WEC: Ferrari dominate Hyperpole to finish 1-2 ahead of Le Mans 24 Hours
9th June 2023Ferrari AF Corse dominated from the first lap as the Italian outfit provided a statement to their competitors by going 1-2 in the Le Mans 24 Hours Hyperpole.
How the Le Mans 24 Hours Hyperpole unfolded…
As the race director ticked down the clock to signal the start of Hyperpole, once the pit lane was opened the two Toyota Gazoo Racing hypercars were the first to venture out onto the iconic Circuit de La Sarthe.
Naturally, the Japanese team were the first to set a lap time – at the hands of Brendon Hartley – but this was soon beaten by the Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi who went faster and to the top of the timing boards. Ferrari teammate, Antonio Fuoco, slotted into second just behind the provisional polesitter.
After the first set of banker laps across the board, Ferrari remained unchanged at the top occupying the front row, the pair of Toyotas lined up third and fourth. However, only one Cadillac put in their lap time – in fifth – after Sebastien Bourdais had his lap deleted after he exceeded track limits.
In the end, Bourdais put his Cadillac in eighth place.
During this time, both Porsches remained in their respective garages. After 15 minutes the German manufacturer finally ventured out on track, Jakob Makowiecki was the first to set a lap time for Porsche which was the fourth-fastest time. The following Porsche finished the session in seventh.
The red flag was deployed with five-minutes to go on the clock as Bourdais pulled to the side of the track, at the runoff outside the first chicane – at Turn 12, down the Mulsanne Straight. The Cadillac quickly burst into flames underneath the car which resulted in the red flag.
Fortunately, Bourdais was able to get out of the car quickly and safely.
During the red-flag stoppage, the Ferrari’s remained out on top with a provisional 1-2 position ahead of Cadillac for the hypercars. In the LMP2 Category, IDEC Sport led the way ahead of Team WRT and Cool Racing. Whereas, for the GTE Am Class, Corvette Racing topped their respective timing sheets.
The session was quickly resumed after the track marshals put out the fire and extracted the hypercar from the circuit. This allowed the remaining Hyperpole contenders to conduct one more flying lap.
Despite Toyota’s, Porsche’s and Cadillac’s best efforts, the hypercars could not topple the Ferrari duo which dominated the timing boards across the session.
Top three teams
Hypercar:
- Ferrari AF Corse
- Ferrari AF Corse
- Toyota Gazoo Racing
LMP2:
- Idec Sport
- JOTA
- Team WRT
GTE Am:
- Corvette Racing
- ORT by TF
- AF Corse
Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
