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, while Kamui Kobayashi in No.7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar is fourth.

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

Fifth is the fastest Alpine, the No.35 A424 Hypercar driven by Paul Loup Chatin after a strong showing by Les Bleues at their home race

2023 Le Mans winning Ferrari places seventh as the No.51 driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi peaks with seventh fastest time.

The No.6 Porsche Penske 963 is the final to make it through to the Hyperpole session as Kevin Estre survives a scary lock-up at Mulsanne Chicane and trip down escape road to be only Porsche to make it through

The top eight are covered by just 0.5s in close and competitive session

Brendon Hartley in No.8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid Hypercar survives lurid spin exiting the first Mulsanne Chicane on warm up to a push lap in second half of the session

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