This “Hyperpole” of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is always a spectacular moment. For half an hour, the fastest cars in each category attack at the limit and the 2022 edition was no exception to the rule, as evidenced by the numerous times canceled for exceeding the limits of the track. In this game, the man of the last three poles, Kamui Kobayashi, was most often taken on the Toyota number 7 and it was his colleague, Brendon Hartley, on the number 8, who pulled the chestnuts from the fire in 3’24″408. Behind the Toyota double, Alpine fought well.
24 hours of Le Mans
Hartley pulled out all the stops: relive the #8 Toyota hyperpole at Le Mans
AN HOUR AGO
Surprisingly, the French car had perhaps hidden its game a little in free practice. Nicolas Lapierre, on the A480 number 36, even took advantage of Toyota’s misadventures at the start of the session, to take the best time in 3’24”850. But Hartley and Kobayashi had even more under the hood and their last attempt was finally the right one as canceled times sometimes threw a little blur on this “Hyperpole”. The New Zealander finally beat his teammate by four tenths (3’24”828).
Alpine not far from the big shot
The blow did not go far for Lapierre and Alpine, not for pole but for second position. With his lap time, the Frenchman was certainly pushed back four and a half tenths from Hartley but Kobayashi was only ahead of him by… 22 thousandths. Behind, follow the two Glickenhaus, Racing the 709 and the 708, but at a good distance (+1”433 and +1”951).
In LMP2, the best time went to WRT number 31 driven by Robin Frinjs in this “Hyperpole”. If in Hypercar, the suspense was total, the second category saw Frinjs largely dominate the pack. In 3’28”934, his last time, he pushed Norman Nato (Realteam by WRT) to 1”303. Note that the number 9 Prema of Robert Kubica, former winner of a Formula 1 Grand Prix, and held by Louis Deletraz for this session, took fifth place by almost three seconds.
In LM GTE Pro, the Corvettes crushed the Hyperpole. The best time was achieved by Nick Tandy on the number 64 which beat the 63 by two tenths and the first Porsche, the 91, by four tenths.
Levitating: Relive the track record set by Kobayashi in 2017 on board camera
24 hours of Le Mans
Toyota dominates but worries, glitches also for Alpine
4 HOURS AGO
24 hours of Le Mans
Levitating: Relive the track record set by Kobayashi in 2017 on board camera
5 HOURS AGO