Le Mans 24h: Alpine quickest in disrupted FP3 as Toyota #8 crashes
The #36 Alpine A480-Gibson of Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Matthieu Vaxiviere topped the third Le Mans 24 Hours practice session as Kazuki Nakajima crashed the #8 Toyota at Indianapolis.
Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt
In the final minutes of Thursday's three-hour session, Lapierre demoted Mike Conway's #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID with a late flyer of 3m26.594s in the grandfathered LMP1 machine that raced last year as the ORECA R13 under the Rebellion banner.
Conway had set his 3m28.064s benchmark early in the three-hour session, which was marred by two red flags and multiple yellows as several drivers got caught out in the relatively cool conditions.
In the final half hour, Nakajima went off the road in the left-hand part of Indianapolis, damaging the rear of his car against the barriers but ultimately recovering his car to the pits.
After his session-topping lap, Lapierre was lucky to avoid a similar fate when he went off in the same spot.
The first red flag was caused when Dwight Merriman lost control of his #17 IDEC Sport ORECA LMP2 car under braking for the Dunlop chicane at the end of the first hour, the American clattering hard into the wall.
Juan Pablo Montoya then had a similar incident at the same corner, bringing out the second red flag when his #21 DragonSpeed ORECA turned sharp right into the wall and sustained severe front-end damage.
Beyond those stoppages, other incidents prevented several drivers from improving their times. Conway's team-mate Jose Maria Lopez in the #7 Toyota was on course to lower the Briton's benchmark only to be thwarted by a yellow in the final sector.
Early in the session, Brendon Hartley clocked a time of 3m28.260s in the #8 Toyota, which ended up being good for third.
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid Hypercar, Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Glickenhaus only joined the session one hour in after new Pipo engines were installed in both 007 LMH cars.
Olivier Pla took the #708 entry to fourth with a 3m28.728s, while the #709 sister car didn't set a competitive laptime and appeared to suffer a fresh engine issue in the closing minutes of FP3.
In LMP2, qualifying pace-setter Antonio Felix Da Costa took the #38 Jota ORECA to the top of the timesheets in the final minutes with a 3m.30.507s lap, which he followed with an even quicker 3m30.213s.
This demoted Fabio Scherer, who had set a 3m30.660s at the end of the second hour aboard the #22 United Autosports ORECA that currently leads the World Endurance Championship points standings.
In the #31 sister entry, a one-off car put together for Le Mans, Paul di Resta grabbed third with a 3m31.144s in the final hour that put him above the #65 Panis Racing car of James Allen and Robin Frijns in the #41 WRT entry.
GTE Pro was again topped by the #92 factory Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Kevin Estre, who beat his own early benchmark of 3m48.857s with a 3m48.126s in the second hour.
Estre headed a Weissach clean sweep of the top three places, with Earl Bamber steering the Proton-run Weathertech Racing Porsche to second, over a second down on Estre with a 3m49.435s, but three tenths quicker than the #91 works Porsche of Richard Lietz.
Alessandro Pier Guidi was fourth in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, narrowly ahead of stablemate Daniel Serra's #52 machine and the HubAuto Porsche of Dries Vanthoor.
#72 Hub Auto Racing Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE Pro, Dries Vanthoor, Alvaro Parente, Maxime Martin
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Corvette Racing brought up the rear of the class courtesy of Tommy Milner in the #64 Corvette C8.R and Nicky Catsburg in the #63 machine, which was crashed approaching the Porsche Curves by Antonio Garcia.
Porsche also dominated the GTE Am division, with Julien Andlauer posting a late 3m50.167s to go quickest in the #88 Dempsey Proton 911 - and fourth overall among the GT runners.
His effort was 0.6s quicker than fellow Porsche ace Matteo Cairoli in the #56 Team Project 1 entry, while Matt Campbell (#77 Dempsey Proton) and Harry Tincknell (#99 Proton) completed a 911 clean sweep of the top four.
Action continues at 9:00pm local time for Hyperpole, in which the fastest six cars in each class from last night's Q1 session will battle for pole, immediately followed by night practice.
Le Mans 24 Hours - FP3 results:
Cla | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 36 | Andre Negrao Nicolas Lapierre Matthieu Vaxiviere |
Alpine A480 | HYPERCAR | 29 | 3'26.594 | |
2 | 7 | Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez |
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 34 | 3'28.064 | 1.470 |
3 | 8 | Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Brendon Hartley |
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 27 | 3'28.260 | 1.666 |
4 | 708 | Pipo Derani Franck Mailleux Olivier Pla |
Glickenhaus 007 LMH | HYPERCAR | 14 | 3'28.728 | 2.134 |
5 | 38 | Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 32 | 3'30.213 | 3.619 |
6 | 22 | Philip Hanson Fabio Scherer Filipe Albuquerque |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 32 | 3'30.660 | 4.066 |
7 | 23 | Paul di Resta Alex Lynn Wayne Boyd |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 35 | 3'31.144 | 4.550 |
8 | 65 | Julien Canal Will Stevens James Allen |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 30 | 3'31.358 | 4.764 |
9 | 31 | Robin Frijns Ferdinand Habsburg Charles Milesi |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 36 | 3'31.381 | 4.787 |
10 | 41 | Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz Ye Yifei |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 22 | 3'31.865 | 5.271 |
11 | 82 | Ryan Cullen Oliver Jarvis Felipe Nasr |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 38 | 3'31.909 | 5.315 |
12 | 21 | Henrik Hedman Ben Hanley Juan Pablo Montoya |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 24 | 3'32.178 | 5.584 |
13 | 34 | Jakub Smiechowski Renger van der Zande Alex Brundle |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 26 | 3'32.188 | 5.594 |
14 | 17 | Dwight Merriman Thomas Laurent Ryan Dalziel |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 7 | 3'32.347 | 5.753 |
15 | 25 | John Falb Roberto Merhi Rui Andrade |
Aurus 01 | LMP2 | 33 | 3'32.362 | 5.768 |
16 | 26 | Roman Rusinov Franco Colapinto Nyck de Vries |
Aurus 01 | LMP2 | 33 | 3'32.397 | 5.803 |
17 | 70 | Esteban Garcia Loic Duval Norman Nato |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 33 | 3'32.398 | 5.804 |
18 | 29 | Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Job Van Uitert |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 31 | 3'32.648 | 6.054 |
19 | 28 | Sean Gelael Stoffel Vandoorne Tom Blomqvist |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 35 | 3'32.693 | 6.099 |
20 | 24 | Patrick Kelly Gabriel Aubry Simon Trummer |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 33 | 3'32.798 | 6.204 |
21 | 48 | Paul Lafargue Paul-Loup Chatin Patrick Pilet |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 30 | 3'33.119 | 6.525 |
22 | 32 | Nico Jamin Jonathan Aberdein Manuel Maldonado |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 26 | 3'33.328 | 6.734 |
23 | 30 | Rene Binder Memo Rojas Tristan Gommendy |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 14 | 3'33.528 | 6.934 |
24 | 20 | Dennis Andersen Ricky Taylor Marco Sorensen |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 25 | 3'33.578 | 6.984 |
25 | 1 | Tatiana Calderon Sophia Flörsch Beitske Visser |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 15 | 3'34.688 | 8.094 |
26 | 49 | Anders Fjordbach Jan Magnussen Kevin Magnussen |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 32 | 3'35.520 | 8.926 |
27 | 84 | Takuma Aoki Nigel Bailly Matthieu Lahaye |
Oreca 07 | INNOVATIVE CAR | 33 | 3'36.877 | 10.283 |
28 | 709 | Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook Romain Dumas |
Glickenhaus 007 LMH | HYPERCAR | 12 | 3'36.941 | 10.347 |
29 | 39 | Vincent Capillaire Arnold Robin Maxime Robin |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 33 | 3'37.031 | 10.437 |
30 | 74 | James Winslow John Corbett Tom Cloet |
Ligier JSP 217 | LMP2 | 29 | 3'43.673 | 17.079 |
31 | 44 | Miro Konopka Oliver Webb Matej Konopka |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 17 | 3'47.444 | 20.850 |
32 | 92 | Kevin Estre Neel Jani Michael Christensen |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE PRO | 30 | 3'48.126 | 21.532 |
33 | 79 | Cooper MacNeil Earl Bamber Laurens Vanthoor |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE PRO | 23 | 3'49.435 | 22.841 |
34 | 91 | Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz Frédéric Makowiecki |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE PRO | 32 | 3'49.789 | 23.195 |
35 | 88 | Julien Andlauer Dominique Bastien Lance David Arnold |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 31 | 3'50.167 | 23.573 |
36 | 51 | Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Côme Ledogar |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 25 | 3'50.311 | 23.717 |
37 | 52 | Daniel Serra Miguel Molina Sam Bird |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 23 | 3'50.379 | 23.785 |
38 | 72 | Dries Vanthoor Alvaro Parente Maxime Martin |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE PRO | 22 | 3'50.631 | 24.037 |
39 | 56 | Egidio Perfetti Matteo Cairoli Riccardo Pera |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 28 | 3'50.792 | 24.198 |
40 | 77 | Christian Ried Jaxon Evans Matt Campbell |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 27 | 3'50.823 | 24.229 |
41 | 64 | Tommy Milner Nick Tandy Alexander Sims |
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R | LMGTE PRO | 28 | 3'51.012 | 24.418 |
42 | 99 | Harry Tincknell Vutthikorn Inthrapuvasak Florian Latorre |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 30 | 3'51.212 | 24.618 |
43 | 63 | Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor Nick Catsburg |
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R | LMGTE PRO | 26 | 3'51.327 | 24.733 |
44 | 83 | François Perrodo Nicklas Nielsen Alessio Rovera |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 28 | 3'51.424 | 24.830 |
45 | 54 | Thomas Flohr Giancarlo Fisichella Francesco Castellacci |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 30 | 3'51.489 | 24.895 |
46 | 85 | Rahel Frey Sarah Bovy Michelle Gatting |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 14 | 3'51.703 | 25.109 |
47 | 86 | Michael Wainwright Benjamin Barker Tom Gamble |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 29 | 3'51.802 | 25.208 |
48 | 55 | Duncan Cameron David Perel Matthew Griffin |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 32 | 3'51.909 | 25.315 |
49 | 18 | Andrew Haryanto Alessio Picariello Marco Seefried |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 16 | 3'52.011 | 25.417 |
50 | 33 | Ben Keating Dylan Pereira Felipe Fraga |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 23 | 3'52.084 | 25.490 |
51 | 98 | Paul Dalla Lana Nicki Thiim Marcos Gomes |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 35 | 3'52.171 | 25.577 |
52 | 60 | Claudio Schiavoni Paolo Ruberti Raffaele Giammaria |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 31 | 3'52.447 | 25.853 |
53 | 57 | Takeshi Kimura Scott Andrews Mikkel Jensen |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 33 | 3'52.471 | 25.877 |
54 | 47 | Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto Antonio Fuoco |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 30 | 3'52.532 | 25.938 |
55 | 95 | John Hartshorne Ollie Hancock Ross Gunn |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 31 | 3'52.712 | 26.118 |
56 | 80 | Matteo Cressoni Rino Mastronardi Callum Ilott |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 34 | 3'53.020 | 26.426 |
57 | 777 | Satoshi Hoshino Tomonobu Fujii Andrew Watson |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 26 | 3'53.423 | 26.829 |
58 | 66 | Thomas Neubauer Rodrigo Sales Jody Fannin |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 32 | 3'54.159 | 27.565 |
59 | 69 | Robert Renauer Ralf Bohn Rolf Ineichen |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 30 | 3'54.773 | 28.179 |
60 | 46 | Dennis Olsen Anders Buchardt Robby Foley |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 23 | 3'56.561 | 29.967 |
61 | 71 | Brendan Iribe Ollie Millroy Ben Barnicoat |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 12 | 3'56.576 | 29.982 |
62 | 388 | Pierre Ehret Christian Hook Jeroen Bleekemolen |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 22 | 3'58.989 | 32.395 |
View full results |
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