Cadillac locks out front row to deny Porsche pole

Cadillac continued its impressive 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours performance by locking out the front row of the grid courtesy of late improvements from Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber.

Porsche had looked on track to take its second consecutive pole but both Lynn and Bamber improved on their third flying laps of the 15-minute Hyperpole 2 session.

Lynn grabbed top spot in the #12 V-Series.R LMDh with a 3m23.166s that was 1.5 seconds faster than last year’s pole time.

Bamber then joined his Jota stablemate on the front with a 3m23.333s, which left the best of the Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 LMDhs in third.

Mathieu Jaminet posted a 3m23.475s with his first attempt in the #5 machine, which had a dramatic progression to the concluding Hyperpole segment after losing its right-rear wheel late on in the opening session with Julien Andlauer at the controls.

Fourth was the best of the BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDhs with Dries Vanthoor being another to improve on his third lap in the #15 car to set a 3m23.659s.

Fifth fastest was 2015 winner Nick Tandy in the second of the Porsches on a 3m23.983s, while the sister BMW of Sheldon van der Linde was sixth on a 3m24.009s.

Ferrari had a disappointing session considering its dominance of this year’s World Endurance Championship with Antonio Fuoco only managing seventh in the #50 499P LMH with a 3m24.213s.

Eighth fastest was Felipe Drugovich in the Action Express-run #311 Cadillac, while the #36 Alpine A424 of Frederic Makowiecki was ninth with a 3m24.398s.

Qualifying proved to be a nightmare for Toyota as, following the failure of the #7 GR010 HYBRID LMH to make it into Hyperpole, the #8 car did not set a time in the deciding session after Sebastien Buemi suffered a huge lock-up going into Mulsanne Corner and skated into the gravel. The Swiss made it back to the pits but did not rejoin the fray.

The other two Ferraris both failed to progress into the top 10 for the final Hyperpole session.

Alessandro Pier Guidi, victorious in 2023, missed out by only a tenth of a second but will have to start 11th in the #51 499P, while Yifei Ye was 13th fastest in the customer #83 machine.

The others failing to progress were the second Alpine of Paul-Loup Chatin, the #101 Cadillac of Ricky Taylor and the sole Aston Martin Valkyrie that made Hyperpole of Marco Sorensen.

Beche grabs LMP2 pole for TDS Racing

#29 TDS Racing Oreca 07 – Gibson: Rodrigo Sales, Mathias Beche, Clément Novalak

Photo by: Marc Fleury

Mathias Beche snared LMP2 pole for TDS Racing as the top four crews were separated by four tenths.

Beche clocked a 3m35.062s in the #29 ORECA-Gibson 07 to set the pace, from the #43 Inter Europol entry of Tom Dillmann, who posted a 3m35.333s using an alternate strategy of departing the pits far later than the rest of the field.

Last year’s class polesitter Louis Deletraz snatched third in the #199 AO by TF ORECA having been able to squeeze in an extra lap before the chequered flag and posting a 3m35.421s.

Deletraz’s late effort demoted Ben Hanley to fourth in the #23 United Autosports machine, the victorious LMP2 team from last year.

Aston Martin wins LMGT3 pole fight

Aston Martin took LMGT3 pole as eight different marques were represented among the eight crews to progress to the second Hyperpole session.

Mattia Drudi’s 3m52.769s set on his penultimate flying lap was enough to give the #27 Heart of Racing Vantage pole by three tenths over Alessio Rovera in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296, which clocked a best of 3m53.085s.

Third place was taken by MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, who set a 3m54.966s at the midpoint of the 15-minute Hyperpole 2 segment.

The opening session was red-flagged after eight minutes when the #54 AF Corse Ferrari of Francesco Castellacci spun into the gravel on the entrance to the Porsche Curves.

Le Mans 24 Hours – Hyperpole results