The works team Porsche Penske Motorsport secured grid positions four and seven in the hyperpole session for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Felipe Nasr, Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy start the race on the 13.626-kilometre Circuit des 24 Heures from the second row in the Porsche 963. Frédéric Makowiecki, Michael Christensen and Dane Cameron are three positions behind. The hybrid prototype with the number 6 driven by Kévin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor takes up the endurance classic from ninth place on the grid.

30 minutes were available on Thursday evening in summery air and asphalt temperatures for the fight for the best grid position. Porsche Penske Motorsport had nominated Frenchman Frédéric Makowiecki to drive the number 5 Porsche 963, with Felipe Nasr from Brazil driving the number 75. Makowiecki only intervened after a good 15 minutes to increase the chance of a clear lane. At the end of its only flying lap, the number 5 Porsche ran into an opponent, lost significant tenths of a second and recorded a time of 3:25.176 minutes.

Nasr even waited three more minutes for his turn. When the session was red flagged due to a burning vehicle on the Hunaudières straight, he had to stop his pursuit of the time without finding anything. With little more than five minutes remaining, the Hyperpole was restarted once more. While Makowiecki decided not to make another attempt, the Brazilian took to the track a second time with a new set of Michelin racing tires. He set a time of 3:24.531 minutes that put him and his teammates Nick Tandy (Great Britain) and Mathieu Jaminet (France) in fourth on the grid. The trio Makowiecki, Dane Cameron (USA) and Michael Christensen (Denmark) lined up in seventh position on Saturday.

The number 6 car with works drivers Kévin Estre from France, André Lotterer from Germany and Laurens Vanthoor from Belgium will start from ninth place at the 100th anniversary of the world's largest endurance race. In qualifying on Wednesday, the trio narrowly missed out on the top eight fastest hypercars. The Porsche 963 of the customer team Hertz Team Jota tackles the classic from position 16. A total of eight Porsche 911 RSR compete in the GTE-Am class.

"Fourth place - a huge congratulations to the team," emphasizes Urs Kuratle, Head of Factory Motorsport LMDh. “We didn't necessarily assume that we would have the best-placed hypercar on the grid according to the LMDh regulations. But we fought for it. The red flag during the session helped us a bit, so we were able to sort ourselves out and try again with the number 75 car. We just had to make sure that the racing car came back with enough fuel in the tank. A big thank you also goes to our people at home in Weissach: We have had a difficult week with unplanned actions and we received great support from them that went well beyond what is normal.”

"It's a nice result for us with grid positions four and seven," emphasizes Jonathan Diuguid, Senior Vice President Porsche Penske Motorsport. “Because of the red flag, we had to change our plans at short notice and quickly update our fuel and energy calculations to give Felipe Nasr the chance of a fast lap. Like Fred Makowiecki, he did a great job. Now we are looking forward to the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”

The vehicles taking part in the 24-hour race will be taking a break on the track tomorrow, Friday. The traditional drivers' parade in downtown Le Mans will also be the focus of the 91st edition of the long-distance classic. It starts at 2 p.m. this time. An hour earlier, Porsche invites you to a press conference right next door in the Théâtre des Quinconces. At 6:30 p.m. there will be another driver parade for the fans in the main grandstands in the area of the start-finish straight. The start is on Saturday at 4 p.m. (CEST). In addition to the sports channel Eurosport, the free TV broadcaster RTL Nitro will also be broadcasting the entire race live.

Driver comments after the Hyperpole session
Frédéric Makowiecki (Porsche 963 #5):“The red flag threw a spanner in the works for me, as did the fact that I ran into a slower vehicle at the end of my fast lap. But it doesn't matter, qualifying for a 24-hour race isn't that important. It is more important that we have a good car over the race distance.”

Felipe Nasr (Porsche 963 #75):"It was really intense. We had fuel on board for exactly two flying laps. When the red flag came out on my first run, we knew first of all whether and how the fuel would be enough for another attempt. There was a lot of discussion behind the scenes, but in the end the guys did a tremendous job and gave me a second timed lap. I then drove my lungs out of my throat and really went to the limit. I am very satisfied with fourth place on the grid and happy for the whole team.”

Starting positions 24 Hours of Le Mans 2023
Hypercar class:
1st Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen (I/E/DK), Ferrari #50, 3:22.982 minutes
2nd .Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi (I/UK/I), Ferrari #51, 3:23.755 minutes
3. Hartley/Buemi/Hirakawa (NZ/CH/J) Toyota #8, 3:24.451 minutes
4. Jaminet/Nasr/Tandy (F/BR/UK), Porsche 963 #75, 3:3:24.531
7. Cameron /Christensen/Makowiecki (USA/DK/F), Porsche 963 #5, 3:25.176 minutes
9. Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor (F/D/B), Porsche 963 #6
16. Félix da Costa/Stevens/Ye ( P/UK/CHN), Porsche 963 #38

GTE-Am-Klasse:
1. Catsburg/Keating/Varrone (NL/USA/ARG), Corvette #33, 3:53.092 minutes
2. Al Harthy/Dinan/Eastwood (OMN /USA/IRL), Aston Martin #25, 3:53.905 minutes
3. Flohr/Castellacci/Rigon (CH/I/I), Ferrari #54, 3:54.582 minutes
9. Andlauer/Pedersen/C. Ried (F/DK/D), Porsche 911 RSR #77
10. Barker/Pera/Wainwright (UK/I/UK), Porsche 911 RSR #86
12 Bovy/Frey/Gatting (B/CH/DK), Porsche 911 RSR #85, 3:53 13
Cressoni/Picariello/Schiavoni (I/B/I), Porsche 911 RSR #60 15
Cairoli/Hyett/ Jeannette (I/USA/USA), Porsche 911 RSR #56
16. Fassbender/Rump/Lietz (IRL/EST/A), Porsche 911 RSR #911
17. Hardwick/Heylen/Robichon (USA/B/CDN), Porsche 911 RSR #16
20. J. Ried/Tincknell/Yount (D/UK/USA), Porsche 911 RSR #88

All results: fiawec.alkamelsystems.com.