24H. Le Mans – Qualifying: WRT places its pawns, no surprises in GTE Pro

The duel for pole position 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022 promises to be tight in LM P2! The fight in the first part of qualifying has already been fought with the 6 cars qualifying for the Hyperpole in the same second.

As expected, WRT played the leading roles in this first qualifying session of the week. With three prototypes entered in the Sarthe, the Belgian team did not go into detail by obtaining the best time in the category 3'29"898 signed Robin Frijns on the No. 31 while Norman Nato (No. 41) ranked 3rd, just under 6 tenths behind the sister car and just behind the No. 38 JOTA driven by Antonio Felix da Costa.

The last three tickets for the Hyperpole were won by the two United Autosports cars with the No. 23 ahead of the No. 22, and by the Prema No. 9 which is competing in its first 24 Hours of Le Mans. Richard Mille Racing finished at the gates of the Top 6, narrowly missing qualification for the Hyperpole.

At Vector, these first qualifying sessions for the 24 Hours of Le Mans did not go as planned. The Oreca 07 No. 10 was not even able to participate. An engine problem encountered during FP1 prevented the English team from taking part in the session. The team hopes to be able to change it in time to compete in EL2 this Wednesday at 22:00 p.m.

En Hypercar pas de surprise puisque les 5 voitures engagées dans la catégorie sont qualifiées d’office pour l’Hyperpole prévue ce jeudi à 20h. Au jeu des chronos, c’est la Toyota N°7 qui a mené le peloton avec un chrono en 3’27“247 de Jose Maria Lopez in front of the two 007s from Glickenhaus. Alpine logically did not take any risks and accumulated the laps for the last part of qualifying. Nicolas lapierre finished 2”409 behind GR010 N°7 with a best time of 3’29”656.

Logic respected in GTE Pro

By welcoming the Ferrari 488 GTE EVO No. 74, the GTE Pro category was going to have a car eliminated before the Hyperpole for the first time in 2020. Enough to add to the stakes in qualifying. Well, that's what we thought. If we expected a good fight between the officials and the Riley Motorsport car, the order was ultimately not upset during the qualifying session.

Confiée à Felipe Fraga, la monture italienne du Riley Motorsports n’a pas pu se classer parmi les 6 premières laissant ainsi la voie libre aux Porsche, Corvette et Ferrari officielles pour l’Hyperpole ce jeudi. Le meilleur temps est lui revenu à la Porsche N°92 avec un tour en 3’50″999 à mettre à l’actif de Laurens Vanthoor devant la Corvette N°63 et la Porsche N°91.

In GTE AM, it is theAston Martin Vantage AMR No. 98 (Northwest AMR) which dominated the category with Nicki Thiim at the wheel. The Dane completed his fastest passage in 3’52”559. On the line, the one who stands out in DTM this year was never worried since Mikkel Jensen (Ferrari No. 57 – Kessel Racing), 2nd behind him, finished more than 9 tenths behind. Ferrari, on the other hand, remains the manufacturer best placed to take pole position with no less than 4 GTE EVOs qualified for the next phase. 

As for those eliminated, there was a slight disappointment regarding the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche driven by the trio Cooper MacNeil, Julien Andlauer and Thomas Merrill. Stopped in his tracks by the arrival of rain 20 minutes from the checkered flag, Andlauer was unable to improve on his previous mark of 3'54"912 to qualify for the Hyperpole.

Note that qualifying was marked by the accident of rookie Michael Fassbender (Porsche N°93 – Proton Competition) 30 minutes from time. The actor who discovered the double clock turn made a mistake when braking at the first Mulsanne chicane, heavily damaging his car and at the same time causing the only red flag of the session.

🟥Red Flag in Qualifying🟥

The session has been stopped with just over 30 minutes on the clock. The #93 Proton Competition Porsche is being recovered. Driver is mostly ok 👍

️https://t.co/4J3q5Z45q3# LeMans24 | @FIAWEC pic.twitter.com/wKnhzJesoM

- 24 Hours of Le Mans (@ 24hoursoflemans) June 8, 2022

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