Cadillac Leads The Way At Circuit de la Sarthe

LE MANS — Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA was quickest for a second consecutive session Wednesday afternoon during the first round of qualifying for the 93^rd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

During the closing laps of the session, Alex Lynn pushed the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac to the limit and to the front of the queue with a 03:22.847 lap to top the second session in a row for the American brand.

Lynn shares his ride with Will Stevens and Norman Nato.

“That was lovely. The car was great. Honestly no complaints,” Lynn said. “I didn’t make any set up adjustments between the first and second run and just improved my performance. It’s a strong start; we’ll take that one.”

All four Cadillacs advanced to Hyperpole qualifying.

Second on the grid, which set the top 15 spots heading into Thursday’s Hyperpole qualifying session that sets the final grid for the twice-around-the-clock race, was the No. 15 wheeled by Dries Vanthoor, who shares the machine with Raffaele Marciello and Kevin Magnussen.

Ferrari-AF Corse was third with its Ferrari 499P shared by James Calado, Allessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi.

Porsche Penske Motorsports was fourth with drivers Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell.

The second Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac of Earl Bamber, Sebastien Bourdais and Jensen Button completed the top five.

With 21 cars in the Hypercar class, six failed to make it to Hypepole qualifying. Chief among them was the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.

Bowing out with the Toyota were both Aston Martin Valkyries, the Proton Competition Porsche and both Peugeot 9X8s.

Kicking the evening off 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.

What was meant to be a 30-minute session turned into a short, sharp 15-minute blast for the LMP2 machines. Louis Deletraz, who shares the car with Dane Cameron and P.J. Hyett, turned on the afterburners aboard Spike the Dragon, putting the No. 199 AO by TF ORECA LMP2 top the standings by 0.185 from the No. 23 United Autosports car (Daniel Schneider, Oliver Jarvis, Benjamin Hanley) in second and No. 45 Algarve Pro Racing (George Kurtz, Nicky Catsburg and Alexander Quinn) third.

Eight different marques of cars took the top eight fastest times in LMGT3, showing the tight competition among the manufacturers.

The leaders in LMGT3 were the No. 46 BMW M4 LMGT3 shared by Kelvin van der Linde, Valentino Rossi and Ahmad Al Harthy.

Hypercar

1. Cadillac V-Series.R #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA – Will Stevens / Norman Nato / Alex Lynn – 03.22.847
2. BMW M Hybrid V8 #15 BMW M Team WRT – Dries Vanthoor / Raffaele Marciello / Kevin Magnussen – 03.22.887
3. Ferrari 499P #51 Ferrari-AF Corse – Alessandro Pier Guidi / James Calado / Antonio Giovinazzi – 03.23.163
4. Porsche 963 #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport – Kévin Estre / Laurens Vanthoor / Matt Campbell – 03.23.360
5. Cadillac V-Series.R #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA – Earl Bamber / Sébastien Bourdais / Jenson Button – 03.23.467
6. Ferrari 499P #50 Ferrari-AF Corse – Antonio Fuoco / Nicklas Nielsen / Miguel Molina – 03.23.514
7. Porsche 963 #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport – Julien Andlauer / Michael Christensen / Mathieu Jaminet – 03.23.544
8. BMW M Hybrid V8 #20 BMW M Team WRT – Rene Rast / Robin Frijns / Sheldon van der Linde – 03.23.805
9. Cadillac V-Series.R #311 Cadillac Whelen – Jack Aitken / Felipe Drugovich / Frederik Vesti – 03.23.890
10. Alpine A424 #36 Alpine Endurance Team – Mick Schumacher / Frédéric Makowiecki / Jules Gounon – 03.23.945
11. Toyota GR010 Hybrid #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing – Sébastien Buemi / Brendon Hartley / Ryo Hirakawa – 03.23.988
12. Ferrari 499P #83 AF Corse – Robert Kubica / Yifei Ye / Philip Hanson – 03.23.994
13. Cadillac V-Series.R #101 Cadillac WTR – Ricky Taylor / Jordan Taylor / Filipe Albuquerque – 03.24.030
14. Porsche 963 #4 Porsche Penske Motorsport – Felipe Nasr / Nick Tandy / Pascal Wehrlein – 03.24.584
15. Alpine A424 #35 Alpine Endurance Team – Paul-Loup Chatin / Ferdinand Habsburg / Charles Milesi – 03.24.667

LMP2

1. Oreca 07-Gibson #14 AO by TF – PJ Hyett / Dane Cameron / Louis Deletraz (LMP2 Pro/Am) – 03.35.472
2. Oreca 07-Gibson #23 United Autosports – Daniel Schneider / Oliver Jarvis / Benjamin Hanley (LMP2 Pro/Am) – 03.35.657
3. Oreca 07-Gibson #45 Algarve Pro Racing – George Kurtz / Nicky Catsburg / Alexander Quinn (LMP2 Pro/Am) – 03.35.954
4. Oreca 07-Gibson #29 TDS Racing – Rodrigo Sales / Mathias Beche / Clément Novalak (LMP2 Pro/Am) – 03.36.163
5. Oreca 07-Gibson #22 United Autosports – Renger Van Der Zande / Pietro Fittipaldi / David Heinemeier Hansson – 03.36.536
6. Oreca 07-Gibson #48 Panis Racing – Oliver Gray / Esteban Masson / Franck Perera – 03.36.588
7. Oreca 07-Gibson #25 Algarve Pro Racing – Matthias Kaiser / Lorenzo Fluxa / Théo Pourchaire – 03.36.612
8. Oreca 07-Gibson #43 Inter Europol Competition – Jakub Smiechowski / Tom Dillmann / Nick Yelloly – 03.36.958
9. Oreca 07-Gibson #28 IDEC Sport – Paul Lafargue / Job Van Uitert / Sebastian Alvarez – 03.37.004
10. Oreca 07-Gibson #16 RLR M Sport – Michael Jensen / Ryan Cullen / Patrick Pilet (LMP2 Pro/Am) – 03.37.119
11. Oreca 07-Gibson #183 AF Corse – François Perrodo / Matthieu Vaxiviere / Antonio Felix Da Costa (LMP2 Pro/Am) – 03.37.394
12. Oreca 07-Gibson #37 Cool Racing – Aliaksandr Malykhin / Tom Blomqvist / Tristan Vautier – 03.37.652
    

    LMGT3

    1. BMW M4 LMGT3 #46 Team WRT – Ahmad Al Harthy / Valentino Rossi / Kelvin Van Der Linde – 03.56.875
    2. Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 #27 Heart Of Racing – Ian James / Mattia Drudi / Zacharie Robichon – 03.57.083
    3. Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 #92 Manthey 1ST Phorm – Ryan Hardwick / Riccardo Pera / Richard Lietz – 03.57.255
    4. Lexus RC F LMGT3 #78 Akkodis ASP Team – Arnold Robin / Jack Hawksworth / Finn Gehrsitz – 03.57.321
    5. Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R #81 TF Sport – Tom Van Rompuy / Rui Andrade / Charlie Eastwood – 03.57.690
    6. Ford Mustang LMGT3 #88 Proton Competition – Stefano Gattuso / Giammarco Levorato / Dennis Olsen – 03.57.827
    7. Ferrari 296 LMGT3 #196 Ziggo Sport Tempesta – Jonathan Hui / Christopher Froggatt / Edward Cheever – 03.57.960
    8. McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo #59 United Autosports – James Cottingham / Grégoire Saucy / Sébastien Baud – 03.58.106
    9. Ferrari 296 LMGT3 #21 Vista AF Corse – François Heriau / Simon Mann / Alessio Rovera – 03.58.116
    10. Ferrari 296 LMGT3 #54 Vista AF Corse – Thomas Flohr / Francesco Castellacci / Davide Rigon – 03.58.632
    11. Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 #61 Iron Lynx – Martin Berry / Lin Hodenius / Maxime Martin – 03.58.732
    12. McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo #95 United Autosports – Darren Leung / Sean Gelael / Marino Sato – 03.58.9