The AF Corse Ferrari hypercars flexed their muscle on a busy Wednesday ahead of this weekend’s 100th anniversary 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Antonio Fuoco posted a 3:25.213 lap in the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P hypercar to set the provisional pole in the qualifying session, while the sister #51 Ferrari, driven by Alessandro Pier Guid, trailed by only 0:00.199

Sixty-two cars were back on track at Circuit de la Sarthe Wednesday for a morning practice session, a qualifying session and a night practice session ahead of next week’s 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary event.

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s two GR010 Hybrids bounced back from a lackluster Sunday and led Free Practice One.

The morning session was red-flagged after 90 minutes when Steven Thomas driving the Tower Motorsports’ #13 Oreca 07, rammed into Casper Stevenson’s Aston Martin Vantage AMR of D’Station Racing (#777). The session resumed after 30 minutes.

The #33 Corvette driven by Nicolas Varrone backed the GTE-AM entry into the wall just as Practice One was coming to a close.

In the qualifying session, marred by two early red flags, Penske Motorsport’s #5 and #75 Porsche 963s, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s #7 and #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrids, and Cadillac Racings #2 and #3 V-Series R Cadillacs turned impressive laps to join the two Ferraris for Thursday’s HyperPole

The top eight hypercars were separated by eight tenths of a second.

The JOTA #28 ORECA 07-Gibson entry driven by Pietro Fittipaldi took provisional pole in the LM P2 class with a lap of 3:34.751.

The #83 Richard Mille Ferrari 488 GTE EVO set the GTE AM provisional pole class with a flyer late in the session to set a time of 3:51.877.

The #33 Corvette returned to the track with six minutes remaining in the qualifying session after lengthy repairs and clocked the third fastest time to secure a spot in qualifying Thursday.

The Garage 56 entry, the #24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 of Hendrick Motorsports continued to impress with a time of 3:47.976 in the qualifying session.

The evening’s two-hour session gave drivers time on track in night-time conditions and for teams to prepare for the race this weekend.

All cars will take to the track again on Thursday June 8 at 15:00 local time/23:00 AEST for the third free practice. HyperPole is scheduled for 20:00 local time.

2023 Le Mans 24 Hour qualifying – Wednesday, June 7

1. #50 Ferrari 499P | Ferrari AF Corse – Antonio Fuoco/Miguel Molina/Nicklas Nielsen – 03:25.213

2. #51 Ferrari 499P | Ferrari AF Corse – Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Antonio Giovinazzi – 03:25.412

3. #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing – Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/José Maria Lopez – 03:25.485

4. #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid |TOYOTA GAZOO Racing – Sébastien Buemi / Brendon Hartley / Ryō Hirakawa – 3:25.749

5. #5 Porsche 963 Porsche | Penske Motorsport – Dane Cameron / Michael Christensen / Frédéric Makowiecki – 3:25.848

6. #75 Porsche 963 Porsche | Penske Motorsport – Felipe Nasr / Mathieu Jaminet / Nick Tandy – 3:25.868

7. #3 Cadillac V-Series.R | Cadillac Racing – Sébastien Bourdais / Renger Van Der Zande / Scott Dixon – 3:25.924

8. #2 Cadillac V-Series.R #2 | Cadillac Racing – Earl Bamber / Alex Lynn / Richard Westbrook – 3:26.020