Hot News World Endurance Championship

WEC: Ferraris 1-2 in first qualifying at Le Mans

Posted by AR1 staff

Ferrari AF Corse topped Wednesday evening’s first qualifying for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Antonio Fuoco set the fastest lap time of 3:25.213 in the No. 50 Ferrari 499P, moments after Alessandro Pier Guidi put the Italian manufacturer’s No. 51 machine on top.

In sunny conditions and temperatures of around 27 degrees Celsius, the qualifying session on the 13.626-kilometer Circuit des 24 Heures proved difficult: two interruptions with red flags and numerous yellow flags repeatedly hampered the qualifying attempts of racing cars.

In today’s hunt for top times, only the eight fastest cars in each class qualify for the so-called “hyperpole”. This 30-minute session begins at 8 pm on Thursday (June 8) and determines the positions of the first four grid rows. The grid spots for the remaining drivers who did not qualify for the shootout have been allocated based on today’s result.

Antonio Fuoco in the #50 Ferrari

Both of the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillacs advanced through the opening qualifying session today, earning a chance to compete for the pole position at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Both Sebastien Bourdais (P6; 3:25.924) and Earl Bamber (P7; 3:26.020) exhibited strong pace in the initial one-hour qualifying session that earned their respective team a spot in tomorrow’s starting position decider.

“I think it’s really good being here at Le Mans the first time with the new Cadillac program to make the Hyperpole. We’re right in the mix and now we have the shootout,” said Bamber. “I think we have all the ingredients to be good and then work on our race pace. We’ll be ready.”

Cars progressing to Hyperpole:

Hypercar

#50 Ferrari AF Corse
#51 Ferrari AF Corse
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing
#5 Porsche Penske Motorsport
#75 Porsche Penske Motorsport
#3 Cadillac Racing
#2 Cadillac Racing

Both Peugeot 9X8s, the Action Express Racing Cadillac, both Glickenhaus 007 Pipos and Floyd Vanwall Racing Team missed out.

The No. 6 Porsche from the Penske factory team and the customer 963 from Hertz Team JOTA, which is understood to have encountered a hybrid system issue, also failed to make the cut.

LMP2

In LMP2, Pietro Fittipaldi set the pace behind the wheel of the No. 28 JOTA Oreca 07 Gibson, beating Team WRT’s Louis Deletraz and Prema Racing’s Mirko Bortolotti to the top spot.

Cars progressing….

#28 JOTA
#41 Team WRT
#63 Prema Racing
#48 IDEC Sport
#10 Vector Sport
#47 COOL Racing
#923 Racing Team Turkey
#9 Prema Racing

GTE Am

Alessio Rovera  set the quickest time in GTE-Am for Ferrari squad Richard Mille AF Corse.

The Italian steered the No. 83 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo edged ahead of fellow AF Corse driver Davide Rigon, and Nicky Catsburg in the No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

Alessio Rovera in the #83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari

Cars progressing……

#83 Richard Mille AF Corse
#54 AF Corse
#33 Corvette Racing
#25 ORT by TF
#57 Kessel Racing
#55 GMB Motorsport
#21 AF Corse
#74 Kessel Racing

Qualifying 1 Results

Pos. No. Class Drivers Car Time Behind
1 50 Hypercar Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen Ferrari 499P 3’25.213  0.000
2 51 Hypercar James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi Ferrari 499P 3’25.412 0.199
3 7 Hypercar Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez Toyota GR010 – Hybrid 3’25.485 0.272
4 8 Hypercar Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa Toyota GR010 – Hybrid 3’25.749 0.536
5 5 Hypercar Dane Cameron, Michael Christensen, Frédéric Makowiecki Porsche 963 3’25.848 0.635
6 75 Hypercar Mathieu Jaminet, Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy Porsche 963 3’25.868 0.655
7 3 Hypercar Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon, Renger van der Zande Cadillac V-Series.R 3’25.924 0.711
8 2 Hypercar Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Richard Westbrook Cadillac V-Series.R 3’26.020 0.807
9 6 Hypercar Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 963 3’26.900 1.687
10 93 Hypercar Paul di Resta, Mikkel Jensen, Jean-Eric Vergne Peugeot 9X8 3’27.260 2.047
11 94 Hypercar Loïc Duval, Gustavo Menezes, Nico Müller Peugeot 9X8 3’27.850 2.637
12 311 Hypercar Jack Aitken, Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims Cadillac V-Series.R 3’27.960 2.747
13 708 Hypercar Ryan Briscoe, Romain Dumas, Olivier Pla Glickenhaus 007 LMH 3’28.497 3.284
14 709 Hypercar Nathanaël Berthon, Esteban Gutierrez, Franck Mailleux Glickenhaus 007 LMH 3’28.612 3.399
15 4 Hypercar Tom Dillmann, Esteban Guerrieri, Tristan Vautier Vanwall Vandervell 680 3’29.745 4.532
16 28 LMP2 Pietro Fittipaldi, David Heinemeier Hansson, Oliver Rasmussen Oreca 07 3’34.751 9.538
17 41 LMP2 Rui Andrade, Louis Deletraz, Robert Kubica Oreca 07 3’34.753 9.540
18 63 LMP2 Mirko Bortolotti, Daniil Kvyat, Doriane Pin Oreca 07 3’34.793 9.580
19 48 LMP2 Paul Loup Chatin, Laurents Hörr, Paul Lafargue Oreca 07 3’34.839 9.626
20 10 LMP2 Gabriel Aubry, Ryan Cullen, Matthias Kaiser Oreca 07 3’34.985 9.772
21 47 LMP2 Reshad de Gerus, Vlad Lomko, Simon Pagenaud Oreca 07 3’35.105 9.892
22 923 LMP2 Tom Gamble, Dries Vanthoor, Salih Yoluc Oreca 07 3’35.176 9.963
23 9 LMP2 Juan Manuel Correa, Filip Ugran, Bent Viscaal Oreca 07 3’35.392 10.179
24 14 LMP2 Mathias Beche, Ben Hanley, Rodrigo Sales Oreca 07 3’35.453 10.240
25 23 LMP2 Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis, Josh Pierson Oreca 07 3’35.519 10.306
26 45 LMP2 James Allen, Colin Braun, George Kurtz Oreca 07 3’35.578 10.365
27 22 LMP2 Filipe Albuquerque, Philip Hanson, Frederick Lubin Oreca 07 3’35.587 10.374
28 39 LMP2 Giedo van der Garde, Roberto Lacorte, Patrick Pilet Oreca 07 3’35.652 10.439
29 65 LMP2 Tijmen van der Helm, Manuel Maldonado, Job Van Uitert Oreca 07 3’35.691 10.478
30 34 LMP2 Albert Costa, Fabio Scherer, Jakub Smiechowski Oreca 07 3’35.755 10.542
31 31 LMP2 Robin Frijns, Sean Gelael, Ferdinand Habsburg Oreca 07 3’35.853 10.640
32 43 LMP2 Maxime Martin, Tom van Rompuy, Ugo De Wilde Oreca 07 3’35.951 10.738
33 37 LMP2 Alexandre Coigny, Malthe Jakobsen, Nicolas Lapierre Oreca 07 3’36.271 11.058
34 80 LMP2 Ben Barnicoat, Norman Nato, François Perrodo Oreca 07 3’36.483 11.270
35 30 LMP2 Rene Binder, Neel Jani, Nicolas Pino Oreca 07 3’37.213 12.000
36 35 LMP2 Olli Caldwell, André Negrão, Memo Rojas Oreca 07 3’37.498 12.285
37 32 LMP2 Anders Fjordbach, Mark Kvamme, Jan Magnussen Oreca 07 3’39.303 14.090
38 24 INNOVATIVE CAR Jenson Button, Jimmie Johnson, Mike Rockenfeller Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 3’47.976 22.763
39 54 LMGTE AM Francesco Castellacci, Thomas Flohr, Davide Rigon Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 3’51.914 26.701
40 33 LMGTE AM Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating, Nicolas Varrone Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 3’52.228 27.015
41 25 LMGTE AM Ahmad Al Harthy, Michael Dinan, Charlie Eastwood Aston Martin Vantage AMR 3’52.431 27.218
42 57 LMGTE AM Scott Huffaker, Takeshi Kimura, Daniel Serra Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 3’52.459 27.246
43 55 LMGTE AM Gustav Birch, Jens Reno Møller, Marco Sørensen Aston Martin Vantage AMR 3’52.484 27.271
44 83 LMGTE AM Luis Perez Companc, Alessio Rovera, Lilou Wadoux Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 3’52.658 27.445
45 21 LMGTE AM Simon Mann, Ulysse De Pauw, Julien Piguet Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 3’52.968 27.755
46 74 LMGTE AM Kei Cozzolino, Yorikatsu Tsujiko, Naoki Yokomizo Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 3’53.263 28.050
47 60 LMGTE AM Matteo Cressoni, Alessio Picariello, Claudio Schiavoni Porsche 911 RSR – 19 3’53.374 28.161
48 98 LMGTE AM Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli, Alex Riberas Aston Martin Vantage AMR 3’53.406 28.193
49 77 LMGTE AM Julien Andlauer, Christian Ried, Mikkel Pedersen Porsche 911 RSR – 19 3’53.481 28.268
50 86 LMGTE AM Ben Barker, Riccardo Pera, Michael Wainwright Porsche 911 RSR – 19 3’53.531 28.318
51 85 LMGTE AM Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting Porsche 911 RSR – 19 3’53.603 28.390
52 72 LMGTE AM Valentin Hasse-Clot, Arnold Robin, Maxime Robin Aston Martin Vantage AMR 3’53.703 28.490
53 56 LMGTE AM Matteo Cairoli, PJ Hyett, Gunnar Jeannette Porsche 911 RSR – 19 3’53.947 28.734
54 66 LMGTE AM Neubauer Thomas, Giacomo Petrobelli, Louis Prette Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 3’54.093 28.880
55 911 LMGTE AM Michael Fassbender, Richard Lietz, Martin Rump Porsche 911 RSR – 19 3’54.129 28.916
56 16 LMGTE AM Ryan Hardwick, Jan Heylen, Zacharie Robichon Porsche 911 RSR – 19 3’54.137 28.924
57 100 LMGTE AM Andrew Haryanto, Chandler Hull, Jeffrey Segal Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 3’54.143 28.930
58 88 LMGTE AM Jonas Ried, Harry Tincknell, Don Yount Porsche 911 RSR – 19 3’58.486 33.273
59 36 LMP2 Julien Canal, Charles Milesi, Matthieu Vaxivière Oreca 07 3’59.171 33.958
60 13 LMP2 René Rast, Ricky Taylor, Steven Thomas Oreca 07 no time
61 38 Hypercar Antonio Felix da Costa, Will Stevens, Ye Yifei Porsche 963 no time
62 777 LMGTE AM Tomonobu Fujii, Satoshi Hoshino, Casper Stevenson Aston Martin Vantage AMR no time