Porsche Secures Le Mans Pole in Final Seconds Robbing Cadillac of Its First

The No. 6 Porsche Penske secured the Hyperpole for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the final seconds of qualifying Thursday evening. With less than eight seconds remaining, Dries Vanthoor in the No. 15 BMW lost control in Indianapolis corner, causing a red flag to be issued to clear the car from the circuit.

At the time of the red flag, Sebastian Bourdais, a Le Mans native, was on the top of the charts in the No. 3 Cadillac by a margin of o.782 over the two Ferrari AF cars; both were on track when the red flag came out, and their times were thereby deleted. The No. 50 piloted by Antonio Fuoco was faster than Bourdais in the first sector and pacing ahead in the second when his time was nulled.

The red flag lasted around 10 minutes, but during that period, the track slowed and momentum stalled. The two Ferraris were unable to match Bourdais's time when they returned to the track.

The Le Mans native time stayed at the top of the board until the final moments when Alex Lynn in the No. 2 sister Cadillac and Kevin Estre in the No. 6 Porsche Penske started their final qualifying lap with seconds remaining on the clock.

Lynn finished his lap 0.374 ahead of his teammate to momentarily set up Cadillac for a front-row sweep. Seconds later, after a stellar final sector, Estre bested both Cadillacs with a lap time of 3.24.634, 0.148 faster than Lynn's.

Over the No. 6 radio, it was shared that Estre was on maximum fuel save and had finished the track on E-Drive to record his time, pushing it as far as possible.

This is Porsche's first pole in the event since 2017. The No. 6 trio of Bourdais, Andre Lotterer, and Laurens Vanthoor enter the race as the current leaders in the 2024 WEC after winning the opening round in Qatar and finishing second at Imola and Spa.

You Might Also Like

• You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox

• Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners

• The Man Who Signs Every Car