Le Mans 24 Hours: Toyota fastest in first practice ahead of Cadillac

The two Toyota GR010 HYBRIDs locked out the top two positions during Wednesday afternoon's three-hour session, with Brendon Hartley setting the pace aboard the #8 car on a 3m27.742s.

That was almost two seconds up on the best time set in Sunday's official test day.

It was the sister #7 Toyota that led the way for most of the session, as Jose Maria Lopez punched in a 3m28.290s early on, going a tenth faster than Loic Duval in the leading Peugeot 9X8.

That was then bettered by Kamui Kobayashi, who lowered the bar to a 3m27.875s when the session was resumed following a red flag prompted by a crash at Tertre Rouge involving the #777 D'station Racing Aston Martin Vantage and the #13 TDS Racing-run Tower Motorsports LMP2.

Casper Stevenson had already suffered an off in the D'station car and was stranded in the middle of the circuit when Steven Thomas slammed into the side of the stricken Aston, leaving both cars badly damaged. The session was resumed after a 35-minute delay.

Hartley made his improvement with 23 minutes left on the clock to make it a Toyota 1-2, 0.133s ahead of Kobayashi, before the session was stopped for a second time with four minutes to go.

That was caused by another crash at Tertre Rouge, this time for the solo Corvette C8.R of Nico Varrone.

Jumping to third late on prior to the stoppage was the best of the Cadillac V-Series.R LMDhs, the #2 Chip Ganassi Racing-run car of Earl Bamber, who managed to get within two tenths of Hartley's benchmark with a 3m27.939s.

Next up were two Porsche 963s, with the #75 car of Felipe Nasr setting the fourth-fastest time ahead of Kevin Estre in the #6 car, both drivers coming within half a second of the pace. 

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Richard Westbrook

Photo by: Marc Fleury

Peugeot's pair of 9X8 LMHs were sixth and seventh, Duval in the #94 car leading the #93 machine in which Mikkel Jensen set the best time prior to suffering a stoppage in the pitlane.

Ferrari, which had topped the test day with its new 499P LMH endured a low-key first practice session with Antonio Fuoco going eighth fastest in the #50 car, four places up on the sister #51 machine of Alessandro Pier Guidi.

Completing the top 10 were the #3 Cadillac of Sebastien Bourdais and the remaining works Porsche, the #5 car of Frederic Makowiecki.

In LMP2, an early lap of 3m34.579s from Pietro Fittipaldi in the #28 JOTA ORECA was enough to top the session by just three hundredths ahead of the #37 Cool Racing entry piloted by Malthe Jakobsen.

Prema's #9 car recovered from an early incident in which it sustained rear wing damage to set the third-fastest time in the hands of Mirko Bortolotti.

Leading the way in GTE Am was the #55 GMB Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GTE of factory driver Marco Sorensen with a best time of 3m55.020s.

Riccardo Pera was second-fastest in the #86 GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19, three tenths behind, followed by Valentin Hasse-Clot in another Aston, the #72 TF Sport entry.

The Garage 56-entered Chevrolet Camaro ZR1 NASCAR Cup car was comfortably faster than the entire GTE Am field with a best time of 3m49.475 set by ex-Formula 1 champion Jenson Button.

#24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 of Jimmie Johnson, Mike Rockenfeller, Jenson Button

Photo by: Marc Fleury

Early in the session, Robin Frijns survived an off at Tertre Rouge aboard the #31 WRT Oreca, albeit making contact with the guard rail.

Other LMP2 runners to hit trouble included the #35 Alpine LMP2 car, as Oli Caldwell crashed at the first part of the Ford chicane, and the #34 Inter Europol Competition machine, which broke down at the pitlane exit.

Also in the wars was the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE in which Louis Prette suffered a head-on collision with the barriers at the Ford chicane, with that car not reappearing for the rest of the session.

First qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours begins at 1900 local time, while second practice follows at 2200.

Le Mans 24 Hours first practice results

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Time	Gap
1	8	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	Hypercar	3'27.742
2	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	Hypercar	3'27.875	0.133
3	2	Earl Bamber Alex Lynn Richard Westbrook	Cadillac V-Series.R	Hypercar	3'27.939	0.197
4	75	Mathieu Jaminet Felipe Nasr Nick Tandy	Porsche 963	Hypercar	3'28.150	0.408
5	6	Kevin Estre Andre Lotterer Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 963	Hypercar	3'28.167	0.425
6	94	Loic Duval Gustavo Menezes Nico Müller	Peugeot 9X8	Hypercar	3'28.386	0.644
7	93	Paul di Resta Mikkel Jensen Jean-Eric Vergne	Peugeot 9X8	Hypercar	3'28.533	0.791
8	50	Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 499P	Hypercar	3'28.708	0.966
9	3	Sébastien Bourdais Scott Dixon Renger van der Zande	Cadillac V-Series.R	Hypercar	3'28.799	1.057
10	5	Dane Cameron Michael Christensen Frédéric Makowiecki	Porsche 963	Hypercar	3'29.375	1.633
11	709	Nathanael Berthon Esteban Gutierrez Franck Mailleux	Glickenhaus 007 LMH	Hypercar	3'29.617	1.875
12	51	James Calado Antonio Giovinazzi Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 499P	Hypercar	3'29.845	2.103
13	708	Ryan Briscoe Romain Dumas Olivier Pla	Glickenhaus 007 LMH	Hypercar	3'29.991	2.249
14	38	Antonio Felix da Costa Will Stevens Ye Yifei	Porsche 963	Hypercar	3'30.084	2.342
15	311	Jack Aitken Pipo Derani Alexander Sims	Cadillac V-Series.R	Hypercar	3'30.300	2.558
16	28	Pietro Fittipaldi David Heinemeier Hansson Oliver Rasmussen	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'34.579	6.837
17	37	Alexandre Coigny Malthe Jakobsen Nicolas Lapierre	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'34.611	6.869
18	4	Tom Dillmann Esteban Guerrieri Tristan Vautier	Vanwall Vandervell 680	Hypercar	3'34.923	7.181
19	63	Mirko Bortolotti Daniil Kvyat Doriane Pin	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'36.451	8.709
20	36	Julien Canal Charles Milesi Matthieu Vaxiviere	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'36.471	8.729
21	34	Albert Costa Fabio Scherer Jakub Smiechowski	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'36.796	9.054
22	31	Robin Frijns Sean Gelael Ferdinand Habsburg	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'36.870	9.128
23	14	Mathias Beche Ben Hanley Rodrigo Sales	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'36.941	9.199
24	923	Tom Gamble Dries Vanthoor Salih Yoluc	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'36.993	9.251
25	10	Gabriel Aubry Ryan Cullen Matthias Kaiser	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'37.223	9.481
26	30	Rene Binder Neel Jani Nicolas Pino	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'37.305	9.563
27	43	Maxime Martin Tom Van Rompuy Ugo de Wilde	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'37.656	9.914
28	65	Tijmen van der Helm Manuel Maldonado Job Van Uitert	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'38.047	10.305
29	47	Reshad de Gerus Vlad Lomko Simon Pagenaud	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'38.141	10.399
30	32	Anders Fjordbach Mark Kvamme Jan Magnussen	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'38.229	10.487
31	41	Rui Andrade Louis Deletraz Robert Kubica	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'38.234	10.492
32	39	Giedo van der Garde Roberto Lacorte Patrick Pilet	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'38.463	10.721
33	48	Paul-Loup Chatin Laurents Hörr Paul Lafargue	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'38.767	11.025
34	80	Ben Barnicoat Norman Nato François Perrodo	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'38.878	11.136
35	13	René Rast Ricky Taylor Thomas Steven	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'38.898	11.156
36	9	Juan Manuel Correa Filip Ugran Bent Viscaal	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'39.266	11.524
37	23	Tom Blomqvist Oliver Jarvis Josh Pierson	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'39.299	11.557
38	35	Olli Caldwell Andre Negrao Memo Rojas	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'40.411	12.669
39	45	James Allen Colin Braun George Kurtz	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'40.817	13.075
40	22	Filipe Albuquerque Philip Hanson Frederick Lubin	Oreca 07	LMP2	3'41.249	13.507
41	24	Jenson Button Jimmie Johnson Mike Rockenfeller	Chevrolet Camaro ZL1	INNOVATIVE CAR	3'49.475	21.733
42	55	Gustav Birch Jens Reno Moller Marco Sorensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	3'55.020	27.278
43	86	Benjamin Barker Riccardo Pera Michael Wainwright	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	3'55.330	27.588
44	72	Valentin Hasse-Clot Arnold Robin Maxime Robin	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	3'55.506	27.764
45	16	Ryan Hardwick Jan Heylen Zacharie Robichon	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	3'55.573	27.831
46	60	Matteo Cressoni Alessio Picariello Claudio Schiavoni	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	3'55.624	27.882
47	98	Ian James Daniel Mancinelli Alex Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	3'55.632	27.890
48	83	Luis Perez Companc Alessio Rovera Lilou Wadoux	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	3'55.806	28.064
49	85	Sarah Bovy Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	3'55.883	28.141
50	88	Jonas Ried Harry Tincknell Don Yount	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	3'55.972	28.230
51	25	Ahmad Al Harthy Michael Dinan Charles Eastwood	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	3'56.038	28.296
52	56	Matteo Cairoli PJ Hyett Gunnar Jeannette	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	3'56.073	28.331
53	66	Thomas Neubauer Giacomo Petrobelli Louis Prette	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	3'56.085	28.343
54	911	Michael Fassbender Richard Lietz Martin Rump	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	3'56.159	28.417
55	74	Kei Cozzolino Yorikatsu Tsujiko Naoki Yokomizo	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	3'56.211	28.469
56	21	Simon Mann Ulysse De Pauw Julien Piguet	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	3'56.283	28.541
57	77	Julien Andlauer Christian Ried Mikkel Pedersen	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	3'56.457	28.715
58	57	Scott Huffaker Takeshi Kimura Daniel Serra	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	3'56.477	28.735
59	54	Francesco Castellacci Thomas Flohr Davide Rigon	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	3'56.548	28.806
60	33	Nick Catsburg Ben Keating Nicolás Varrone	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	LMGTE AM	3'56.552	28.810
61	777	Tomonobu Fujii Satoshi Hoshino Casper Stevenson	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	3'56.961	29.219
62	100	Andrew Haryanto Chandler Hull Jeff Segal	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	4'00.446	32.704
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