Toyota No.8 wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Hyperpole from the 90th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans delivered an impressive 30-minute show Thursday on a dry track and in the sun. Perfect conditions with 21 degrees in the air and 30 degrees on the track for the best possible times. Si le début de la séance a été le théâtre de nombreux chronos effacés à cause de passages hors limite, notamment pour Kamui Kobayashi (Toyota n°7), Nicolas Lapierre (Alpine n°36), Olivier Pla (Glickenhaus n°708) Ryan Briscoe (Glickenhaus n°709), ce qui a permis à une LMP2, la JOTA n°38 d’occuper la pole pendant quelques secondes, les choses sont ensuite rentrées dans l’ordre, globalement, et les Hypercars ont pu se battre between them.

American models were unable to play Hyperpole and would take fourth and fifth positions on the grid, for 709 (Ryan Briscoe) and 708 (Olivier Pla). On the other hand, the Alps, which benefited from a BOP adjustment prior to Free Practice 3 earlier in the day, rocked two Toyotas. Lapierre already finished first with a time of 3’24” 850, nearly five seconds short of Wednesday’s qualifier, and seven tenths short of the 2021 Hyperpole.

Cruisers dominate the GTE Pro class

But the GR010s, despite allowing Hartley twice, and an attempt disrupted by Laurens Vanthoor’s No. 92 Porsche GTE Pro, found the resources to score two goals at Le Mans in the last moments. And while Kobayashi could have won the fifth pole at Le Mans, equaling Jackie Ickx’s record, the New Zealander eventually beat the Japanese by four-tenths (3’24” 408 to 3’24” 828).

In LMP2, he was also close and the Belgian WRT team was the fastest, with Robin Frijns at the wheel (3’28” 394), while Norman Nato held the pole for long with his Realteam prototype by WRT (3’29” 697).

Official Corvettes dominated the GTE Pro class, #64 (Nick Tandy) before #63 (Antonio Garcia), with just under twenty between the two cars (3’49” 985 and 3’50” 177). Finally, in the GTE Am, it was Ferrari that set the best time, #61 of AF Corse (Vincent Abril), at 3’52” 594.