VIDEO. Thanks to a magnificent final lap, the Porsche N.6 of Frenchman Kévin Estre takes pole for the 24 hours of Le Mans

Estre a décroché la pole pour la Porsche N.6. MAXPPP – Vincent MICHEL

The official Porsche N.6 of Frenchman Kévin Estre will start on Saturday June 14 at 4 p.m. in pole position for the 92nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, after winning on Thursday June 13. June the hyperpole in front of two Cadillacs.

The official Porsche N.6 of Frenchman Kévin Estre will start on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in pole position for the 92nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, after winning the hyperpole on Thursday ahead of two Cadillacs.

The official Ferraris, including the N.51 which won the Le Mans event last year, will start in fourth and fifth positions on the grid, ahead of the Alpine N.36 . The Toyotas, other favorites for final victory on Sunday, are however relegated to 11th and 23rd positions.

They did not participate in the hyperpole, reserved at Le Mans for the eight fastest cars in each category (hypercar, LMP2, LMGT3). "The starting position is not very important", put the Swiss Toyota driver Sébastien Buemi into perspective, "of course it always is, but in a race of 24 & nbsp;hours, that's perhaps where it's least important.

Kevin Estre on pole for Porsche with #6!!

What a dramatic finish to our Hyperpole session at Le Mans!#WEC #LeMans24 pic.twitter.com/eRcpMeyJ7w

— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) June 13, 2024

Bourdais comes very close to the pole

Until the last lap of this session, which was attended by Formula 1 driver Pierre Gasly in the Alpine stand, it was the child of Le Mans Sébastien Bourdais, in the Cadillac N.3, which held the lead and the best time.

But its sister car, the N.2 driven by Alex Lynn, then the Porsche d’Estre – in a time of 3'24''634 – beat him at the very end of the session. "It was a great session, very difficult", said Estre while celebrating his pole position: "I wasn’s far from the perfect lap, I’ had to overtake an LMP2 (lower category car, slower) at the Indianapolis corner, I lost a little time but it gave me aspiration and I’ I regained it.

Even if qualifying times do not have much significance at Le Mans, Porsche's takeover from practice will strengthen those that make the German manufacturer the favorite of this edition.

Six Porsche-branded cars

During the test day last Sunday, Kévin Estre, who will share his wheel during the race with the German André Lotterer and the Belgian Laurens Vanthoor – had, however, welcomed this label of favorite with humility: "The feeling is good, we are leading the championship, we have had a great start to the championship. We feel ready, but the competition is going to be tough, that’s for sure,” he said.

"L’last year", added the Frenchman, "Ferrari and Toyota were a little faster than us. We know that we have made big progress on all the circuits. Le Mans is so special, there is a much higher top speed than on all the other circuits, more fast turns than on the other circuits. So we don't really know exactly where we are at this level compared to the others.

His stroke of brilliance on Thursday evening in hyperpole already gives him the beginnings of an answer. And the N.6 will not be alone in trying to bring Porsche a twentieth victory at Le Mans this weekend: six prototypes from the Stuttgart firm will be at the start, three official and three ;rsquo;customer stables.