BMW first in Qualy for Hyperpole
Text & Images: Rick Kiewiet
Dries Vanthoor in the #15 BMW surprised all the competition in Le Mans with the fastest lap in the Qualifying session this evening, which decides which 8 cars advance to the Hyperpole session tomorrow. The session was cut two minutes short by a red flag, dropped because of a spin of Kamui Kobayashi. The Japanese driver had noted the 4th time with the #7 Toyota, but was stripped of all his times as a penalty for causing the red flag. In LMP2 the fastest time was for the #37 Cool Racing Oreca. Ford was responsible for another surprise, as the #77 Mustang was fastest for the first time this season with Ben Barker behind the wheel.
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While Vanthoor was the lucky one with the early red flag, JOTA might have been the opposite. At the moment the session was ended, Ilott, in the #12 had just noted purple (overall fastest) time in sector 1 and 2. It wasn't unlikely he could've at least threatened Vanthoor's time. Behind the #15 BMW it's the #3 Cadillac in 2nd. It's driver, Sebastien Bourdais, was fastest for a large part of the session until Vanthoor took over just before the end. In third is the fastest of the Ferrari 499p's, the #50 of Antonio Fuoco.
Due to Kobayashi's disqualification, the #35 Alpine, driven by Chatin, moved up to fourth, the A424 more and more often showing its potential. The second Cadillac, the #2, was in 5th, just ahead of the #51 Ferrari and the only two Porsches that made it into Hyperpole: the #5 Penske and #12 JOTA.
Following Kobayashi's qualification and Hartley's disappointing p12, means Toyota does not have a single car in Hyperpole tomorrow. Same goes for Lamborghini and Peugeot, the latter qualifying as low as 15th and 20th, a disappointing result. Lamborghini might have expected a bit more than 13th and 21st following the test day, but for a debut it would still qualify as a good result.
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