A series of accidents and stoppages severely impacted the running of Free Practice 3 for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which saw a total of two red flags and numerous Slow Zones and Full Course Yellows.

The LMP2 class Oreca 07 Gibsons from IDEC Sport and DragonSpeed were among the heaviest hit, with separate accidents by Dwight Merriman and Juan Pablo Montoya at the entrance to the Dunlop Curves that resulted in lengthy red flag periods for track cleanup and barrier repairs.

Merriman lost control of his No. 17 IDEC entry near the end of the opening hour, while Montoya had a nearly identical incident one hour later.

At least ten other cars either had incidents over the course of the three-hour session, including the No. 65 IDEC Sport Oreca (Patrick Pilet), three off-course excursions for the No. 29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca (Guido van der Garde/Frits van Eerd) and the No. 20 High Class Racing entry of Marco Sorensen.

The No. 1 Richard Mille Racing Oreca of Sophia Floersch stopped on track with engine issues,
while Antonio Garcia had an uncharacteristic off at the Porsche Curves, damaging the rear of the No. 63 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. mad
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The Ferrari 488 GTE Evo has been hit with a mid-event Balance of Performance adjustment ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Confirmed by the FIA Endurance Commission on Thursday, both the GTE-Pro and GTE-Am variants of the car have received reduced boost levels across all RPM levels.

While the biggest reduction is at low revs, the change, roughly, equates to only 8 horsepower decrease compared to the specification the Prancing Horses ran in the test day and opening day of official track action at Circuit de la Sarthe.

As part of the change, the Ferraris also lose 1 liter of fuel capacity.

The pair of AF Corse Ferraris were quickest in Wednesday’s qualifying session to set the field for this evening’s Hyperpole session.
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After the Hyperpole session, here is how the first 6 cars will line up for the start of the race, with the #64 C8.R in third place

HubAuto Beats Factory Entries in GTE-Pro

Dries Vanthoor handed a surprise GTE-Pro pole position to privateer outfit HubAuto Racing with a 3:46.882 flying lap.

Taiwanese squad HubAuto, which is receiving support from Team Project 1 for its debut with the latest GTE-spec Porsche, beat factory entries from the likes of Porsche GT Team, AF Corse/Ferrari and Corvette Racing.

Vanthoor, who normally drives Audi GT3 machinery, was fourth-fastest after the opening set of laps following the red flag for Estre’s accident in the opening stages.

The Belgian then scaled the GTE-Pro class with 10 minutes to go, beating Daniel Serra’s original best of 3:47.063 in the No. 52 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo by 0.181 seconds.

Nick Tandy delivered the third-fastest lap at around the same as Vanthoor landed pole, with the British driver planting the No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R third on the grid for its Le Mans debut.

Tandy was the only Corvette driver in hyperbole, after the No. 63 Corvette failed to make the cut during Wednesday evening’s collective qualifying practice.


Attached Files hyperpole.jpg

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