Cadillac pips BMW to top first qualifying session

Alex Lynn set the fastest time in qualifying for the 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours, with his Cadillac clocking a 3m22.847s that was four hundredths quicker than Dries Vanthoor’s BMW.

In hot evening temperatures at 31C, the first lap times of the session showed Ferrari’s strength with Yifei Ye setting the pace in 3m23.994s with the #83 car, three tenths faster than Alessandro Pier Guidi’s #51 entry and Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 machine.

Porsche’s Kevin Estre was initially the only driver to trouble the Prancing Horse, with a 3m24.233s that put him second.

Pier Guidi then struck back with a marginally quicker 3m23.933s time, as Lynn and Sebastien Bourdais brought the Jota Cadillac V-Series.R LMDhs into the mix with 3m24.3s markers.

Another Cadillac, Jack Aitken’s #311 entry, went fastest in 3m23.890s, then was displaced by Estre in 3m23.360s – seconds before a high-speed spin for Paul-Loup Chatin’s Alpine in the Porsche Curves.

With four minutes to go, Vanthoor affirmed BMW as a contender for pole position with a remarkable 3m22.887s, before being fractionally outpaced by Lynn’s #12 Cadillac.

Ferrari still took third with Antonio Giovinazzi’s 3m23.163s in the #51 499P, followed by Estre (#6 Porsche 963 LMDh) and Bourdais (#38 Cadillac). The #50 Ferrari, #5 Porsche, #20 BMW, #311 Cadillac and #36 Alpine rounded out the top 10.

With the top 15 cars progressing through to Hyperpole, the #8 Toyota, #83 Ferrari, #101 Cadillac, #4 Porsche and #35 Alpine also made it through – unlike Nyck de Vries’ #7 Toyota, which ended up 17th, 2.2s off the pace and four tenths slower than Chatin’s Alpine.

Neither Aston Martin – which expected to struggle – nor Peugeot will take part in Hyperpole on Thursday, with Proton Competition’s #99 Porsche the sixth eliminated entry.

LMP2: Deletraz fastest, Lotterer misses the cut

Times tumbled in the first half of the shared LMP2/LMGT3 session, until it was interrupted by a red flag for Iron Lynx’s #60 Mercedes grinding to a halt in the runoff of the Dunlop chicane.

At that stage, AO by TF’s Louis Deletraz was fastest overall with the #199 ORECA-Gibson 07, setting a 3m36.020s, leading Ben Hanley (#23 car entered by United Autosports) in 3m36.116s and, much further away, Theo Pourchaire’s #25 entry from Algarve Pro Racing in 3m36.612s.

Deletraz improved straight after the red flag, down to a 3m35.472s, which was good enough to keep first position until the session was red-flagged again as the #150 Ferrari entered by AF Corse stopped at the exit of the Daytona chicane.

“I was pushing, but you know, in the back of my head I know there is a session tonight, there is a session tomorrow,” the Swiss driver told Radio Le Mans.

“It’s always nice for the ego to put it P1, but we’re going to try and do better tomorrow. Keep it in the window, no big changes, and continue like this.”

Hanley set a respectable 3m35.657s for United Autosports’s #23 entry to take second place, leading a surprising Alex Quinn for Algarve Pro Racing’s #45 car.

TDS Racing’s early-pacesetting #29 entry was fourth with Mathias Beche, followed by the #22 United Autosports, #48 VDS Panis Racing, #25 Algarve Pro, #43 Inter Europol, #28 IDEC, #16 RLR Msport, #183 AF Corse and #37 CLX crews, which all made it to Hyperpole.

This means Andre Lotterer missed the cut with the #18 IDEC Sport machine, 2.5s off the fastest time and three tenths away from 12th position.

LMGT3: Team WRT’s #46 BMW on top

#46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3: Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi, Kelvin Van Der Linde

Photo by: Andreas Beil

In LMGT3, Ryan Hardwick set the initial pace in Manthey’s #92 Porsche in 3m58.055s before being edged by Tom van Rompuy with TF Sport’s #81 Corvette, by just 11 thousandths. Arnold Robin eventually put Akkodis ASP Team’s #78 Lexus on top in 3m57.321s before the first red flag, leading Ian James’ #27 Aston Martin entered by Heart of Racing, which was four tenths slower.

Team WRT’s BMW subsequently took the class’ top spot with Ahmad Al Harthy in 3m56.875s, with the #27 Aston two tenths away in P2. The #92 Porsche took third ahead of the #78 Lexus and the #81 Corvette.

The #88 Ford, #193 Ferrari, #59 McLaren, #21 and #54 Ferraris, #61 Mercedes and #95 McLaren also made it to Hyperpole, which means all constructors will be represented in Thursday’s session – only just for Mercedes, with Martin Berry qualifying his Iron Lynx entry with a three-tenth margin.