Cadillac top Hyperpole Qualifying/two Aussies through

Cadillac topped the Hyperpole Qualifying at Le Mans over BMW and Ferrari ahead of tomorrow’s Hyperpole, with Matt Campbell’s Porsche 963 getting through, as well as Martin Berry’s AMG LMGT3 after an embattled day for the Mercedes team.

With the team taking its second straight session of the day after claiming FP1, the #12 Hertz Team Jota Cadillac piloted by Alex Lynn topped the Hyperpole Qualifying with a 3.22.847, +0,040 better than the Dries Vanthoor BMW.

In a thrilling 30 minute session with six Hypercars missing the cut for Hyperpole, the lead jumped around in a green session with Ferrari having the early running before Porsche, BMW, and Cadillac all had a share of it.

Martin Berry squeezed into the H1 Hyperpole session tomorrow evening in the #60 AMG. Image: Getty

The new Aston Martin Valkyrie almost scraped through by the skin of its teeth in P15, but a late flier Paul-Loup Chatin in the Alpine stole the final spot, denying the Heart of Racing squad a shockingly incepted coup.

After struggling in qualifying for this WEC season, the Penske Porsche’s performed well, with Kevin Estre holding the charts mid-way before finishing fourth in the #6 963 he shares with Aussie Matt Campbell. 

In the earlier joint LMP2 and LMGT3 session, Aussie Martin Berry helped score a coup of its own for Iron Lynx in the #61 AMG, with two red flags being shown in the half hour session.

Berry took the car to P11 in his Le Mans debut with a 3 min 58.732sec after the sister #63 machine driven by fellow Aussie Stephen Grove failed to make the session after a heavy crash before the Dunlop Curves in FP1.

The #63 Grove Mercedes AMG in the garage prior to Qualifying. Image TW Neal

The other Aussie in the field, and last years Le Mans LMGT3 winner Yasser Shahin finished in P16.

Topping the LMGT3 field was the Team WRT BMW with a 3 min 56.875sec lap, whilst the LMP2 prototype battle went to the #199 AO by TF Sport Oreca-Gibson with a 3:35.472s, with the top 12 from each class going through.

Hyperpole Qualifying starts at 8pm local time on Thursday, continuing into the new format.

Thursday’s Hyperpole is split into two sessions, H1 and H2. H1, in LMGT3 and LMP2, determines the 8 fastest over 20 minutes, with 15 minutes in H2 to take pole.

Similarly, the Hypercars session is the same, but 10 advance from H1 with the H2 shootout coming at 9:40pm, just before sundown.

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