Antonio Fuoco was fastest in qualifying for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the #50 Ferrari 499P — but tomorrow’s Hyperpole session was decide who takes pole for the race.
The Italian set a 3:25.213 to take the top spot, just under two tenths ahead of his teammate Alessandro Pier Guidi in the sister #51 Ferrari.
The session was disrupted by two red flags and multiple slow zones. The first red flag was caused by Francois Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxiviere coming together in their Oreca LMP2 cars at the Ford chicane, causing the session to be red flagged while both cars were recovered.
The session ran green for a while once it was restarted, but Malthe Jakobsen then caused the second red flag, with the young Dane crashing at Indianapolis in the #37 COOL Racing Oreca 07-Gibson.
With the two Ferraris top, the two Toyotas followed, #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid followed by the #8 Toyota. Kamui Kobyashi was top for more than half the session, but the #7 Toyota driver was bettered by Fuoco and Pier Guidi.
Hartlety couldn’t quite match his teammate, a few tenths off the Japanese driver — but among the eight cars in the class to qualify for Hyperpole.
The Porsche 963s of Fred Makowiecki, in the #5 Porsche, and Felipe Nasr, in the Le Mans-only #75, were next up, around six tenths off Fuoco and only a couple of hundredths separating them.
And seventh and eighth, the final Hyperpole slot, were Sebastien Bourdais and Earl Bamber in the #3 and #2 Cadillac V-Series.R. Bamber, in eighth, was just eighth tenths off Fuoco — setting up what looks to be a highly competitive Hyperpole session.
In LMP2, Pietro Fittipaldi was fastest in the #28 JOTA Oreca 07-Gibson,setting a 3:34.751. Louis Deletraz was next up, with the Swiss driver, behind the wheel of the #41 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson, just two thousandths slower than the Brazilian. Third was #63 Prema Oreca 07-Gibson’s Mirko Bortolotti, just four hundredths off Fittipaldi.
And in GTE-Am, the times were set in the dying moments of the session. Charlie Eastwood, in the #25 ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage AMR, was the quickest right up until the last few moments, before getting pushed down to fourth.
It was Alessio Rovera, in the #83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, who set the fastest time, a 3:51.877. He set this after Davide Rigon had gone to the the top, driving the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo — but Rovera’s faster time moved Rigon down to second.
This making it two Italian Ferrari drivers in the top 2 – just like in Hypercar!
Before the two Italians set their laps, Nicky Catsburg briefly took the top spot in the #3 Corvette Racing C8.R — but in the end, he was almost four tenths off Rovera.
