Before the Hyperpole, five marks in half a second!

After a first day which saw Toyota dominate the first two free practice sessions then BMW take provisional pole position, it was the Ferrari 499P #50, in 3’27”283, which set the best time of the third free practice session before the Hyperpole which will take place later in the evening.

Cadillac takes the lead at the half-hour mark

Best time in qualifying the day before, the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 set the first time of this session in 3’31”126. A time directly beaten by the Alpine A424 #35 in 3’30”764. At the start of the session, Alpine monopolized the first two places with the best time of the A424 #36 in 3’30”390.

After a quarter of an hour of driving, the pace began to rise with the Toyota GR010 Hybrid #7 and the Cadillac V-Series.R #311, to the advantage of the Japanese crew in 3’28” 721. While the #94 Peugeot 9X8, driven by Loïc Duval, was in fifth place, second place had still not left its stand. At the same time, Felipe Nasr took the opportunity to set the best time, at the wheel of the #4 Porsche 963, in 3’28”690. A time beaten by two tenths by Alex Pálou, at the wheel of the #2 Cadillac.

The first Slow Zone of the session appeared after an hour of driving. It was the Cool Racing LMP2 that left the track at the Indianapolis corner. Time to evacuate the car, the session resumed normally after ten minutes of neutralization. We will have to wait an hour and a quarter to see the top of the ranking move with the #8 Toyota GR010, driven by Sébastien Buemi, moving up to second place. Very behind since the start of the week, the #19 Lamborghini SC63 driven by Romain Grosjean found itself in tenth position shortly before the hour and a half mark.

Red flag after McLaren accident at Tertre Rouge

The United Autosports McLaren 720S, leader until now in the LMGT3 category, spun before hitting the tire stacks at Tertre Rouge, causing the red flag. At the same time, a second McLaren had to stop after a fire broke out. It was the #70 from Inception Racing. The session resumed twenty minutes later, for 1h40 until the checkered flag

Ferrari takes the best time in the final seconds

We will have to wait until the last 40 minutes to see the top of the ranking change hands with the best lap of the #6 Penske Porsche in 3’27”391, more than eight tenths behind the #2 Cadillac. At the same time, the #311 Cadillac moved up to third place, placing two American prototypes in the top 3. A Slow Zone followed with the #65 Panis Racing Oreca going off the track.

The #15 BMW and the #3 Cadillac managed to move up to second and third in the final minutes of this free practice session. However, it was the #50 Ferrari 499P which finished the session at the top of the timesheet in 3’27”283, ahead of the #6 Penske Porsche and the #15 BMW.

EL3 – The Hypercars classification