Le Mans 24 Hours Hyperpole qualifying delayed due to barrier repair
The pole shootout for the fourth round of the 2024 World Endurance Championship did not begin as scheduled at 8pm local time, with the race control subsequently communicating 8:30pm as the new start time. The Hyperpole session was further pushed forward to 8:35pm, as the work continued on replacing the armco barriers between Mulsanne and […]
Ferrari leads Porsche, BMW in tight FP3
With Hyperpole the only pure-performance exercise still coming up – and involving just 24 of the 62 entries – everyone focused on race preparation with long runs during the three-hour Thursday afternoon session, which took place under overcast skies with gentle temperatures ranging from 20°C to 22°C. Fuoco set the quickest time in 3m27.283s – […]
Jota facing «fastest ever» Porsche rebuild after Le Mans FP2 crash
Team principal Sam Hignett has revealed that the quickest Jota has built up a 963 since starting racing the Porsche in the middle of last year is three weeks. He stated that the team is aiming for a Friday evening completion of the rebuild of its #12 entry, which sustained monocoque damage during the Wednesday […]
Toyota back on top in FP2 after qualifying disaster
Sebastien Buemi went quickest in the two-hour FP2 night session on Wednesday in the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar with a time half a second up on his nearest rival. He emulated team-mate Brendon Hartley, who topped the times in FP1 in #8 before both cars ended up outside the top eight fastest […]
How BMW built its Art Car to race
The BMW Art Car program is built on a minor contradiction. Since the program was launched in 1975 by French driver Hervé Poulain, the majority of the vehicles produced—each wearing one-of-one art from names like Andy Warhol, Jenny Holzer, Jeff Koons, and Cao Fei—have been race cars competing in high-stakes events like the 24 Hours […]
Ferrari calls for strict policing of WEC tyre warming rules at Le Mans 24
Antonello Coletta, the Italian manufacturer’s sportscar racing boss, made the call in light of ban on tyre warmers in the World Endurance Championship and the rule demanding that the rubber must be at ambient temperature when it is put on the cars. He appeared to be suggesting that one manufacturer might be gaining an advantage […]
Vanthoor made the difference for ‘unexpected’ BMW provisional Le Mans pole
Vanthoor led the first qualifying session of the most prestigious World Endurance Championship round with a lap of 3m24.465s, nearly two tenths faster than Cadillac’s Sebastien Bourdais. Vanthoor was only 16th quickest in the short first sector, but he was timed in 1m33.097s in the last one, with Cadillac’s Alex Lynn and Bourdais respectively 0.149s […]
Safety concerns over «crazy» Rossi attention at Le Mans
MotoGP legend Rossi is making his Le Mans debut with WRT in the LMGT3 class, racing a BMW M4 GT3 after winning on his first foray at the Circuit de la Sarthe in last year’s Road To Le Mans support race. Crowds of fans attending the autograph session prompted concern, with Rossi’s team-mate Ahmad Al […]
The GT3 drivers we want to see at Le Mans next
This year’s Le Mans 24 Hours is the first for which LMGT3 cars will be eligible. Where in the previous GTE era professional drivers allied to manufacturers other than Aston Martin, Corvette, Ferrari and Porsche were frozen out, this year five new marques have been added to the aforementioned quartet, opening up opportunities for new […]