In the Hyperpole session of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2024, Kevin Estre of Porsche Penske Motorsport stole the show by taking the victory in the dying seconds. Dries Vanthoor, who was a favorite to take the top spot after impressive practice runs, crashed his BMW into the barriers. The defending champions, Ferrari, qualified in fourth place, while Toyota missed the Hyperpole session. The qualifying results were as follows: #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport in first place, followed by #2 and #3 Cadillac Racing in second and third, respectively, #51 and #50 Ferrari AF Corse in fourth and fifth, #35 Alpine Endurance Team in sixth, #15 BMW M Team WRT in seventh, and #12 Hertz Team Jota in eighth.
The team line-ups for the race include 23 factory and customer hypercars, with drivers from various manufacturers such as Cadillac Racing, Porsche Penske Motorsport, Toyota Gazoo Racing, Isotta Fraschini, BMW M Team WRT, Lamborghini Iron Lynx, Alpine Endurance Team, Hertz Team Jota, and Ferrari AF Corse. MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi will also be competing in the race in the LMGT3 series with Team WRT BMW alongside Ahmad Al Harthy and Maxime Martin.
Defending champions Ferrari are back in the competition with three teams, one of which won the championship last year. Toyota is also competing with two factory line-ups, while Porsche has six teams in the mix. Cadillac has three teams, Peugeot has two, and BMW, Lamborghini, Isotta Fraschini, and Alpine each have one or two teams competing in the race.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans 2024 is an endurance race that runs continuously over a 24-hour period. The team that covers the most distance during the race will win the trophy. Each team has three drivers who alternate during the 24 hours, with no driver racing for more than 14 hours in total. There are three different classes of cars in the race: Hypercar, LMP2, and LMGT3, with Hypercars being the fastest cars in endurance racing.
Fans in the UK can watch all the action from the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2024 on discovery+, which offers a subscription that includes TNT Sports, Eurosport, and entertainment in a single destination. The race features a stacked hypercar field with 23 cars in total, seven more than in the previous year, and four additional manufacturers joining the competition. With fierce competition and a mix of experienced and new teams, the 101st edition of the race promises to be an exciting and challenging event.
