Hyperpole at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, how does it work?

This is the final qualifying session before the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Hyperpole, a qualifying format introduced in 2020 in Sarthe, will determine the highest positions on the grid, including the pole positions at stake in the three categories (Hypercar, LM P2, GTE Am). 

At 8pm today, we'll have the Hyperpole battle for pole position in each class, ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary race.

Here's how it works 👇# LeMans24 #LeMansCentenary #WEC pic.twitter.com/NJzRvZLibM

- 24 Hours of Le Mans (@ 24hoursoflemans) June 8, 2023

The participants for the Hyperpole were first determined by a first qualifying session, held this Wednesday. At the end of this session, the first 8 in each category obtained their ticket for the Hyperpole (i.e. 24 cars in total). The rest of the competitors will start from the position acquired during this first qualifying session.

The 24 crews present in Hyperpole – which will be contested this Thursday June 8 from 20 p.m. to 20:30 p.m. – will have 30 minutes of driving to achieve the best possible time. All cars will run at the same time on the 13,6 kilometer route. Some specific rules must be respected: once the car has left the track, the teams are prohibited from entering it again in the garage, nor from refueling. If a car causes a red flag, it may not be allowed to restart the session.

However, the teams have free choice in their tires, within the limit of their allocated capital. In GTE Am, it must be the Bronze-classified driver who must be behind the wheel for the Hyperpole. 

At the end of these 30 minutes of qualifying, the pole positions as well as the top 8 in the three categories will be known, and a ceremony will reward the drivers and teams who took pole position. As in all the rounds of the WEC, one point will be awarded to the crew who took pole in the championship.

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