Double ELMS LMP2 Driver’s Champion Louis Deletraz secured the LMP2 Pole Position for the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans in a drama filled Hyperpole on Thursday evening.
The no14 AO by TF Oreca-Gibson held the top spot for most of the 30-minute session, which was interrupted by a red flag when the no15 BMW M Team WRT driven by Dries Vanthoor went off into the barriers.
The session resumed with 7 minutes left on the clock. The no37 COOL Racing Oreca of Malthe Jakobsen was second fastest before the red flag and the Swiss team decided to sit out the rest of the session.
Deletraz was pushing hard as Job Van Uitert in the no28 IDEC Sport Oreca was going even quicker. At the chequered flag the Dutch driver went into provisional pole with a 3m33.827, but for only one second as Louis Deletraz crossed the line in 3m33.217 to take the pole and start at the head of the 16 car LMP2 field in the no14 AO by TF Oreca, which also heads the LMP2 Pro/Am category.
The no65 Panis Racing Oreca of Mathias Beche was third fastest just 0.168s ahead of the no23 United Autosports USA of Ben Hanley. The no22 United Autosports Oreca was fifth fastest, just ahead of the no37 COOL Racing, the no33 DKR Engineering and the no10 Vector Sport.
Louis Deletraz said on receiving his Hyperpole trophy, “First of all a big thank you to all the team at AO by TF. It’s fantastic to be able to do Hyperpole, there was no traffic, which is Le Mans at its best.To put it on pole like this, the lap was very good and the car too, so I am super happy.”
CLICK HERE for the result from the 24 Hours of Le Mans Hyperpole.
