Just eight golden tickets for the Hyperpole grid were up for grabs in each class. The stakes were therefore sky-high as the cars returned to the track for a 60-minute qualifying session.
HYPERCAR
A spate of fast early laps by many of the competitors in the top class left the top 12 within the same second. Pressure showed as the clock wound down with Hartley, Bortolotti, Estre and Kobayashi all spinning in their quest to make the eight. Kobayashi’s mishap two-and-a-half minutes from the end proved fatal to Toyota Gazoo Racing’s hopes of qualifying for Hyperpole. A red flag brought the session to a premature end and the #7 car’s times were subsequently wiped out by the stewards for causing the incident.
As the action hotted up in the final 15 minutes, Dries Vanthoor jumped from outside the Hyperpole places to the top of the standings with a 3:24.465 lap in the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8. He will be joined on the Hyperpole grid by two Cadillacs, two Ferraris, two Porsches and an Alpine.
LMP2
Malthe Jakobsen in the #37 Oreca 07-Gibson fielded by COOL Racing surprised AO by TF racer Louis Delétraz, the #14 car having been the most rapid in the afternoon’s free practice session. The Dane went round in a time of 3:32.827. United Autosports USA’s #23 Oreca was third fastest.
LMGT3
Ben Barker’s third lap of 3:55.263 was enough to qualify in top spot in LMGT3. The #70 McLaren fielded by Inception Racing is showing a great deal of promise, taking second place in this session after a consistent free practice session earlier today.
The #86 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 of GR Racing was the only one of the 62 competitors not to record a qualifying after spending the session in the garage with an electronic issue suffered in free practice.
HYPERPOLE QUALIFIERS
HYPERCAR
1. #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 – BMW M Team WRT – Dries Vanthoor / Raffaele Marciello / Marco Wittmann – 3:24.465
2. #3 Cadillac V-Series.R – Cadillac Racing – Sébastien Bourdais / Renger van der Zande / Scott Dixon +0.177
3. #50 Ferrari 499P – Ferrari AF Corse – Antonio Fuoco / Miguel Molina / Nicklas Nielsen +0.266
4. #35 Alpine A424 – Alpine Endurance Team – Paul-Loup Chatin / Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen / Charles Milesi +0.407
5. #2 Cadillac V-Series.R #2 Cadillac Racing – Earl Bamber / Alex Lynn / Alex Palou +0.528
6. #51 Ferrari 499P – Ferrari AF Corse – Alessandro Pier Guidi / James Calado / Antonio Giovinazzi +0.584
7. #6 Porsche 963 – Porsche Penske Motorsport – Kévin Estre / André Lotterer / Laurens Vanthoor +0.586
8. #12 Porsche 963 – Hertz Team JOTA – William Stevens / Norman Nato / Callum Ilott +0.680
LMP2
1. #37 Oreca 07-Gibson – Cool Racing – Lorenzo Fluxa / Malthe Jakobsen / Ritomo Miyata – 3:32.827
2. #14 Oreca 07-Gibson – AO by TF – PJ Hyett / Louis Delétraz / Alex Quinn +0.307
3. #23 Oreca 07-Gibson – United Autosports USA – Ben Keating / Filipe Albuquerque / Ben Hanley +0.603
4. #65 Oreca 07-Gibson – Panis Racing – Rodrigo Sales / Mathias Beche / Scott Huffaker +1.000
5. #28 Oreca 07-Gibson – IDEC Sport – Paul Lafargue / Job van Uitert / Reshad de Gerus +1.388
6. #10 Oreca 07-Gibson – Vector Sport – Ryan Cullen / Patrick Pilet / Stéphane Richelmi +1.435
7. #33 Oreca 07-Gibson – DKR Engineering – Alexander Mattschull / Rene Binder / Laurents Horr +1.503
8. #22 Oreca 07-Gibson – United Autosports – Oliver Jarvis / Bijoy Garg / Nolan Siegel +1.653
LMGT3
1. #77 Ford Mustang LMGT3 – Proton Competition – Ryan Hardwick / Zacharie Robichon / Benjamin Barker – 3:55.263
2. #70 McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo2 – Inception Racing – Brendan Iribe / Ollie Millroy / Frederik Schandorff +0.143
3. #82 Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R – TF Sport – Hiroshi Koizumi / Sébastien Baud / Daniel Juncadella +0.842
4. #60 Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2 – Iron Lynx – Claudio Schiavoni / Matteo Cressoni / Franck Perera +0.890
5. #92 Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 – Manthey PureRxcing – Aliaksandr Malykhin / Joel Sturm / Klaus Bachler +0.926
6. #27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 – Heart Of Racing – Ian James / Daniel Mancinelli / Alex Riberas +0.980
7. #66 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 – JMW Motorsport – Giacomo Petrobelli / Larry ten Voorde / Salih Yoluc +1.180
8. #777 Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 – D’STATION Racing – Satoshi Hoshino / Erwan Bastard / Marco Sorensen +1.237