Pin, Dempsey top joint LMP2 and LMGT3 qualifying session as Hyperpole fields decided

Credit: Oriol Franch

Doriane Pin in the No.30 Duqiene car has topped LMP2 Qualifying for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as Peter Dempsey topped LMGT3 in the No.34 TF Sport Corvette.

As it happened

It was joint qualifying for the 19 LMP2s and 25 LMGT3s for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The session got underway at 18:45 local time.

The 30 minute session would see the top 15 cars in each category go through to Hyperpole 1 tomorrow. Cars 16th and below will start the race from their positions and not partake in Hyperpole. The lowest rated driver in each car was to do this session, that is Bronze in LMGT3 and LMP2 Pro-Am and the Silver in LMP2.

Traffic management would be absolutely crucial in this session with the two classes. Specifically the LMP2s would have to time their runs so they would not catch any LMGT3s on their hot laps.

In the first runs in LMP2, Paul Lafargue in the No.28 IDEC Sport entry went top initially, but Ian Aguilera in the No.37 CLX left it a bit later and shaved off half a second. But then came Doriane Pin in the No.30 Duqiene car to go quicker than everyone early on. On his next lap though, Aguilera found nine tenths on Pin, she came back but was four tenths off.

In LMGT3 the times came through thick and fast, with Peter Dempsey finding himself on top by eighth tenths in the No.34 TF Sport Corvette. Some cars in both classes still hadn't set their most representative lap times yet, but the eyes did start to turn from the top of the timing sheets to the bottom.

The bottom four in LMP2 and the bottom 10 in LMGT3 would be elminated in this session. In LMp2 at the halfway point that was the No.14, No.48, No.44 and the No.3. In LMGT3 that was the No.33, No.150, No.54, No.59, No.57, No.58, No.10, No.13, No.2 and No.79.

At this point the cars in LMGT3 jumped into the pits to take on a fresh set of tyres, while the LMP2s stayed out. Back at the top, Pin went quicker and put half a second between her and the CLX car.

Horst Felbermyer Jr in the No.44 car jumped out of the elimination zone, but just to 15th, they still weren't 100% safe.

Clement Mateau in the No.59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin was 19th, on a better lap but could only improve to 16th about half a second off. Darren Leung then went to 16th, three tenths quicker than the Frenchman.

The No.222 United Autosports LMP2 was in 16th in the hands of Daniel Schneider, he improved to close the gap, but the No.44 ahead also improved, re-opening the gap. He improved again on his next lap though, going to 15th, pushing the No.44 back into the drop zone.

Francois Heriau in the No.21 Ferrari was 15th, and he improved big time to shoot up to eight position. Leung was behind in 16th and improved even further up to eighth place. That put Ben Keating in the No.33 and James Cottingham in the No.91 Porsche into the drop zone.

Abdulla Al Khaliefi in the No.62 Mercedes jumped up to 15th to just scrape in provisionally, pushing Antares Au in the No.10 McLaren to 16th.

Cottingham in the Porsche was going quicker from 19th place and improved all the way up to 12th despite making a few mistakes, dropping the No.62 back into 16th.

Fred Poordad - 18th in LMP2 - was improving on his final lap, but went off in the final chicanes, ruining his chances at Hyperpole. John Farano behind in was improving too, and he put in a better lap, but he stayed 19th and last.

On the final lap, no one in the danger zone in LMGT3 could improve, so it stayed as it was.

Drop zone - LMP2

16th No.44 Proton Competition

17th No.25 APR

18th No.48 RD Limited

19th No.4 DKR Engineering

Drop zone - LMGT3

16th No.62 Iron Lynx Mercedes

17th No.10 Garage 59 McLaren

18th No.33 TF Sport Corvette

19th No.79 Iron Lynx Mercedes

20th No.150 AF Corse Ferrari

21st No.57 Kessel Racing Ferrari

22nd No.59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin

23rd No.58 Garage 59 McLaren

24th No.2 TF Sport Corvette

25th No.13 13 Autosport Corvette