WEC: Defending race winner knocked out in qualifying at Le Mans

Sport news The 30-minute session – with the quickest 15 competitors advancing to Thursday’s Hyperpole 1 shootout – saw numerous cars top the timesheets as fresh tyres were bolted on and lap times tumbled, but all eyes were glued to the bottom of the order. In what has been a troubled event so far for the #83 AF Corse entry – following a late off for Yifei Ye at Mulsanne Corner during FP1 – team-mate Phil Hanson proved unable to escape the dreaded drop zone, with the Brit mowing the grass at the exit of the Forest Esses in evidence of just how hard he was pushing. Ultimately, Hanson’s efforts were in vain, as the yellow 499P wound up just 17th in the 18-strong field, meaning it will take no part in either of tomorrow’s Hyperpole sessions. The same fate was shared by the pair of Peugeot 9X8s. In the fight for the honour of posting the fastest time, there was, contrastingly, joy for fellow French marque Alpine, as Ferdinand Habsburg narrowly outpaced Cadillac’s Louis Delétraz to first place. The Austrian’s margin of superiority – a scant 0.013 seconds – hinted at an ultra-competitive race ahead. Indeed, at one stage during the session, the top five cars were covered by less than a tenth of a second. Jordan Taylor reinforced Cadillac’s strong form in third behind the wheel of the WTR-run #101 V-Series.R, with local hero Sébastien Bourdais similarly in close company in fifth in the #38 Cadillac, sandwiching the #20 BMW of Spa winner René Rast – another driver to briefly head the order. Behind the sister #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Kevin Magnussen in sixth, the two Aston Martin Valkyries were both comfortably ensconced inside the top ten – having occupied first and second positions for a while – while Hypercar newcomer Genesis Magma Racing impressively got both of its GMR-001 prototypes through to Hyperpole 1 at its maiden attempt, outpacing all three Ferraris in the process. CORVETTE STARS AND STRUGGLES IN LMGT3 In LMGT3, Peter Dempsey reprised his Imola heroics in the #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette to top the Bronze-rated driver session. The Irishman ended up two tenths of a second quicker than his closest challenger, Eric Powell, in the best-placed Proton Competition Ford Mustang, with Gray Newell an impressive third in Heart of Racing Team’s #23 Aston Martin Vantage. Notably, all three drivers are making their Le Mans debut this week. LMP2 saw Peugeot Development Driver Doriane Pin continue to shine as she posted the fastest lap for Team Duqueine, beating teenage sensation Ian Aguilera in the CLX Motorsport Oreca-Gibson by just over half a second. Tomorrow’s all-important, pole position-deciding Hyperpole session is set to commence at 20:00 local time. World Endurance Championship Endurance 24 Hours of Le Mans WEC WEC SEASON 2026 Sport Circuit 1SportWorld Endurance ChampionshipCircuitWECSEASON 2026Endurance24 Hours of Le MansWEC00 Wednesday, June 10, 2026 - 11:53pm Wednesday, June 10, 2026 - 11:53pm