TOYOTA GAZOO Racing remains on target to challenge for a record-setting seventh consecutive Le Mans 24 Hours pole position after the first official day of track action for the centenary anniversary edition of the legendary French race.
The team is unbeaten in qualifying at La Sarthe since 2017, sharing the record for consecutive poles with Porsche. Both GR010 HYBRIDs qualified for Thursday’s Hyperpole contest, when the fastest eight cars from each class will fight for pole position, to keep hopes of a new record firmly alive.
Kamui Kobayashi, who can equal Jacky Ickx’s mark of five Le Mans pole positions, comfortably reached Hyperpole, setting the third fastest time in the #7 GR010 HYBRID he shares with Mike Conway and José María López. His lap of 3mins 25.485secs was just 0.272secs behind the pace-setting #50 Ferrari.
Last year’s winners Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa will also be in the hunt for pole position on Thursday in their #8 GR010 HYBRID. Brendon, who took pole last year, was at the wheel for qualifying and set the fourth quickest time.
“It was pretty tight in qualifying,” commented Hartley. “I backed off on my first lap because I started too close to a Peugeot. I should have completed that lap and to have a decent time in the bank because afterwards I had a sequence of yellow flags just in front of me.
“I had to back off each time and I was lucky to get one clean lap on the board, so it’s a relief to get through to Hyperpole. We have not been the quickest and we are not yet at 100% with our car balance. We are still trying to figure out some compromises on set-up but we are pushing to find more performance for Hyperpole and the race.”
Official action at Le Mans began earlier in the afternoon with three hours of first practice. Having missed Sunday’s test due to other racing commitments, Sébastien was immediately out on track. He completed 17 laps, more than any of his team-mates in the session, as he reacquainted himself with the Circuit de la Sarthe.
On Sunday, six hours of testing kicked off the team’s race preparation programme, which continued through first practice when different mechanical and aerodynamic set-ups were checked alongside the three Michelin tyre compounds available for Le Mans.
A 35-minute red flag and other incidents within the 62-car field limited the opportunities for quick lap times. Kamui took advantage of a clear track after the red flag ended to become the first driver this year to lap under 3mins 28secs. Soon after, Brendon went quicker by setting the best lap of the session, 3min 27.742secs, 0.133secs faster than the second-placed #7 as qualifying preparation concluded.
Qualifying began on a warm evening and Kamui wasted no time in setting the pace in his #7 GR010 HYBRID. Two quickfire red flags interrupted the session soon after and left Brendon with a challenge to qualify for Hyperpole.
His first timed lap initially put him in sixth but improvements from others pushed the #8 down to 11th. Brendon’s next attempts were frustrated by yellow flags and traffic but he stayed calm to secure the #8 car’s presence in Hyperpole. José and Sébastien used the remainder of the session for set-up work.
Second practice took place with darkness falling at La Sarthe. All drivers are required to complete five laps of night running to be eligible for the race and the six TOYOTA GAZOO Racing drivers completed this formality in a clean session without interruptions. The lead GR010 HYBRID was the #7 in fifth thanks to Kamui’s best lap late in the session, while the #8 was 11th thanks to an early effort from Sébastien.
Action resumes on Thursday afternoon with a three-hour practice session from 3pm CEST, before the grid-deciding Hyperpole contest at 8pm. A final one-hour practice at 10pm represents the last track action before race day.
Le Mans 24 Hours – Qualifying
1st #50 Ferrari AF Corse (Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen) 3min 25.213secs 14 laps
2nd #51 Ferrari AF Corse (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi) +0.199secs 8 laps
3rd #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.272secs 14 laps
4th #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.536secs 14 laps
5th #5 Porsche Penske (Cameron/Christensen/Makowiecki) +0.635secs 12 laps
6th #3 Cadillac Racing (Bourdais/van der Zande/Dixon) +0.711secs 10 laps
7th #2 Cadillac Racing (Bamber/Lynn/Westbrook) +0.807secs 12 laps
8th #75 Porsche Penske (Nasr/Jaminet/Tandy/Campbell) +1.376secs 9 laps
Le Mans 24 Hours – Free Practice 1
1st #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing 3min 27.742secs 33 laps
2nd #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.133secs 34 laps
3rd #2 Cadillac Racing (Bamber/Lynn/Westbrook) +0.197secs 33 laps
4th #75 Porsche Penske (Nasr/Jaminet/Tandy/Campbell) +0.408secs 24 laps
5th #6 Porsche Penske (Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor) +0.425secs 29 laps
6th #94 Peugeot TotalEnergies (Duval/Menezes/Müller) +0.644secs 21 laps
Le Mans 24 Hours – Free Practice 2
1st #6 Porsche Penske (Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor) 3min 28.878secs 24 laps
2nd #51 Ferrari AF Corse (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi) +0.347secs 29 laps
3rd #5 Porsche Penske (Cameron/Christensen/Makowiecki) +0.429secs 28 laps
4th #2 Cadillac Racing (Bamber/Lynn/Westbrook) +0.667secs 19 laps
5th #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.746secs 31 laps
6th #311 Action Express (Derani/Sims/Aitken) +0.906secs 27 laps
11th #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +1.622secs 30 laps
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