All 3 Corvettes lacking speed did poorly in practice

LMGT3 Practice

The #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus entry continues its impressive 2025 form as Jack Hawksworth, a late replacement for the injured Ben Barnicoat, stops the clocks at 3m57.248s
The British driver’s time heads the #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 challenger by a mere 0.047s. Davide Rigon posts the best time in the car he will share with Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr this weekend
Le Mans debutant, the #10 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin makes very encouraging start to place third, as Valentin Hasse Clot stops the clocks at 3m57.344s on his final lap of the session
That time is just 0.1s ahead of the invitational Ziggo Sport Ferrari car, as Edward Cheever channels his famous father Eddie who raced for Jaguar in the 1980s
The top six in LMGT3 is completed by the Spa-winning #21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari of François Heriau, Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera, and the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche of Richard Lietz, Ryan Hardwick and Riccardo Pera
Incidents in the FP1 session include a spin for the #150 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari at the Dunlop Chicane and the #63 Iron Lynx Mercedes of Stephen Grove, which crashes on the entry to the Dunlop Chicane and brings out the first of the two red flags. The second is flown to retrieve debris

None of the three Z06 GT3.Rs have any top end speed and showed again in qualify
Only one of them got into the top 5 and the other 2 were way down the LMGT3 class

Alex Lynn claimed the fastest Hypercar qualifying time in qualifying during the crucial knock-out round to tomorrows two-phased Hyperpole sessions.

The #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA driver set the ultimate fastest lap of Le Mans 2025 so far on a best of 3:22.847s to outpace the #15 BMW M Team WRT of Dries Vanthoor.

The 24-car LMGT3 witnessed Ahmad Al Harthy take the best time of 3:56.875s in the #46 Team WRT BMW that he shares with Valentino Rossi and Kelvin van der Linde as the Top 12 for the Hyperpole 1 session on Thursday evening are decided.

In the 17-car LMP2 category, it was the #199 AO by TF Sport Oreca-Gibson that topped the times as Louis Deletraz lapped in 3:35.472s. The Swiss ace and the American entered team are gunning for a second consecutive pole position at Le Mans this year.

The LMGT3 and LMP2 session was red flagged twice after first Andrew Gilbert stopped his Iron Lynx Mercedes at the Dunlop Chicane, and then Custodio Toledo parked his Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari late in the session.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans gets underway on Saturday morning for us here in the United States, with the action starting at 10:00 AM EST.
For this weekend’s Summer Classic, Chevy will be simulcasting the in-car feed from the No. 33 Corvette Z06 GT3R to its YouTube channel.
The 33 Z06 GT3R will be driven by Daniel Juncadella, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating who are currently leading the Driver’s Championship standings in the World Endurance Championship’s LMGT3 class

In the run for the Hyperpole only 1 Corvette made in the class, other 2 Corvettes still not running at the top of field

The top eight in class consisted of eight different manufacturers, with the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Ian James second followed by the No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R in the hands of Ryan Hardwick.

Arnold Robin and Tom van Rompuy picked up fourth and fifth for Akkodis ASP Team and TF Sport respectively, ahead of the No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 driven by Stefano Gattuso.

The top eight was rounded out by the No. 193 Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 and No. 59 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

Iron Lynx, despite a troubled session in which the No. 60 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Andrew Gilbert ground to a halt at the Dunlop Chicane, had a car in the top twelve courtesy of Martin Berry’s No. 61 machine.

The sister No. 63 car did not take part, having sustained damage in a crash during Free Practice 1 earlier on Wednesday.

Amongst the notable cars to not make Hyperpole included the No. 33 TF Sport Corvette, the No. 57 Kessel Racing Ferrari, No. 31 The Bend Team WRT BMW and No. 87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus.

Tom Van Rompuy put TF Sport’s No. 81 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R into Thursday’s Hyperpole session ahead of this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Van Rompuy set the fifth-fastest LMGT3 time in the Corvette that he drives with Rui Andrade and Corvette factory driver Charlie Eastwood. His lap of 3:57.890 (128.251 mph) put him into the top-12 in class by a full second as the quickest dozen LMGT3 cars advanced to the Hyperpole 1, where the eight best time move on the final Hyperpole round and grid positions for Saturday’s start.

Teammate Ben Keating, in the No. 33 Corvette Z06 GT3.R, qualified 17th and missed out by four-tenths of a second. A late red-flag stoppage the second of the session with about six minutes remaining thwarted Keating’s charge into the top-12, as did class competitors that significantly held up the Corvette at the end of the Le Mans circuit’s lengthy straightaways.

AWA’s Orey Fidani and the No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R continued their progression in the team’s first Le Mans. Fidani qualified 21st in class but was seven seconds faster in qualifying than he was after Sunday’s Test Day.

Hyperpole for LMGT3 cars is scheduled for 8 p.m. local time Thursday. The TF Sport squad is going for its third class win at Le Mans, AWA is making its race debut, and the Corvette Racing program is attempting to score its 10th class victory in the race since 2001.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET / 4 p.m. CET on Saturday, June 14. MotorTrend will air the full race live in the U.S., with full live-streaming coverage of all on-track sessions – including qualifying and Hyperpole will be available through the MAX app in the U.S., and the FIA WEC app internationally. Radio Le Mans also will provide live-streaming audio coverage of all sessions as well.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES

TOM VAN ROMPUY, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – FIFTH IN LMGT3 QUALIFYING:

“I’m really happy with the run I did in qualifying. Compared to my previous best time from this year, it’s quite a chunk less, so I’m really happy. We also had good preparation with the team, and I looked at a lot of data with Charlie ahead of time.
So yes, there is a lot to be happy about in putting the Corvette in Hyperpole. Now it’s up to the big boys to get us further up the order!”

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“Without the red flag… who knows? I’m sure there were other people on a flyer as well. Congrats to Tom on finishing P5. What irritates me more than anything else is that the 21 Ferrari and one of the Fords were just able to drive right around me on the straightaway and then park it in the corner. I felt like I was doing some excellent laps there.

My Hyperpole lap in ’23 was five seconds quicker than all of this. So I know how to drive this track. But I can’t do it if somebody drives around me and parks it in the corner. Unfortunately, I think that’s what I’m going to be looking at this weekend for 24 hours, which just really angers me. This was my best lap for the weekend. I had a better lap going at the end before the red flag.
Who knows what could have been? I think we will still be in the midst of the race, which is all you can hope for. I just don’t like starting P17.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“I’m having fun out here! We push and keep our heads down to get faster and faster. I would say we had a little bit of trouble in the last free practice session. The car was wandering all over the place. Either we had jammed nut come loose in the toe link or one of the tires was pretty badly corded on the edge. So that earlier session was a little bit of a throwaway.
But still, my gain from Sunday until now was four seconds, then here another three seconds. We just need to keep going and keep driving.”

C8 GT3.R Photo

TF Sport’s Charlie Eastwood and Rui Andrade teamed to qualify TF Sport’s No. 81 Chevy Corvette Z06 GT3.R on the third row of a stacked LMGT3 field for this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In Thursday’s two-phase Hyperpole session, Eastwood advanced the TF Corvette out of the 12-car field with the second-fastest time of Hyperpole 1 – 3:54.646 (129.929 mph) followed by Andrade’s career-best GT lap at Le Mans in the eight-car Hyperpole 2, a 3:55.740 (129.307 mph) on his final lap to stay on the third row.

It cements the No. 81 Corvette among the lead cars at the start of Saturday’s race, which features a massive field of 24 GT3 cars representing nine manufacturers. Eastwood and Andrade got the chance in Hyperpole after teammate Tom Van Rompuy advanced from Wednesday’s initial qualifying session in fifth place.

With Thursday’s results, all three Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs know their starting positions.
AWA’s No. 13 Corvette of Matt Bell, Orey Fidani and Lars Kern will roll off 20th in class for the team’s Le Mans debut after winning the IMSA Bob Akin Award in the 2024 season. TF Sport’s No. 33 Corvette – driven by LMGT3 championship leaders Daniel Juncadella, Jonny Adam and Ben Keating – will start 23rd in class.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET / 4 p.m. CET on Saturday, June 14. MotorTrend will air the full race live in the U.S., with full live-streaming coverage available through the MAX app in the U.S., and the FIA WEC app internationally. Radio Le Mans also will provide live-streaming audio coverage of all sessions as well.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R HYPERPOLE DRIVER QUOTES

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – STARTING SIXTH IN LMGT3:

“Clearly, the top couple of cars are superfast, but we haven’t been the sixth-fastest cars since we’ve been here all week. So again, I think all three of us did a perfect job Tom yesterday to get us in and continue on and then Rui had a really good last lap there. In the mix for sure.
We’re not the fastest but definitely not the slowest. We can definitely fight from there.

The Corvette and the team have been super-faultless. We’ve been tuning the car more and more to a wonderful place.
As we have in the last couple of races, we have executed really well up to now. We just need to make sure we continue to execute this weekend as well.”

RUI ANDRADE, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – STARTING SIXTH IN LMGT3:

“I’m really happy with how things went. Obviously, Charlie’s lap was incredible in H1. So that was our main objective for that session, to get to Hyperpole 2.
The starting position doesn’t determine your race, but it’s always nice to start up ahead, avoiding a little bit of the mess at the start.
It’s a long race, and you want to have a nice, easy start to just flow into it.

“For me, the lap felt pretty good at the end there. I missed the peak a little bit in the beginning, but in the last lap it felt excellent.
I’m happy with it.
Furthermore, I think that was the most I could have done. The third row is not so bad. I think the whole team has done a really good job so far. There are no issues with the car and everything’s running fine. So I’m happy with it. Now it’s time to relax a bit and then enjoy the race.”

Race started and here is live timing

https://fiawec.tv/page/6655a4a4e43bb36e84c8d3cd

The No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 EVO of Kelvin van der Linde is still building the gap to the No. 92 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche in second.

The rest of the top five features the No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari, No. 81 TF Sport Corvette, and No. 78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus.

The No. 60 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 and No. 95 United Autosports McLaren LMGT3 EVO have officially joined the list of retirements from the race; the No. 60 Mercedes-AMG was pushed back to the garage for good after a catastrophic engine failure, while the No. 95 McLaren's rear axle failure along the Mulsanne Straight proved terminal.

While battling for 14th place on the road, Paul-Loup Chatin in the No. 35 Alpine A424 spun the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8 of Loic Duval down at Mulsanne Corner.

While not as catastrophic, a presumptive pre-race favorite, the No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, lost two laps in the garage when a stubborn wheel nut wouldn't come off during a tire change.

With 24 cars in LMGT3 here is how the other 2 Corvettes are doing at the 9 hours mark

Half the race, 12 hours, is completed

The No. 33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R was significantly delayed during a routine pit stop in the seventh hour when its left rear wheel became stuck, resulting in the car losing multiple laps after being rolled into the garage before eventually rejoining the field
as is 2 laps down from the leaders

The other 2 Corvettes in 4th and 10 place