Debrief
Cadillac sets the pace in FP4 as Bourdais, Bamber and Aitken top Le Mans Hypercar order
Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA topped the Le Mans Hypercar order with Bourdais, Bamber and Aitken ahead of BMW, Toyota and Alpine.
Cadillac strikes first at the head of Hypercar
Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA delivered the headline time in a tightly packed Hypercar order, with the No. 38 Cadillac V-Series.R shared by S. Bourdais, E. Bamber and J. Aitken setting the benchmark at 3'26.843. The lap, completed across a 14-lap run, put the car at an average speed of 237.153 kph and left Cadillac at the top of a highly competitive overall classification.
The result underlined the strength already shown by Cadillac in recent Le Mans running, following its earlier pace-setting form in opening practice. Here, the margin was again fine rather than emphatic, but the timing screen still gave the American manufacturer the reference point.
BMW and Toyota keep pressure on
BMW M Team WRT placed second with the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8 of R. Frijns, R. Rast and S. Van Der Linde, just 0.194s away on a 3'27.037. That narrow deficit kept BMW firmly in touch and showed how little separation there was at the front.
Toyota Racing followed in third with the No. 7 Toyota TR010 Hybrid driven by M. Conway, K. Kobayashi and N. de Vries, only 0.303s off the lead. The second Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA entry, the No. 12 of L. Deletraz, W. Stevens and N. Nato, took fourth on 3'27.282, while Alpine Endurance Team completed the top five with the No. 35 Alpine A424.
AF Corse put the No. 83 Ferrari 499P sixth, ahead of the No. 101 Cadillac WTR entry and the No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P. Peugeot TotalEnergies placed ninth and tenth with its No. 94 and No. 93 cars, both within 1.315s of the leading Cadillac.
LMP2 and LMGT3 class leaders emerge
In LMP2, AF Corse led the category with the No. 183 Oreca 07 - Gibson of F. Perrodo, M. Vaxiviere and B. Barnicoat, recording 3'36.111. DUQUEINE TEAM followed with the No. 30 car on 3'36.801, while CLX Motorsport completed the top three in class.
TF Sport headed LMGT3 with the No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R driven by B. Keating, J. Edgar and N. Catsburg, setting 3'55.262. Racing Team Turkey by TF was next, also with a Corvette, ahead of Heart of Racing Team's Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3.
At the sharp end, however, the story remained Cadillac: fastest overall, narrowly clear, and again positioned as a central force in the Hypercar fight.