Toyota panics the time, Kobayashi on pole

The timer is up! While we imagined, before the start of the weekend, that the pole time would be close to 3.30:00 for the first year of Hypercars, the Toyota n ° 7 of Kamui Kobayashi panicked the counters this Saturday evening in hyperpole. Already the author of a surprising 3.26:279 in qualifying, the Japanese driver once again made an impression by lowering his time to 3.23:900. And to think that his technical director Pascal Vasselon had said after qualifying on Wednesday that his cars were “close to their final potential” and there weren't three seconds to go... 

Very comfortable in the rolling lap exercise, Kamui Kabayashi therefore placed the No. 7 car in pole position for the third year in a row. Unsurprisingly, he beat the sister car number 8 driven by Brendon Hartley, slower by 0.295. The Kiwi indeed allows Toyota to secure the first row, a year after a Rebellion was inserted between the two Japanese on the grid. Behind, theAlpine and Glickenhaus played a game of cat and mouse, but ultimately it was the French team which took third place thanks to Nicolas lapierre (+1.674). On the Glickenhaus side, the No. 708 of Olivier Pla will start in front of the sister car. 

Hypercar ranking.

In LM P2, the battle was fierce between Louis Delétraz (Team WRT/No. 41) and Antonio Felix Da Costa (Team JOTA no. 38). But ultimately it is the Portuguese driver, champion of Formula E in 2020, who offered the top position in the category to his crew by beating the Swiss by half a second. Panis Racing confirmed its excellent disposition since the start of the Le Mans event by taking 3rd place thanks to the experienced Will Stevens. Nyck de Vries, very recent Formula E world champion, placed his No. 26 G-Drive in 4th position. Finally the two qualified United Autosports complete the top 6, with the #32 car ahead of the #23. 

LM P2 classification

The misfortunes of Kevin Estre

In GTE Pro, to err is human, Kévin Estre (Porsche) unfortunately proved it. The Lyonnais, the first competitor to break the track record in Grand Touring during qualifying on Wednesday, left with a knife between his teeth during his first flying lap, but the leader of the No. 92 which he shares with Neel Jani and Michael Christensen made a mistake at the Indianapolis corner. On the radio, the concern was palpable when the Frenchman suspected to his engineers "a corner of the chassis sunken at the rear", according to a first glance. A more in-depth analysis will be necessary during the night by the mechanics in the Porsche GT Team clan, which is looking gloomy with the fifth time of Gianmaria Bruni in the No. 91, almost a second from the poleman.

In fact, the pole sitter is the other sensation of the evening. The Taiwanese outfit Hub Auto Racing becomes the first private team to score a pole position in the discipline! A feat that we owe to the Belgian Dries Vanthoor. Laurens' little brother surprised everyone at the wheel of the No. 911 Porsche 72 RSR that he shares with Maxime Martin and Alvaro Parente. THE Ferrari 488 AF Corse officials tried to unsettle the German GT, in vain, despite a final offensive attempt by Daniel Serra on the No. 52 (shared with Miguel Molina and Sam Bird). The Prancing Horse is pouting because the No. 51 devolved to James Calado (and Côme Ledogar-Alessandro Pier Guidi) has to settle for fourth place, behind the new No. 8 Corvette C64.R of Tommy Milner. For its debut in Sarthe, the rear-engined American car will start third, which will boost the morale of the troops after a difficult start to the week.

GTE Pro ranking

Porsche consoles itself on the GTE Am side thanks to Julien Andlauer (Porsche n°88 of Dempsey-Proton Racing). The 22-year-old, like his compatriot Kévin Estre from Lyon, confirmed his sparkling form from Wednesday's qualifying by taking pole with ease. His closest rival, Tom Gamble (#86 GR Racing Porsche) was thrown back by more than half a second! Making his debut at Le Mans, the former hope of the car Antonio Fuoco (Ferrari no. 47 of Cetilar Racing) moved up to fourth place, ahead of another ex-future star, Ben Barnicoat (Ferrari no. 71 of Inception Racing).

GTE Am ranking

Jérémy Satis and Medhi Casaurang-Vergez