Ferrari’s historic pole at Le Mans with a double; Toyota accused BoP

Le Mans – After the first part of qualifying for the 24 Hours of Le Mans race held on Wednesday, eight cars from each of the three classes managed to qualify to fight for first place on Thursday, the so-called hyperbole.

In the highest category, the hypercarsIt was a plot in and of itself Toyota He can turn around the strength shown by Ferrari, which doubled the day before. Predictably, the Japanese manufacturer charged the extra 37 kilos imposed earlier this week to smooth things out, and nothing could be done to prevent Ferrari from taking the top two. First place went to Antonio Fuoco in the No. 50 Ferrari, which he shares with the Spaniard Miguel Molina and Dane Niklas Nielsen, thanks to Italy’s stratospheric lap of 3:22.982 that left its sister car, No. 51 in the hands of Alessandro Pier Guidi, seven-tenths after his best lap was erased for going beyond the track limits.

The #7 Toyota, Ferrari’s biggest competitor by far, was in the hands of Kamui Kobayashi, but at no point were they able to keep up the pace of the cars in Cavallino. Indeed, despite the fact that he had the third best lap, he was erased for going beyond the limits of the track, and he could only finish fifth.

Behind the Ferraris was the other Toyota, Brendon Hartley’s No. 8, albeit less than a second and a half short of the best time. And fourth, ahead of the No. 7 Toyota, Felipe Nasr’s Porsche Pinsk. The #3 Cadillac of Sébastien Bourdais had only finished fourth with a few minutes to go, but ended the session in a shooting danger, and when he caused the red flag, his best lap was pulled. It will start at eight.

pole LMP2 It was for IDEC Sport ORECA of Paul Loeb Chatinwhich survived the recent attack by Jotta pilot Pietro Fittipaldi.

Corvette Racing grabbed the lead GTE am Courtesy of Bronze licensed driver (it was mandatory to designate a driver of this level in GTE Am) Ben Keating.

2023 24 Hours of Le Mans pole results

24 Hours of Le Mans 2023 pole recap

As the afternoon fell on La Sarthe, there was quite a rush to get out on the track due to the short overhang, only 30 minutes without a driver change or refueling. On the first attempt, Earl Bamber’s No. 2 Cadillac timed out for going over the entry limits, while on the first attempt Pierre Guidi already beat the pole in 2022, a 3:23.897 that left three-tenths behind the other Ferrari, already 2.3 and 2.5 seconds behind. My Toyotas.

On the second attack, with 20 minutes to go, the Ferraris played the pole position, improving in the early sectors, but the leader No. 51 found the Toyota bothering him, and the red No. 50 was the only car to complete that turn, albeit with an inadequate record. , leaving it only 8K behind its sister car, but in second place.

After pitting for a tire change, Kobayashi dropped to a 3:24.933, still second off the fastest time, and the No. 8 pit stop for a front end change. But Ferrari had yet to say the last word, and Pierre Guidi managed to lower his mark by four-tenths with No. 51, despite having a lap removed for exceeding track limits. Fuoco, who remained completely on fire, managed to drop almost a second in sector two and, despite battling traffic in the third, put in a great lap to take pole position.

In the end, after adjustments to the setup, Kobayashi was improving his time and it looked like he could finish third, but the Cadillac that was occupying that position, with Bourdas at the wheel, stalled and a fire appeared from behind, forcing the marshals to take over. At that time the session with was suspended red flag, but there are still more than five minutes left. However, the Ferraris didn’t have enough fuel for one last attempt, and they had to see how the Toyotas and Porsches fared.

Both Toyotas improved, allowing Hartley to move into fourth ahead of the Penske Porsche of Frederic Makowiecki, who in turn saw how Earl Bamber and Felipe Nasr They outdid him with the Cadillac and the other Porsche respectively. Kobayashi had set the third fastest time, but was last wiped out and dropped to fourth.