BMW claimed the top spot in third practice for the Le Mans 24 Hours after Dries Vanthoor produced a flying lap of 3m23.302s in the session’s closing minutes.
Vanthoor’s Surge Leaves BMW Four‑Tenths Ahead of Alpine
The Belgian’s final 1‑lap sprint pushed the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 to the front, overtaking Victor Martins in the #36 Alpine A424 by more than four‑tenths of a second. Vanthoor split the two Cadillacs on his first lap and moved to the front on his last, while Martins secured second place, pushing Cadillac to third. Will Stevens of the #12 Cadillac entered late but finished half a second behind. Robin Frijns joined Vanthoor with a fourth‑place lap in the #20 BMW, and Mathys Jaubert took fifth for Genesis.
Cadillac’s Early Lead and the Late‑Practice Crash
The session kicked off with Norman Nato of Jota posting a 3m24.048s lap in the #12 Cadillac V‑Series.R, with Ricky Taylor slotting into second place among the two Cadillacs driven by Wayne Taylor Racing. About 25 minutes in, United Autosports driver Daniel Schneider crashed into the final chicane, damaging the front‑left of the #222 Oreca. Schneider’s car returned to the pits and the track cleared, allowing the practice to resume. The final minutes saw a burst of soft‑tyre laps before the Hyperpole session, improving overall class times.
LMP2 and GT3 Showcase Consistency and Disruption
Panis Oreca’s #29 held the LMP2 lead, staying ahead of the Aston Martin Valkyrie and the #30 Duqueine by two tenths, despite a full‑course yellow when the #009 Aston and the #29 Panis clashed at the Ford Chicane. Rousset in the Arden car recorded a benchmark of 3m34.252s, edging the #30 by a thousandth of a second. The Inter Europol #343, driven by Reshad de Gerus, trailed further behind the frontrunners.
In GT3, Eduardo Barrichello topped the field in the #23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 with a 3m53.996s lap. Clemens Schmid in the #87 Lexus RC F GT3 set an initial 3m54.115s, but Sean Gelael eclipsed him early in the second hour. Gelael’s 3m53.908s kept the BMW M4 GT3 in second, while Schmid held third. The heart of racing beat WRT in the GT3 class, maintaining a competitive pace.
BMW Leads While Other Jungle Classes Collide
Despite the crash, the fastest LMH car of the day remained the #51 Ferrari 499P, with Antonio Giovinazzi a 1.296s rider behind BMW’s pace‑setting LMDh. Paul‑Loup Charin—from Genesis—rounded out the top ten. Cadillac’s two remaining cars finished sixth and eighth, with Earl Bamber slightly ahead of WTR’s Filipe Albuquerque.
Vanthoor’s 3m23.302s dish‑up redefined the session’s starting grid, as BMW’s momentum carries into Hyperpole, where every tenth of a second will decide the Le Mans 24 Hours lead.
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