Photo courtesy of Cadillac Racing

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

Paced by an all-American front row, the world’s greatest sports car endurance race is underway in France.

The pole-sitting No. 6 Porsche 963 Hypercar entered by Penske Motorsport and the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R fielded by Cadillac Racing took the green flag Saturday morning for the flying start of the 92nd annual 24 Hours of Le Mans.

A field of 62 cars in three classes is competing at full-song in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s twice-around-the-clock marathon. Frenchman Kevin Estre wheeled Penske’s No. 6 Porsche 963 to P1 during Thursday’s 30-minute Hyperpole session around the 8.47-mile/13.629-kilometer Circuit de la Sarthe through the French countryside. Estre is sharing the cockpit with André Lotterer of Germany and Laurens Vanthoor of Belgium.

Alex Lynn recorded a lap of 3-minutes, 24.782-seconds in the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R to place second while Sebastien Bourdais posted a best lap of 3:24.816 in the No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R to claim third in the seven-car Hypercar session. It marked the highest starting position for Cadillac Racing, which made its first trip to Le Mans in 1950 with two entries by privateers.

For a brief time, both Cadillac Racing entries occupied the provisional front row. But Lynn’s effort was pipped on the 10th and final lap by Estre in team-owner Roger Penske’s Porsche by 0.148-seconds.

“It was a very tough session,” Estre said. “There was a lot of things going on, trying to save fuel, trying to keep the tires warm. It was quite stressful because, after the red flag, we weren’t sure we had the fuel to do two laps. But I had excellent guidance from the pit wall.

“It was an amazing feeling to drive this car on low fuel. I had to overtake an LMP2 (car) at Indianapolis but I benefited from its slipstream. It was far from a perfect lap. It’s an incredible feeling to start the world’s biggest endurance race from the very front. The entire team has done an amazing job over the past few months. We’ve entered a whole new realm. Now, with 24 hours of racing ahead of us, there’s everything to play for.”

Lynn, of Great Britain, will share the No. 2 Cadillac this weekend with WEC teammate Earl Bamber of New Zealand and two-time/reigning NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou of Spain and Chip Ganassi Racing.

“I’m so proud of everyone tonight,” Lynn said after his effort. “Qualifying at Le Mans is a big moment because it’s a true test of pure speed. I think Cadillac with second and third position was a great night for the whole team and I’m proud that I had the privilege to drive with everyone’s efforts behind me.”

A proud native of Le Mans, Bourdais will share seat time in the No. 3 Caddy with regular IMSA teammate Renger van der Zande of The Netherlands and six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon of New Zealand and CGR.

“It was a really solid lap,” Bourdais said. “You always leave something on the table at a track like this. But I’m really happy where we ended up. The car hasn’t felt great for most of the test, but when we hit the track for qualifying, the car was amazing. This time I didn’t get any traffic. The first prep lap I just pushed through because I knew it was a throw-away lap. That’s why when they told me I was only going to get one lap, I was thinking there was no way and that I couldn’t get the tires up to temp. We probably were going to be too low on fuel to do 3-and-2. It is what it is.

“At the end of the day, I was super-happy that we could jam that thing in. It’s amazing and awesome for Cadillac. I’m really happy. The thing has four wheels on it and we didn’t put a foot wrong. We can go racing now.”

Hyperpole, a qualifying format introduced in 2020 at Circuit de la Sarthe, followed the previous night’s 60-minute qualifying practice that determined the cars in each of the three classes that filled the top eight positions on the grid based upon lap time.

The No. 311 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R _ with teammates Pipo Derani of Brazil, Jack Aitken of Great Britain and Felipe Drugovich of Brazil _ qualified a provisional 18th among the 23 Hypercars in that session.

The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R was hit with a five-place penalty when the official grid was released. That penalty was handed down by FIA stewards following the TotalEnergies 8 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium in May. Stewards determined the No. 2 car was responsible for an on-track incident that prompted a prolonged red flag.

Last year, Cadillac Racing’s “rookie” three-car program turned in qualifying efforts of third, fourth and 17th-place overall for General Motors in the marque’s return to Le Mans after a 21-year absence.

All three Cadillac Racing Hypercar entries ranked in the top-seven of the three-hour free practice preceding Hyperpole, as the No. 311 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R displayed pace the Action Express Racing-run team expected.

“We’ve definitely made steps forward, which is great because this was the last opportunity to improve the car before the race,” Aitken said. “We started a bit on the back foot, but we’re feeling a lot more comfortable with it now. We’re clearly much more in the ballpark and now it’s a matter of fine-tuning.”

Meanwhile, TF Sport’s No. 82 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R started from Row 4 of the LMGT3 field in the debut appearance at the French endurance classic for the GT3-spec Corvette _ first mid-engine version of “America’s Favorite Sports Car.” 

Hiroshi Koizumi of Japan piloted the Corvette during Thursday’s 30-minute Hyperpole session, which set the top eight positions in each of the three classes. Koizumi’s lap of 4:03.681/125.082 mph was his fastest of the weekend heading into Thursday night’s final practice and Saturday’s race. Koizumi will share the cockpit with Frenchman Sebastien Baud and Corvette factory driver Daniel Juncadella of Spain, whose lap in Wednesday’s qualifying secured a spot in Hyperpole.

“It’s my first Le Mans and my first Hyperpole,” Koizumi said. “I’m so thankful to the team and everyone who is supporting us. Dani, Seb and I will analyze our runs with our engineers. We will absorb all the data and learn from it, and hopefully that leads to a good result Sunday.”

The two Corvettes _ including the No. 81 wheeled by Charlie Eastwood of Northern Ireland, Angolan-Portuguese ace Rui Andrade and Tom Van Rompuy of Belgium that will start 18th _ are part of a 23-car grid in LMGT3. Saturday’s race marks the first time that GT3 cars will compete at Le Mans, with nine manufacturers representing the class. The No. 70 McLaren qualified on the class pole.

Full entry lists, the official starting grid and updates can be accessed via www.24h-lemans.com.

MotorTrend’s live start-to-finish coverage is airing for viewers in the United States and includes streaming on the Max app. The WEC’s app also is providing streaming coverage. In addition, RadioLeMans.com is broadcasting the race in its entirety in English.