WEC: Estre takes sensational Le Mans pole for Porsche
Kévin Estre aboard the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport-run 963 clinched last-gasp pole position for the 92nd running of the 24 Hours Of Le Mans, round four of this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship season
The Frenchman set an incredible lap of 3:24.634s to beat Alex Lynn in the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R by just 0.148s after Lynn had just beaten the time of the sister #3 Cadillac with local ace Sébastien Bourdais behind the wheel.
Bourdais had for a while looked to have taken pole after setting an initial fastest lap of 3m24.816s.
The local ace bettered his own early benchmark of 3:25.294s to head the two Ferrari AF Corse 499 Hypercars but had to sit out the final seven minutes after a red flag flew over Circuit de la Sarthe when Dries Vanthoor spun his BMW M Hybrid V8. As a result, the Belgian had lap times cancelled
Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 Ferrari 499P took fourth place to ensure that the Prancing Horse is in a good position to defend its Le Mans crown this weekend. The sister #50 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco placed fifth.
The #35 Alpine entry driven by Paul-Loup Chatin rounded out the top six after a fine effort in the new-for-this-year Alpine A424.
Only seven Hypercars took part in the session after #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963 is currently being rebuilt after a Free Practice 2 accident on Wednesday evening.
MACLAREN’S MAIDEN LE MANS POLE
Brendan Iribe in the Inception Racing McLaren LMGT3 took McLaren’s first-ever Le Mans pole as well as the manufacturer’s first in the LMGT3 class.
Iribe set the best of 3:58.120s to beat his pursuers by 0.8s but spun at the final corner while being on a potentially even faster lap. Those challengers were led by the #92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 RSR driven by Alex Malykhin.
JMW Automotive Ferrari driven by Giacomo Petrobelli grabbed third place for the outfit known as European Le Mans Series regulars and former Le Mans class winners.
SPIKE SNATCHES P2 POLE
Louis Deletraz in the AO by TF Sport ‘Spike’ Oreca Gibson took a thrilling last-gasp pole in the LMP2 class, with a of 3:33.217s, which was 0.6s faster than the IDEC Sport entry driven by Job van Uitert. Third was the Panis Racing entry qualified by Matthias Beche.
