Both Aston Martins qualify for LM24 Hyperpole
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Having started formal track proceedings earlier today with the first Free Practice session this afternoon which saw both the #27 Heart of Racing and #777 D’Station Racing teams take to the track for the first time since Sunday’s Test Day.
Starting the day off with a three-hour timed session, it was Heart of Racing crew of Ian James, Alex Riberas and Daniel Mancinelli who claimed the top AMR powered honours of P4 in class after clocking a best lap time of 3:59:058 compared to the D’Station Racing crew of Satoshi Hoshino, Erwan Bastard and Marco Sorenson who clocked up a best lap time of 3:59:664 to claim a P13 finishing position.
That propelled them into this evenings hour long Qualifying session that would be used to determine each cars starting position ahead of Saturday’s start to the 24-hour race – except for the top eight in each class who would move onto to Thursday evening’s Hyperpole session.
Steady laps times from both Riberas and Sorensen in the opening half the Qualifying session saw their respective lap times improve over the tyres expected 3 lap optimum cycle to see the #777 car first lead the way over the #27 car before Riberas responded with a better lap time of 3:56:023 to claim P3 in class but with the #777 still hanging on in P4 with a best of 3:56:500.
The cars then pitted for both Mancinelli and Bastard to take over the reins, but each were unable to better the lap times of their Pro drivers with just Mancinelli being able to break the sub 4:00:00 barrier.
With the session ultimately being red flagged early due to a Hypercar off track, these times have taken both Aston Martins into Hyperpole with the #27 car eventually finishing P6 in class and the #777 P8 in class.
Allowing the teams and drivers just a tiny respite – the grid now prepares for another on track session this evening where the likes of Bastard must complete their required night laps obligation as rookie drivers.
Photo credit – Kelvin Pope at Firecracker Media
