Le Mans Qualifying: Alpine Set the Pace as Peugeot and the Reigning Winners Tumble Out

Wednesday night at the Circuit de la Sarthe delivered the first real twist of Le Mans week. Alpine ended the opening qualifying session on top of the Hypercar timesheet, but the bigger story unfolded at the other end of the order, where both works Peugeots and the Ferrari that won this race twelve months ago found themselves on the wrong side of the Hyperpole cut.

Image - Rick Kiewiet, Prescott Motorsport

There is a particular kind of tension to the first night of qualifying at Le Mans. Nobody wins the race on Wednesday, but a handful of teams can certainly make their week a great deal harder, and that is exactly what happened to three of the most familiar names in the Hypercar field.

Alpine grab the headlines

The fastest car of the night was the number 35 Alpine, with Ferdinand Habsburg putting the finishing touch to a lap that he was quick to credit to the people who kept faith in him along the way. He shares the car with António Félix da Costa and Charles Milesi, and for a manufacturer that has spent much of the season chipping away at the front-runners rather than beating them outright, topping a session at La Sarthe is a genuine lift.

Image - Rick Kiewiet, Prescott Motorsport

What it does not do, of course, is settle anything. This was the session that simply decides who gets to fight for pole on Thursday, and the margins underline how little it ultimately means. The two Cadillacs of Hertz Team Jota and Wayne Taylor Racing slotted in right behind, with barely a hundredth covering the top two and the leading half-dozen cars, Alpine, both Cadillacs, two BMWs and another Alpine, separated by roughly half a second. On a 13.6-kilometre lap, that is nothing at all.

Who made it through

In the end, fifteen of the eighteen Hypercars booked their place in Thursday's Hyperpole runs, and the spread of names is a reminder of how deep this year's entry is. Alpine put both cars through. Cadillac got all three of theirs into the next phase. BMW's WRT-run pair advanced, as did both Aston Martin Valkyries, both Toyotas and the two factory Ferrari 499Ps of AF Corse.

Special mention goes to Genesis. The Korean manufacturer is contesting its first ever 24 Hours of Le Mans this year, and rather than easing its way in, the team put both GMR-001s safely into Hyperpole, comfortably inside the top fifteen. For a programme still measured in months rather than years, beating established works cars to a place in the next phase is a statement of intent, and one of the quiet successes of the night.

For all of those teams, the job now is to do it again, and quicker. The revised Hyperpole format trims the Hypercar field to ten before a final shootout for pole, so simply surviving Wednesday guarantees nothing beyond the right to keep trying.

Who didn't

And then there are the three who fell at the first hurdle.

Most striking is the AF Corse Ferrari of Yifei Ye, Robert Kubica and Phil Hanson, the very crew that won this race outright last year. They will line up no higher than 17th on Sunday's grid, sandwiched between the two cars that arguably had the most to be frustrated about on the night: the works Peugeots.

Both 9X8s missed the cut. The car of Paul di Resta, Stoffel Vandoorne and Nick Cassidy was the quicker of the pair but still came up short, while the sister entry of Loïc Duval, Malthe Jakobsen and Théo Pourchaire propped up the Hypercar order. For a manufacturer chasing a breakthrough at the circuit that matters most, it is a deflating way to begin the serious running.

If there is comfort to be found, it sits in recent history. Twelve months ago that same AF Corse Ferrari started from a modest position on the grid and went on to win the whole thing. Le Mans has a long way to run, and Wednesday night is the easiest place to lose it without actually losing anything at all. Hyperpole, and the real fight for grid position, comes on Thursday.

LMP2: Pin leads the way

Over in LMP2, it was Doriane Pin who stole the show, topping the class for Duqueine Team alongside Julien Andlauer and Richard Verschoor. Pin has been one of the standout talents in sportscar racing of late, and heading the timesheet at Le Mans only adds to a fast-growing reputation. CLX Motorsport and Inter Europol Competition were her closest company, with little to choose between the leading trio.

Fifteen of the nineteen LMP2 entries booked their Hyperpole place, but the cut still claimed a couple of well-known names. The most notable casualty was Romain Dumas, the endurance and hillclimb great, whose RD Limited entry will start towards the back of the class after missing the cut, joined on the wrong side of the line by Algarve Pro Racing, the second Proton Competition car and DKR Engineering.

LMGT3: Racing Team Turkey on top as Spa winners fall - see update below...

LMGT3 produced the tightest squeeze of the night. With twenty-five cars chasing only fifteen Hyperpole places, ten crews were always going to be disappointed, and the pace was packed so closely together that the difference between progressing and missing out came down to fractions.

Peter Dempsey led the way for Racing Team Turkey by TF, sharing with Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood, edging out the Proton Competition Ford and the leading Heart of Racing Aston Martin. The headline name among the eliminated, though, was Garage 59. The McLaren of Antares Au, Tom Fleming and Marvin Kirchhöfer won the most recent round at Spa, yet could not find a way into the top fifteen here and will line up deep in the class order on Sunday. It is a reminder that in a field this competitive, form counts for very little once the clock starts.

Hypercar: through to Hyperpole

Pos.	Car	Drivers	Best lap
1	Alpine	da Costa, Milesi, Habsburg	3:23.135
2	Cadillac Hertz Team Jota	Lynn, Stevens, Nato	3:23.148
3	Cadillac WTR	R. Taylor, J. Taylor, Albuquerque	3:23.323
4	BMW M Team WRT	Frijns, Rast, van der Linde	3:23.444
5	Cadillac Hertz Team Jota	Bourdais, Bamber, Aitken	3:23.485
6	BMW M Team WRT	Magnussen, Marciello, Vanthoor	3:23.625
7	Aston Martin Thor Team	Riberas, Sørensen, De Angelis	3:23.777
8	Toyota	Buemi, Hartley, Hirakawa	3:23.791
9	Aston Martin Thor Team	Tincknell, Gamble, Gunn	3:23.906
10	Alpine	Makowiecki, Gounon, Martins	3:23.960
11	Genesis Magma Racing	Jaminet, Chatin, Juncadella	3:24.084
12	Toyota	Conway, Kobayashi, De Vries	3:24.314
13	Genesis Magma Racing	Lotterer, Derani, Jaubert	3:24.424
14	Ferrari AF Corse	Fuoco, Nielsen, Molina	3:24.514
15	Ferrari AF Corse	Pier Guidi, Calado, Giovinazzi	3:24.623

LMP2: through to Hyperpole

Pos.	Car	Drivers	Best lap
1	Duqueine Team	Pin, Andlauer, Verschoor	3:34.662
2	CLX Motorsport	Closmenil, Aguilera, Jensen	3:35.229
3	Inter Europol Competition	Garg, De Gerus, Müller	3:35.247
4	Forestier Racing by Panis	Rousset, Masson, Gray	3:36.098
5	Vector Sport	Cullen, Lomko, Fittipaldi	3:36.555
6	Inter Europol Competition	Smiechowski, Dillmann, Yelloly	3:37.004
7	United Autosports	Lindh, Saucy, Jensen	3:37.564
8	Nielsen Racing	Heinemeier Hansson, Pearson, Doohan	3:37.665
9	IDEC Sport	Lafargue, Rinicella, Van Uitert	3:37.725
10	Proton Competition	J. Reid, L. Reid, King	3:38.088
11	AO by TF	Hyett, Deletraz, Cameron	3:38.698
12	Crowdstrike Racing by APR	Kurtz, Quinn, Heinrich	3:39.369
13	AF Corse	Perrodo, Vaxiviere, Barnicoat	3:39.985
14	TDS Racing	Lutke, Beche, Estre	3:40.264
15	United Autosports	Schneider, Hanley, Jarvis	3:41.418

LMGT3: through to Hyperpole

Pos.	Car	Drivers	Best lap
1	Racing Team Turkey by TF	Dempsey, Yoluc, Eastwood	3:55.744
2	Proton Competition	Powell, Tuck, Priaulx	3:55.951
3	Heart of Racing Team	Newell, Barrichello, Adam	3:55.975
4	Manthey DK Engineering	Cottingham, Boguslavskiy, Güven	3:56.183
5	Team WRT	Leung, Gelael, Farfus	3:56.537
6	Kessel Racing	Blattner, Patrese, Marschall	3:56.560
7	Akkodis ASP Team	Umbrarescu, Schmid, Lopez	3:56.581
8	Heart of Racing Team	James, Robichon, Drudi	3:56.688
9	Team WRT	McIntosh, Thompson, Harper	3:56.700
10	Proton Competition	Gattuso, Levorato, Sargeant	3:56.931
11	Iron Lynx	Berry, Andrade, Martin	3:56.950
12	Vista AF Corse	Heriau, Mann, Rovera	3:56.962
13	Akkodis ASP Team	Van Rompuy, David, Hawksworth	3:57.261
14	Vista AF Corse	Flohr, Castellacci, Rigon	3:57.277
15	The Bend Manthey	Shahin, Pera, Lietz	3:57.466

That is the running order set for the first night. Thursday brings Hyperpole and the fight for grid position proper, when the front of each class gets trimmed down and pole is finally decided. We will have the full report once it is done, so keep an eye on our socials for more LM24 coverage across the week, from trackside updates to the build-up to Saturday's start.

Late twist: Racing Team Turkey disqualified

The story did not end when the chequered flag fell. Late on Wednesday evening the stewards disqualified the LMGT3 pace-setter, Racing Team Turkey by TF, from the entire qualifying session, after a technical inspection found the rear diffuser strakes on the car of Peter Dempsey, Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood sitting outside the permitted height tolerance. The team accepted the measurements during the hearing.

The consequences are significant. The crew lose their fastest lap and their place in Hyperpole, and will start the race from the back of the LMGT3 grid, with their quickest driver required to take the opening stint. Everyone classified behind them moves up a spot, which hands Proton Competition the fastest LMGT3 time of the night and, crucially, promotes Team Qatar by Iron Lynx into the top fifteen and the final Hyperpole berth. For the Qatari-backed Mercedes crew of Abdulla Al-Khelaifi, Julian Hanses and Giuliano Alesi, an evening that had ended just outside the cut turned, through no fault of their own, into a Hyperpole appearance.

Corrected LMGT3 table (replaces the published one)

Pos.	Car	Drivers	Best lap
1	Proton Competition	Powell, Tuck, Priaulx	3:55.951
2	Heart of Racing Team	Newell, Barrichello, Adam	3:55.975
3	Manthey DK Engineering	Cottingham, Boguslavskiy, Güven	3:56.183
4	Team WRT	Leung, Gelael, Farfus	3:56.537
5	Kessel Racing	Blattner, Patrese, Marschall	3:56.560
6	Akkodis ASP Team	Umbrarescu, Schmid, Lopez	3:56.581
7	Heart of Racing Team	James, Robichon, Drudi	3:56.688
8	Team WRT	McIntosh, Thompson, Harper	3:56.700
9	Proton Competition	Gattuso, Levorato, Sargeant	3:56.931
10	Iron Lynx	Berry, Andrade, Martin	3:56.950
11	Vista AF Corse	Heriau, Mann, Rovera	3:56.962
12	Akkodis ASP Team	Van Rompuy, David, Hawksworth	3:57.261
13	Vista AF Corse	Flohr, Castellacci, Rigon	3:57.277
14	The Bend Manthey	Shahin, Pera, Lietz	3:57.466
15	Team Qatar by Iron Lynx	Al-Khelaifi, Hanses, Alesi	3:57.531

Racing Team Turkey by TF (Dempsey, Yoluc, Eastwood) set a 3:55.744 in the session but have been excluded from the result and will start the race from the back of the LMGT3 grid.

Text: Adam Prescott · Images: Rick Kiewiet