Guidi sliced six hundredths to leapfrog Yi in the works #51 Ferrari AF Corse machine before Jack Aitken in the #311 Cadillac&nbsp;went quicker&nbsp;in the 03:23 club.</p>

<p>With five minutes left tensions were high - a mistake from Paul-Loup Chatin resulted in an off-road excursion in the #35 Alpine A424, while Dries Vanthoor grabbed the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 by the scruff of its neck to be the first to smash the 03:23 mark with a 03:22.887. Just seconds later Alex Lynn pushed the #12 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac to the limit and to the front of the queue with a 03:22.847 to take the second session in a row for the American brand.&nbsp;</p>

<p>One of the biggest stories from the session was the #7 Toyota GR010 - Hybrid, only managing 17th. With only the top 15 proceeding to the next round of knockouts - the Japanese team will put all their effort behind the #8 crew tomorrow. Bowing out with the Toyota was the&nbsp;#007&nbsp;Aston Martin Valkyrie, the #99 Proton Competition Porsche and sadly for French fans both #93 and&nbsp;#94 Peugeot 9X8s.<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<h2>LMP2 and LMGT3</h2>

<p>Kicking the evening off&nbsp; in the scorching sunshine, the Goodyear-shod LMP2 and LMGT3 classes took to the track to qualify for the knock-out and Hyperpole sessions. Bronze drivers took to the wheel in LMGT3, while the most experienced drivers in LMP2 cars spearheaded their teams efforts.</p>

<p>An incident filled qualifying session shortened the 30 minutes on the original clock to two short, sharp sessions.The Iron Lynx bad luck was to continue from FP1 as the #60 Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 came to a premature stop on the run up to the Dunlop chicane.&nbsp;</p>

<p>What was meant to be a 30 minute session turned into a short, sharp 15 minute blast. Louis Deletraz turned on the afterburners aboard Spike the Dragon - putting the #199 AO by TF ORECA LMP2 top the standings by 0.185 from the #23 United Autosports car in second and #45 Algarve Pro Racing in third.</p>

<p>Eight different marques of cars took the top eight fastest times in LMGT3 - showing the tight competition between the manufacturers. The Bavarian BMW carrying the famous #46 sealed the top spot with Ahmad Al Harthy booking the teams place in Hyperpole knckouts tomorrow, handing over to Valentino Rossi.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Two of the casualties in LMP2 consisted of previous outright winner Andre Lotterer in the #18 IDEC Sport car as well as 2023 LMP2 class winners Inter Europol Competition. Meanwhile, in the GT class - the dominant #87 Lexus from Sunday failed to make it into the top 12 along with the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

Double top for Cadillac as #7 Toyota out of Hyperpole qualifying

24 Heures du Mans 1960

<p>The first Portuguese driver at the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans did not appear until the 28th edition. He was forced to retire in&nbsp;the #55&nbsp;Stanguellini 740 Bialbero&nbsp;(photo) shared with&nbsp;Raymond Quilico. To-date, no Portuguese driver has ever won the race&hellip;</p>

<p><strong>Photo Copyright: Archives/ACO</strong></p>

24H LE MANS

Photo of the Day - Carlos M. Reis, first Portuguese driver to start at Le Mans, in 1960

Related News

2025 24 Hours of Le Mans – Thursday 12 June programme

Toyota fires back with night session topping form in FP2

2025 24 Hours of Le Mans – Support race results after first free practices

Double top for Cadillac as #7 Toyota out of Hyperpole qualifying

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