2023 24 Hours of Le Mans | JOTA continue its momentum

The 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary officially got underway on Wednesday 7 June with two free practice sessions and the beginning of qualifying. After leading Free Practice 1, the JOTA team’s #28 ORECA 07 easily earned its spot in the Hyperpole by clocking the fastest qualifying time. During Free Practice 2 at night, Prema Racing’s #63 quickly got its bearings, scoring first place in the classification.

Free Practice 1

Building on their momentum from Sunday’s Test Day, Pietro Fittipaldi/David Heinemeier Hansson/Oliver Rasmussen remained in fine form. JOTA’s driver line-up in the #28 ORECA 07 clocked the best time of 03:34.579, trailed by COOL Racing’s #37 ORECA 07 just 0.032 seconds behind with 03:34.611. Nicolas Lapierre/Alexandre Coigny/Malthe Jakobsen proved fastest in the Pro/Am class.

Prema Racing’s #63 ORECA 07 finished in third position with a time of 03:36.451, followed by Alpine Elf Team’s #36 and Inter Europol Competition’s #34 rounding out the top 5. After demonstrating impressive speed during Test Day, Team WRT’s #31 ORECA 07 ended the session in the sixth spot.

The free practice, which allowed teams to get a feel for their performance level and start adjusting their strategy for the qualifying session scheduled from 19:00 to 20:00, was interrupted for dozens of minutes by a red flag as the result of an accident between an LMGTE Am and Tower Motorsports’ #13.

Qualifying

Still on top at the end of the day, JOTA’s #28 ORECA 07 clocked the time to beat of the session (03:34.751). With Pietro Fittipaldi at the wheel, the crew qualified for Thursday’s Hyperpole. The British outfit beat Team WRT’s #41 ORECA 07 by only 0.002 seconds (03:34.753). Repeating its result from Free Practice 1, Prema Racing’s #63 ORECA 07 finished third, trailing by 0.042 seconds (03:34.793).

IDEC SPORT Racing’s #48 ORECA 07 claimed the fourth spot thanks to Paul-Loup Chatin/Paul Lafargue/Laurens Höor, securing the team’s place in the Hyperpole. Vector Sport and COOL Racing followed suit.

Initially in seventh place, and therefore eligible to participate in the Hyperpole, Racing Team Turkey found itself penalised for failing to slow down under a red flag and was relegated to 11th position. Prema Racing’s #9 ORECA 07 finished seventh ahead of Nielsen Racing in the last spot to qualify for the Hyperpole.

Among some major contenders absent from the top 8 were championship leader United Autosports (the #23 car 10th, the #22 car 12th) and both Alpines (the #35 car 21st, the #36 car 23rd) whose performances seemed promising during the free practice.

The qualifying session was interrupted twice. Once following contact between Alpine’s #36 ORECA 07 and United Autosports’ #22 ORECA 07, and again after COOL Racing’s #37 ORECA 07 left the track.

Free Practice 2

For the first time of Race Week, the 24 ORECA 07s hit the track at night. After the sun sets, drivers’ marks are completely different than in the daytime. Prema Racing’s #63 ORECA 07 driven by Doriane Pin/Daniil Kvyat/Mirko Bortolotti topped the timesheet with 03:36.863. After an extremely disappointing qualifying session, the United Autosports team’s #22 managed to clinch second place in Free Practice 2 with a time of 03:37.079.

The leader all day, JOTA’s #28 ORECA 07 shared by Pietro Fittipaldi/David Heinemeier Hansson/Oliver Rasmussen) rounded out the top 3 in 03:37.855. The United Autosports #23 sister car finished in fourth position and first in Pro/Am ahead of DKR Engineering’s #43 ORECA 07 driven by Ugo de Wilde/Tom Van Rompuy/Maxime Martin.

Free Practice 3 will kick off on Thursday 8 June at 15:00, followed by the Hyperpole at 20:00 and Free Practice 4 at 22:00.