Just when it seemed like Cadillac Racing had the chance to clinch the Le Mans Hyperpole event Thursday afternoon at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Kevin Estre drove his Penske Porsche to a 3:24634 fastest lap to take the Le Mans Hyperpole event ahead of the American rivals.
LEMANS, France—Sebastian Bourdais, a local hero driving on the Circuit he once called home, seemed to secure the front row for Saturday’s 92nd race with a time of 3:24:816. However, with only minutes to spare, the second Cadillac, piloted by Alex Lynn, outpaced Bourdais, clocking a 3:24 782. The last hope for the front row was Estre, the final car on the field, who overtook both Cadillacs to claim the Penske team’s first hyperpole at this event.
The two AF Corses placed fourth and fifth, and the Alpine Endurance Team, led by Paul-Loup Chatin, completed the top six.
In the highly competitive LMP 2 class, the AO by TF car, driven by former LMP 2 champion Louis Deletraz, set a blistering pace with a best time of 3:33:827. The Job Van Uttert IDEC Sports car and the home Panis Racing car, with Matthias Beche at the wheel, followed closely. Both United Autosports entries rounded out the top five, with Cool Racing, DKR Engineering, and Vector Sport not far behind.
Even after spinning out at the Ford chicanes earlier, Bredon Iribe still took his Inception Racing car to the best time of 3:58:120 to win the GT3 class, ahead of the Manthey Purerxing car driven by Aleksandr Malykhin with the JMW Motorsport entry in third. Proton, Heart of America, D’ Station, TF Sport, and Iron Lynx finished the lineup in this class.
The event had to be delayed for nearly half an hour due to a crash in a supporting event earlier. The hyperpole occurred at 2035 hours, and one red flag happened when Dries Vanthoor spun his BMW at the Porsche curves.
Friday will be a day off, with the drivers’ parade beginning at 1800 hours. The race starts at 1600 hours on Saturday afternoon.
