6/13/2025
The new-look Hyperpole, spread over two days, saw spectacular progress from teams looking to bag the top spot and the limelight that goes with it. Cadillac has locked out the front row and its two Hypercars will head the race start at 16:00 tomorrow. It’s the American make’s first pole position in La Sarthe. A surprise? Not really.
Cadillac has one goal this week: victory
Since this week’s first track action on Test Day each of the 62 crews has their own preparation drill to attain peak performance for the 24-hour marathon. Cadillac began discretely. While Toyota and Ferrari played the flamboyant leader role, the V-Series.R was doing its groundwork. The #311, #12, #38 and #101 Cadillacs totalled 253 laps, which amounts to over 3450 kilometres.
In Free Practice, the competition shifted up a gear. The two Jota Sport Cadillacs have ranked in the Hypercar top 10 in every session this week. The #12 and #38 topped the tables in the qualifying sessions and FP1. What does that show? That the gold-painted cars have good pace over a lap, and over longer distances. In terms of pure performance, Whelen (the #311) is on a par with the others. Driver Jack Aitken set a new Hypercar track record of 3:22.742.
Aitken is one of only three drivers to have broken the 3:23 barrier so far this week - the other two being Alex Lynn (3:22.847) and Dries Vanthoor in the #15 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 (3:22.87). Does that mean a Cadillac-BMW head-to-head?
One thing is certain, the two makes, which both have a Dallara chassis, will be ahead at first. The two BMWs start the race in P4 (#15) and P6 (#20). Porsche, in P3 (#5) and P5 (#4) is progressing much in the same way as Cadillac. They clocked 254 laps on Test Day, with competitive times. But the Americans have taken the first advantage. Will they still have the upper hand after 24 hours?
Friends and enemies
In LMP2, three cars stand out: the #29 TDS Racing, the #43 Inter Europol Competition and the #199 AO by TF.
The drivers of the three cars were eyeing each other. Defying each other. Mathias Beche took over from Clément Novalak in the #29, Tom Dillmann replaced Nick Yelloly in the #43, and Dane Cameron passed the wheel of the #199 to Louis Delétraz. The six – all among the ten fastest drivers in the class – are on another level.
Will one of these crews make the top step of the podium? Who knows? The experienced United Autosports is only a few tenths away. Richard Dean and Zak Brown’s British/American team is the only one to have placed two cars in Hyperpole 2. Last year the United Autosports crew Bijoy Garg/Oliver Jarvis/ Nolan Siegel won the class. They may be biding their time. Ready to pounce.
LMGT3s on a speed spree
The race promises to be a dust-up in LMGT3, with eight makes wrangling for Hyperpole in the last session. Individual performance is important, but class rules impose a bronze driver in each crew, so speed is not the only factor. Just as in LMP2, the timesheets do not tell the whole story.
Several numbers come up often, indicating where the strengths lie: the #46 BMW M4 LMGT3 of Team WRT – very well handled by Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi and Kelvin Van Der Linde – is often in front. The Akkodis ASP Team #78 Lexus RC F LMGT3 driven by Arnold Robin/Jack Hawksworth/Finn Gehrsitz was in the top three in three out of seven sessions. And of course, the Porsches are always in the picture: the Manthey 1ST Phorm #92 911 GT3 R in the hands of the three Rs – Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz is capable of winning. Do we need to remind you that Porsche won the first LMGT3 class last year?
This is only the second year for this class at Le Mans, which explains why the times are bettered session after session. Not to be outdone by Hypercar, LMGT3 has a new track record too. Benjamin Barker’s 3:55.263 record set last year has been bettered by no less than eight cars already this year. Aston Martin, BMW, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Lexus, McLaren, Mercedes and Porsche have all gone faster.
There is plenty of room for improvement in LMGT3, and plenty of competition too.
The 93rd 24 Hours Of Le Mans starting grid:
