The starting positions had just been allocated when things got going again: just an hour after the Hyperpole qualifying, the last free practice session before the start of the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans (Saturday, 4:00 p.m. on free TV on Nitro and Eurosport) was scheduled. From 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, the teams in the Hypercar, LMGT3 and LMP2 classes had a one-hour training session to familiarize themselves further with driving at night.
The drivers were confronted with wet conditions for the first time this week. 13 minutes before the end of the session, raindrops were reported in the Porsche curves and then on other parts of the 13.626-kilometer track. A potentially good exercise: According to the current status, there is a 50 percent chance of rain on race Sunday. So far, all sessions have been dry. Some teams put on rain tires at the end to prepare them for a possible race.
With the first drops of rain, the ‘hunt’ for best times ended prematurely. In still dry conditions, Brendon Hartley in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid (Buemi, Hartley, Hirakawa) took the lead in the timesheets early on and never gave it up again. The former Formula 1 driver completed the circuit in 3:29.451 minutes. The #50 Ferrari 499 P (Fuoco, Molina, Nielsen) followed in second place, 0.076 seconds behind. For comparison: In the midday practice session, the times were in the 3:27 range.
BMW back in the mix after Hypercar accident
While the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 (Sheldon van der Linde, Rast, Frijns) finished the increasingly wet training session in third place, the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 (Dries Vanthoor, Marciello, Wittmann) was able to get back into the action just an hour after its accident in the Hyperpole. Dries Vanthoor had sent the Munich prototype into the guard rails during the time trial, but the damage was apparently limited.
“Unfortunately, Dries braked too late and drove straight into the track barrier,” said BMW Motorsport Director Andreas Roos. “Fortunately, he is fine, which is by far the most important news. We want our guys to give their all, especially in the Hyperpole. It didn’t work out for us, but we can take the positive from the fact that we were able to fight for the top spot.”
Pole Porsche foregoes fast lap
Vanthoor was not deterred by his Hyperpole crash and led the #15 BMW behind the #93 Peugeot 9X8 (Vergne, Jensen, Nico Müller) in fifth place. The #35 Alpine (Habsburg, Milesi, Chatin), the #311 Cadillac (Derani, Aitken, Drugovich) and the #4 Porsche-Penske from IMSA (Jaminet, Nasr, Tandy) completed the top eight. The #36 Alpine with Le Mans debutant Mick Schumacher followed in P9, with the ex-F1 driver completing five laps of teammate Nicolas Lapierre’s best time.
With the exception of Sarah Bovy’s trip into the gravel bed in the Iron Dames Lamborghini and a technical problem with the Isotta Fraschini, the last practice session before the race went off without any drama. The newly crowned pole setters from the #6 Penske Porsche (Estre, Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor) only completed five laps and did not do a fast lap.