Two Porsche 963 have advanced into the so-called ‘Hyperpole’ in qualifying for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In this 30-minute session, the eight fastest drivers in each category will make a bid for pole position on Thursday at 8 pm. Kévin Estre qualified the No. 6 Porsche 963 for the Porsche Penske Motorsport works team. As eighth quickest, the Hertz Team Jota outfit will send one of the hybrid prototypes from Weissach into the Hyperpole session, too. In the LMGT3 class, Austria’s Klaus Bachler progressed into the critical shootout at the wheel of Manthey PureRxcing’s Porsche 911 GT3 R. We all give a big thumbs up for the Porsches in the Hyperpole and the further Le Mans 24H hoping they will add another victory to the yet successful history of Porsche at the Le Mans 24H.
In ideal weather conditions with scattered clouds and an air temperature of almost 20 degrees Celsius, the qualifying got underway with a jostling congregation at the pit exit. The reason: whoever is first on the racetrack has the clearest run in the early stages and thus the chance of advancing into the Hyperpole on Thursday. Right from the start, many competitors set impressive lap times. For this session, the three Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 were driven by the works drivers Nick Tandy from Great Britain (No. 4), the Australian Matt Campbell (No. 5) and Kévin Estre. At the wheel of the No. 6 car, the Frenchman qualified for the Hyperpole in 3:25.501 minutes. His Porsche 963 currently ranks first in the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC. The sister cars, which also put out 511 kW (695 PS), are expected to start the 24-hour race on Saturday at 4 pm from positions 10 and 19.
“That was a close and gripping qualifying session with a tightly packed field in the Hypercar class,” stated Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport. “We would’ve preferred to have had more works-run Porsche 963 reach the Hyperpole, so we’re disappointed. We now need to look at the results and draw the appropriate conclusions with a view to the race on Saturday. Unlike in previous practice sessions, I think we got a better idea in the qualifying of how we stack up against the competition and we have some orientation in this regard.”
“In the end, the top eight were separated by just seventh tenths of a second – that gives a clear indication of just how close the qualifying was on this 13-kilometre course,” explains Jonathan Diuguid, Managing Director Porsche Penske Motorsport. Our number 6 car made it into the top 8, the other two works cars simply couldn’t get a clear run. Nick Tandy was particularly unlucky in our number 4 car and so was Matt on his second flying lap. We’re getting good feedback from the drivers about the performance of our cars so we’re feeling optimistic as we head into the upcoming race.”
Hertz Team Jota #12 qualified for Hyperpole, but will they make it ?
Hertz Team Jota’s No. 12 Porsche also made it into the Hyperpole thanks to Callum Ilott (UK). As all the lap times of another competitor were subsequently cancelled, the customer team moved up to eighth place. In P17, the British team’s second hybrid prototype missed out on advancing into the next heat, as did the identical racing car fielded by Proton Competition, in which former Porsche Junior Julien Andlauer from France qualified 14th. So far however, it still is a question whether the Hertz Team Jota’s No. 12 Porsche will be able to make it to the start of the Hyperpole. The British Callum Ilottt crashed the car late in Free Practive 2 and triggered a red flag. Fortunately Illot left the car uninjured, but the condition of the car was worse. Apparenly the monocoque sustained some damage and needed to be replaced. At the moment of writing, the team is working hard to get the job done and is in constant communication with FIA and ACO to make sure that we fulfill all regulatory obligations .
LM GT3 Class
In the LMGT3 class, the two Porsche 911 GT3 R campaigned by Manthey EMA and Manthey PureRxcing fought for a top-eight result in qualifying. Klaus Bachler gave the seasoned customer squad from Germany’s Eifel region good reason to celebrate: the Austrian planted the No. 92 Porsche 911 on fifth place. The sister car is expected to tackle the endurance classic from 16th on the grid.
Qualifying result
Hypercar class:
1. D. Vanthoor/Marciello/Wittmann (B/CH/D), BMW #15, 3:24.465 minutes
2. Bourdais/van der Zande/Dixon (F/NL/NZ), Cadillac #3, -0,177 seconds
3. Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen (I/E/DK), Ferrari #50, -0.266 seconds
7. Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor (F/D/B), Porsche 963 #6, -0.586 seconds
8. Ilott/Stevens/Nato (UK/UK/F), Porsche 963 #12, -0.680 seconds
10. Campbell/Christensen/Makowiecki (AUS/DK/F), Porsche 963 #5, -0.842 seconds
14. Andlauer/Jani/Tincknell (F/CH/UK), Porsche 963 #99, -1.527 seconds
17. Hanson/Button/Rasmussen (UK/UK/DK), Porsche 963 #38, -1.825 seconds
19 Tandy/Nasr/Jaminet (UK/BR/F), Porsche 963 #4, -1.897 seconds
LMGT3 class:
1. Barker/Hardwick/Robichon (UK/USA/CDN), Ford #77, 3:55.263 minutes
2. Schandorff/Iribe/Millroy (DK/USA/UK), McLaren #70, -0.143 seconds
3. Juncadella/Koizumi/Baud (E/JP/F), Corvette #82, -0.842 seconds
5. Bachler/Malykhin/Sturm (A/UK/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, -0.926 seconds
16. Lietz/Shahin/Schuring (A/AUS/NL), Porsche 911 GT3 R #91, -1.763 seconds
All results on fiawec.alkamelsystems.com.
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Edited Porsche Factory Press Release
Pictures & Video courtesy Porsche AG
