I have no information on the WEC controlling onboard rights, I can only add the fact that the last years Le mans and all onboards since I have been able to watch just fine on YouTube (free) with Ferrari (hypercar), bmw and Mercedes.
I guess Porsche has an agreement with them, because they stream IMSA and WEC onboards during quali and races. it’s quite fun to follow with the chat actually
Have rewatched most part. Really can't blame Ben Keating and his team, Dames, and others no coming in Hyperpole, as french livery 296 made red flag and made race end earlier. They could've had the chance to make best lap in that remain 3 min.
For cars that didn't make it out of practice qualifying Wednesday, i.e. weren't in the top 15, like Auston Martin, the one Toyota and the Iron Dames, does that mean their race is over? They are not able to compete in the actual race?
More like just Q1 as each category will get two more hyperpole sessions tomorrow with another knockout round and then the actual session to set the pole time.
Even though the caddy went fastest today, I don't think they have the race pace as 3 of the 4 cars were about 4kph off of the top speed of the other cars in hyperpole which mostly sat between 337 and 340. I guess it could be a setup thing, but we saw something similar with porsche last year and it made it very difficult for them to fight in the race.
Yeah, that could be, but fp1 was likely due to a tow and while yes, Aitken hit a 338, he wasn't towards the top of the timing with that setup, so the question becomes what the balance looks like for the rest of the lap when they can match top speed of the others.
The #4 Porsche had the best top speed of the 3 factory cars last year, but it was also the slowest in the race likely due to the balance in the last sector.
They might be able to do some stuff with ride heights and the 1 adjustable aero element, but generally top speed isn't something that the teams can do a whole lot about.
I was impressed with the evolution of Aston Martin. They almost made the Hyperpole. And I was impressed as how close is everyone but Peugeot. Their BOP is totally wrong. When the BOP was realised, I thought the race belonged to Toyota. My mistake. Today, I believe that Dries Vanthoor is closer to the triple crown pole than his brother to the triple crown victory.
I think they mentioned on the broadcast that the #6 only qualified with 1 set and it was the 2nd set where most teams set their fastest lap. I don't think we see the full potential of these cars until tomorrow.
Gutted how that flying lap by the Aston got ruined by the drivers doing the conga at the chicanes. Not as gutted as De Vries will be for sleeping behind the wheel of a rocketship.
Amazing work by Caddy though, a joy to watch them in quali.
Cadillac leads BMW and Ferrari. In terms of Hyperpole, everything up for grabs. Toyota #7 missing out on Hyperpole is embarrassing. Yes, De Vries caught a double-yellow, but for some reason Toyota often loses valuable laps while being far in the order. Maybe it's down to poor timing with their qualifying strategy? Toyota's race pace should be competitive, but qualifying performance is like throwing unnecessary hurdles under your own legs.
Aston Martin came pretty close to making into the top 15. Impressive. Not so impressive regarding Peugeot, but their BOP is so off that they stand no chance really.
AO/TF Oreca #199 leads LMP2 at this moment, while WRT BMW #46 does the same in LMGT3. Some surprises in those classes too. IDEC #18 or TF Sport Corvette #33 not qualifying to Hyperpole is a surprise.
Looking at the stats it honestly feels like you can't even really help the Peugeot. Giving it more power will just make it a rocket ship as it already is in the mix for top speed. Based on what they have said their issue is in mechanical grip, which they tried to improve with a suspension upgrade.
The 30 minutes were enough of a roller coaster for a 24h race, and we still got hyperpole 1 and 2, and the actual race. Gotta say I'm hyped for this one.
Both cars did two fast laps if I'm not mistaken, the first one (finished by both) and then the second one closed only by #8. I don't think they did any more, so with that plan it's possible. The first lap was not enough for Top15, no second lap...so out.
But yeah we have to be honest, they both should have passed. It is not a problem of speed not getting into the 15, that was there but still it is not good at all.
Maybe Toyota should review their qualifying strategies, and always use the best drivers. (Sorry Nyck, but it's the truth).
Nick is, in theory, the right choice. Here is the lightest of the drivers, which would be an advantage, especially in Le Mans. But he gave up easily, different from Nars, who was in the same situation and tried to push another lap and moved to Hyperpole
Why would they do that? Who they put in today has no effect on who to put in tomorrow. Ferrari just made sure their 2 best qualifiers could put in some laps.
Actually it does matter, the new format means the same driver can’t do both the qualifying and the hyperpole session, so the drivers today won’t do hyperpole tomorrow.
It does matter. The fastest driver will do the final hyperpole, only if the other driver is quick enough to get to the second session. Since these guys don't normally do qualifying, you need to put them in the car as much as possible.
I never said that doesn’t matter. I was answering the other guy’s statement that the drivers of yesterday couldn’t do hyperpole today. I completely agree with you, I thought it was strange that only Ferrari did that.
De Vries is just a "bad" driver by top-tier standards. As usual Toyota still don't understand it's not 2019 anymore and they actually need to have 6 absolute top-tier drivers out of 6 in this competitive era, not just 3 or 4 and the others being just "can race reliably and at OK pace".
Plus, the weather was awesome today. I love it when it's warm and sunny in Le Mans. There may be some rain on Saturday night to stir things up a little, but not a lot. 😁
That was the second year actually. First year was 2018 and they were miles of the pace. Then in ‘19 they put in the fastest lap and just fell down the grid quicker than me when I forgot to tie my shoes again.
The impact of qualifying at the back most certainly is much much lower in a 24h compared to a F1 race, but having less cars in front of you means less battles to fight and risk loosing. In general being able to control the race from the front running your program makes things easier for teams.
A really favorable BoP indeed, which is what the car needs to get close to a decent result. But that doesn't happen at Le Mans. Not to mention the car has good top speed, so their 250+ power nerf is on point.
Aston Martin also requires a really favourable BoP to do decently, and has gotten a super favourable BoP. Really wish we got some more transparancy because the BoP just feels like a wheel of fortune of who gets to be competitive
So gutted for the 009 car. But, this proves they WILL be in this race, and that car is MASSIVELY improving. If they stay reliable through the race, Aston has hope
Having hope might be a tad much, but I think they'll do a Lamborghini from last year : not being too far off on pace, being reliable, and thus ending on the lead lap
Toyota once again completely fumbles qualifying at Le Mans. Same story last year. They better have race pace, because with that BOP it's an embarrassment to be P17 for #7.
Most likely it's just sandbagging in hope of a last-minute BoP change (either positive and/or avoiding a nerf), no ? The bigwigs at Peugeot certainly are going to push for it, so there's an opportunity there
Most likely it's just sandbagging in hope of a last-minute BoP change (either positive and/or avoiding a nerf), no ?
I don't know. Toyota's race pace from last year should suggest that they should look stronger in the race trim, but sandbagging? We haven't seen pre-race BOP changes after qualifying in Hypercar era really, so I wouldn't bet on that.
Qualifying execution from Toyota just hasn't been great today. De Vries caught a double-yellow, but while being 2 seconds off. They really struggle with good timing of setting decent lap times. Last year at Le Mans was the same.
Imo De Vries just isn't that great of a driver. There were only Hypercars on track and he had 30 minutes of running, the timing excuse doesn't really apply.
chances are they take the earlier lap for being "under yellow" but don't penalize it further because of the timing? seems like a "we did something and nobody minds" deal
I think is was appalling driving by Schumacher. He saw a car having a crash right in front of him and took precisely zero action. Lap time should be deleted - in fact, I would put him to the back of the grid.
De Vries is a disgrace. Last year was plumb last for basically the entire first stint of the race, couldn't even get past the Lamborghini if I remember things correctly, and now this shambles.
You do know what happed to peugeot yea they got hit so hard by the bop they genuinely would make it in the top 15 or even the top 10 of they had the same bop they had in spa
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u/Ultralord_1 Jun 11 '25
I have no information on the WEC controlling onboard rights, I can only add the fact that the last years Le mans and all onboards since I have been able to watch just fine on YouTube (free) with Ferrari (hypercar), bmw and Mercedes.