Jack Aitken loses pole position for the 24H of Le Mans after #38 was out of position at the start of the session. Dries Vanthoor in the #15 BMW is promoted to pole position for the endurance classic.
In the second Hypercar Hyperpole session, Aitken in the #38 Cadillac, plus Andre Lotterer in the #17 Genesis, were released by their team too early and therefore did not follow the race director’s instructions prior to the session.
While Lotterer was already 10th in Hyperpole 2, Aitken loses his pole position to BMW’s Dries Vanthoor, who was just 0.005 slower than Aitken in the session.
This promotes every other car in the Hyperpole session up a place, meaning Aitken’s Cadillac teammate Will Stevens, in the #12 car, will start second, Antonio Felix da Costa third in the #35 Alpine, and Robins Frijns 4th in the #15 BMW.
The official stewards’ decision states that “The driver failed to follow the Race Director’s instructions by leaving the working lane to join the fast lane before being authorised to do so.”
The specific rule JOTA and Cadillac broke is stated in the decision as Article 10.2.3 of 24 Hours Le Mans Supplementary Regulations, and article 12.2.2.i of the FIA Internatiional Sporting Code.
The former reads: ‘Competitors can only take the cars out of their garages and place them in their designated working areas when allowed to do so by the Race Director.
Subsequently, cars can only join the “fast lane” when allowed to do so by the Race Director.’
The latter is stated as ‘Failure to follow the instructions of the relevant officials for the safe and orderly conduct of the Event.’
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