Le Mans: Racing Team Turkey Stripped of LMGT3 Qualifying Result as Team Qatar Profit

The fastest LMGT3 car on the opening night of Le Mans qualifying will start the race from the very back of its class. Racing Team Turkey by TF have been disqualified from Wednesday's session over a technical infringement, a brutal late twist that reshapes the bottom and the top of the LMGT3 order and hands an unexpected lift to Team Qatar by Iron Lynx.

It is one of the oldest and most unforgiving truths in motorsport. You can be quickest on track and still lose everything in the scrutineering bay, and that is exactly what happened to Racing Team Turkey by TF on Wednesday night at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

Having set the pace in LMGT3 qualifying, the crew of Peter Dempsey, Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood were called in for a technical inspection once the session had ended. The checks found that the height of the rear diffuser strakes on their car fell outside the tolerance permitted by the LMGT3 technical regulations. With the team's representative present throughout, the stewards examined the technical delegate's report and reached the only conclusion open to them. During the hearing the team accepted both the procedure and the measurements, and the result was disqualification from the whole session.

What it means

The punishment is as significant as it sounds. Racing Team Turkey lose their fastest lap, lose their place in Thursday's Hyperpole runs, and will now line up at the back of the LMGT3 grid for the start of the race on Saturday, behind every other car in the class. Under the supplementary regulations, the team's quickest driver must take the opening stint, leaving them with a long, hard climb back through the field over twenty-four hours.

The knock-on effects ripple right through the class. Every car classified behind them moves up a position, and that reshuffle has consequences at both ends of the order. At the top, Proton Competition inherit the fastest LMGT3 time of the night, their Ford Mustang of Eric Powell, Ben Tuck and Sebastian Priaulx now heading the class times ahead of the leading Heart of Racing Aston Martin.

Team Qatar the unlikely winners

The most eye-catching beneficiaries, though, are found right on the edge of the cut. With fifteen cars going through to Hyperpole, the exclusion promotes Team Qatar by Iron Lynx off the wrong side of the line and into that final qualifying place. The Qatari-backed Mercedes-AMG of Abdulla Al-Khelaifi, Julian Hanses and Giuliano Alesi, son of former Formula One racer Jean, had looked set to miss out by the narrowest of margins. Instead, through no effort of their own once the cars had stopped, they find themselves in the Hyperpole shootout.

For a team still in its first Le Mans, and one that has shown genuine pace on its way here with pole positions in the European Le Mans Series this season, it is a welcome piece of fortune at a circuit that rarely hands out favours.

Still to play out

Racing Team Turkey retain the right to appeal the decision, as the stewards noted in their ruling, so there is a chance this is not quite the final word. As things stand, however, the picture is clear. One of the quickest cars in the class has been sent to the back, another team has been gifted a shot at a strong grid slot, and Le Mans has delivered its first genuine controversy of the week before a wheel has even turned in anger.

Hyperpole follows on Thursday, when the revised LMGT3 order gets its chance to fight for pole. We will have the full report once it is done, so keep an eye on our socials for more LM24 coverage throughout the week.

LMGT3: revised order through to Hyperpole

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