***On Tuesday at Circuit de la Sarthe, the day opened with the customary drivers’ portrait with the trophy, flanked by ACO President Pierre Fillon and FIA World Endurance Championship CEO Frederic Lequien, after which participants proceeded to a stroll through the pit area, a pit-stop challenge and a signing session for spectators. Later in the evening, another autograph session for a selective group of 15 drivers took place in Le Mans’ city center.
***The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P claimed victory in the pit-stop challenge, posting a time of 8.870 seconds for a four-tire change. In the LMP2 category, the No. 37 CLX Motorsport Oreca 07 Gibson earned the top honor, while the No. 69 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO crew won in LMGT3, though their time matched the AF Corse crew in Hypercar.
***Genesis is anticipated to reveal plans for a GT3 entry on Friday, with a press conference on the agenda. Genesis Magma Racing team principal Cyril Abiteboul described expansion into the production-based ranks as a “long-term project” in December, though it’s understood that meaningful progress has been achieved in recent months.
***When Sportscar365 asked Abiteboul for an update on the GT3 project, he replied that there would be news this weekend but preferred not to spoil it. He noted that the news would be mostly visual, pointing to the presence of their Chief Creative Officer (Luc Donckerwolke) on site working on the final details.
***Donckerwolke, for his part, introduced his most recent creation in the paddock on Tuesday, named the ‘Box Buggy’—an experimental electric vehicle featuring four-wheel steering and four-wheel drive powered by quad 30kW electric motors, with a battery sourced from the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid. He indicated the vehicle was completed just last Sunday.
***Donckerwolke explained to Sportscar365: “My aim was to design mobility for the paddocks. It can pivot on its own axis. It has four-wheel steering, four-wheel drive, motors in each wheel, and steer-by-wire, brake-by-wire. For us, this is a paddock vehicle. That’s why we call it the ‘Box Buggy.’”
***This marks Hyundai Motor Group’s second innovation utilized in the World Endurance Championship paddock, following Genesis Magma Racing mechanics who have worn exoskeleton vests to help bear heavy loads like tires without excessive muscular strain. “We’re using our involvement in motorsport as a platform to experiment with new ideas,” Donckerwolke added.
***There have been minor revisions to Le Mans’ qualifying format for this year. As previously stated, the Q1 driver will no longer have the ability to qualify the car in Hyperpole 1. Consequently, if a machine progresses to Hyperpole 2, all three drivers from that crew must participate, regardless of class.
***Additionally, a caveat remains for the Pro-Am-enforced LMP2 and LMGT3 categories, where the lowest-graded driver (LMP2, LMP2 Pro-Am) and a FIA Bronze-rated driver (LMGT3) must participate in Q1.
***Moreover, the LMP2 and LMGT3 classes will adopt the same elimination approach as Hypercar, with the top 15 cars from Q1 advancing to Hyperpole 1 (instead of 12). Hyperpole 2 will be reserved for the top 10 across both classes, up from eight last year.
***Each Hypercar entry will receive up to six sets of Michelin Pilot Sport Endurance tires for practice and qualifying this week, plus 14 tire sets for the race across all specifications combined. Cars that reach Hyperpole will be allowed an extra three sets of tires for that session only, with the option to reuse them in future private testing.
***Michelin, the sole tire supplier in Hypercar, is poised to become the all-time leader in Le Mans victories, currently tied with Dunlop at 34 triumphs in the race.
***The brand has delivered 3,600 tires from Clermont-Ferrand to equip the premier class, and operates from a nearly 10,000 square-foot workshop inside the circuit. More than 100 Michelin personnel are on site, including 44 tire fitters working around the clock in a three-shift rotation, 12 technical advisors embedded with the teams, 16 development and performance analysts, as well as specialists in chemistry, data analysis and tire diagnostics.
***Ferdinand Habsburg, entering his sixth Le Mans, is raising funds for Mary’s Meals to aid feeding children in some of the world’s poorest regions. The Austrian driver launched the Race for Meals initiative last year, which raised €38,764 ($44,673 USD), enough to provide daily school meals for 1,760 children in Malawi for an entire school year. Habsburg visited Nanjere and Mchenga Primary Schools last summer.
***Ben Keating received an actual hobby horse from co-driver Nicky Catsburg during Corvette’s annual team photo at the track last weekend. Catsburg had spread a false rumor during the first two WEC rounds that Keating’s elbow fracture happened while he was in a hobby-horse contest. The hobby horse now hangs in TF Sport’s garage for the remainder of the event.
***Keating explained that his injury, which was in fact caused by a mountain biking accident, occurred on what would have been the same weekend as the Qatar 1812km that was postponed due to the Iran conflict.
***The No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R has undergone a color shift to a more traditional Corvette yellow, achieved through a new vinyl wrap that prints all decals directly onto the vinyl. Keating hopes this could yield aerodynamic benefits as well.
***Keating told Sportscar365: “I’m chasing tiny speed gains. If this could shave off a tenth of a second, perhaps another improvement could shave another tenth, and so on. I’ve put in substantial work since last year to squeeze out 2 km/h (1.5 mph), because I believe that would translate to about seven-tenths of a second. I’m exhaustively pursuing every possible improvement, including the wrap.”
***The No. 33 Corvette ranked third fastest in the speed traps during the test day, with Keating recording 295.4 km/h (183.5 mph), 0.8 km/h off the pace of the joint leaders Lars Kern and Salih Youluc, who were both in Corvettes.
***Lorcan Hanafin was a late addition, stepping in to replace Afiq Ikhwan Yazid at the wheel of the JMR/TF Sport Corvette just eight days earlier. The 23-year-old Briton is making his Le Mans debut after racing with Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG last year, and he previously drove a Corvette for Steller Motorsport in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS last year.
***Hanafin’s arrival was so last-minute that he showed up at scrutineering and the test day in borrowed team overalls. He was en route to the Canadian Grand Prix when he received the call inviting him to France for a week. “It happened the Thursday after the Spa test — I got asked, ‘Do you want to come on a week’s holiday in France?’ And I said yes,” he told Sportscar365. “That was the quickest reply I’ve ever given to a message. I’m incredibly honored to get this opportunity.”
***Hanafin, who was due to race this weekend in the GT World Challenge America round at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for JMF Motorsports’ Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, said he feels somewhat like the team leader since neither of his teammates, Prince Jefri Ibrahim or Ben Green, have previously competed at Le Mans.
***More than a quarter of Corvette Racing’s total race miles since its inception have been logged at Le Mans (about 124,248 of 492,877 miles). With four cars in LMGT3, the program is on track to push past the half-million-mile mark this weekend—roughly the distance of more than 125 Detroit-to-Paris flights.
***GM’s expansive two-story hospitality suite, spanning six paddock spaces and covering roughly 16,000 square feet (about 1,500 square meters), is believed to be the largest temporary structure ever seen in the Le Mans paddock. Inside, it includes 21 fully equipped bedrooms for Cadillac and Corvette drivers, multiple meeting rooms, physiotherapy and engineering spaces, a media office, a soundproof phone booth, sponsor lounge, team dining area, a coffee corner and a terrace.
***Eight GM-backed or customer entries (four Cadillacs V-Series.Rs and four Corvettes) are part of this year’s field, with Autosport and AO by TF occupying their own hospitality units just across the aisle.
***The Hydrogen Village returns for another year, expanded with more participants and activities. The official launch, led by Fillon, is scheduled for Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., where hydrogen prototypes will be shown, refueling demonstrations will occur (Wednesday and Friday evenings), plus technical and interactive sessions, all free to the public.
***In addition, as previously announced, Toyota Racing LH2 Racing Prototype will run demo laps at Circuit de la Sarthe on Thursday (12:50 p.m.) and Saturday (12:45 p.m.) in dedicated track sessions that will also feature the Alpine Alpenglow and Ligier Bosch JS2 RH2. The FIA’s Sustainable Innovation Series will include two hydrogen-themed roundtables on Thursday at the M24 Museum, newly opened this year.
***Official track action for the 24 Hours of Le Mans begins on Wednesday with a three-hour Free Practice session starting at 2 p.m. CET (8 a.m. EST), followed by two 30-minute qualifying sessions split between LMP2/LMGT3 (6:45 p.m. CEST/12:45 p.m. EST) and Hypercar (7:30 p.m./1:30 p.m. EST), and Free Practice 2 from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. CEST (4–6 p.m. EST).
***Every session this week can be streamed live and ad-free on FIAWEC+, the official streaming app, for €19.99 ($23 USD). The service includes enhanced live timing and scoring, onboard cameras for 39 entries (including every Hypercar and LMGT3 entry), plus access to exclusive content such as ‘WEC Full Access’ and behind-the-scenes series focused on Genesis and Ford. As with this season’s WEC coverage, the service is available to viewers in the United States.
***Coverage is also available on HBO Max in the U.S., along with MotorTrend and TruTV on linear television, with TNT Sports in the United Kingdom, Eurosport across continental Europe and Stan Sport streaming in Australia.
***Radio Le Mans will be trackside on 91.2 FM and online via RS1, featuring John Hindhaugh, Jonny Palmer, Peter MacKay, Bruce Jones, Paul Truswell, Neil Cole, Duncan Vincent, Nick Daman, Joe Bradley, Owen Mildenhall and Peter Snowdon in the commentary lineup.
Jamie Klein and Stephen Lickorish contributed to this report
