Le Mans 2017: Wednesday
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Welcome to Autosport's coverage of the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours. We've got four hours of free practice coming up in 12 minutes. Then first qualifying is held over two hours late tonight.
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Autosport
We're expecting the pole position record to fall either today or tomorrow 
Le Mans 24 Hours pole record likely to be beaten in 2017 qualifying
Toyota predicts that the qualifying record for the Le Mans 24 Hours will fall this year
Autosport
In the GTE Pro class, expect plenty of chatter about the Balance of Performance situation 
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Green flag
And free practice is underway here at Le Mans.
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LMP1
All of the six LMP1 cars have already taken to the track with the Porsches at the hands of Neel Jani and Timo Bernhard. At the wheel of the #7 Toyota is Stephane Sarrazin, the #8 is Sebastien Buemi and the #9 is Nicolas Lapierre. And not forgetting the ByKolles - that's got Domink Kraihamer at the wheel.
Stopwatch
The first LMP1 time on the board is a 3m24.768s from Lapierre in the #9 Toyota.
LMP2
Piquet Jr is currently the fastest of the LMP2 cars in fourth overall in the #13 Rebellion ORECA. He's done a 3m39.027.s
Yellow flag
Brief yellow as Jani goes off the track in the #1 Porsche.
LMP2
Rubens Barrichello is out on track in the #29 Dallara. This is the 45-year-old's first Le Mans.
LMP2
The #47 Dallara of Belicchi is reported to be slow by race control. That car is on an outlap.
LMP2
Canal has gone fastest in the #31 ORECA in LMP2. He's done a 3m35.845s.
LMP1
Lapierre has now improved to a 3m22.049s meaning he leads the sister Toyota of Buemi by 2.6s. Jani is third ahead of Bernhard, while Sarrazin and Kraihamer returned to the pits.
LMP2
Belicchi, whatever his problem is, is still moving. He is in the final sector, but took three minutes to do the middle sector!
GTE PRO
Very early days yet, but the Aston Martins are quick out of the box as Marco Sorensen tops the times with a 4m00.681s, quickly displaced by team-mate Daniel Serra in the #97 car with 4m00.185s.
LMP2
Belicchi has made it back to the pits!
GTE AM
An Aston Martin also fastest in GTE Am - Mathias Lauda in the #98 AMR entry on 4m01.461s.
LMP1
Sarrazin has now returned to the track and set a time of 3m29.332s which puts him fifth and slowest of the LMP1 cars to set a time.
GTE PRO
The #67 Ford GT, with Andy Priaulx at the wheel, seems to have encountered a problem and is heading slowly back to the pits.
GTE PRO
AMR's Sorensen is first under the four-minute barrier in the #95 Vantage, lapping in 3m59.020s.
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LMP2
Second fastest in LMP2 is James Allen (no, not that one) in the #40 ORECA, run by the Graff team.
LMP1
It's still incredibly early days in this four-hour practice session, but the fastest of the Porsches is currently 3.2s by test day pacesetters Toyota.
Driver Change
Lapierre is now out of the table-topping #9 Toyota and Le Mans debutant Jose Maria Lopez has replaced him behind the wheel.
Autosport
Porsche had an engine issue during the Le Mans test day, but is confident that it won't be an ongoing problem. 
LMP2
Vaxiviere puts the #28 TDS-run ORECA second in LMP2. Canal is still fastest in the #31 ORECA.
LMP2
Belicchi, in the #47 Dallara, has been warned to respect track limits at Tertre Rouge.
GTE PRO
So with just half an hour gone in this practice session, five seconds separate the fastest and slowest in GTE Pro. Ryan Briscoe has just gone quickest in the #69 Ford GT, lapping in 3m58.134s - nearly a second faster than AMR's Sorensen on 3m59.020s. Slowest so far is Stefan Mucke in the #66 Ford with 4m03.434s, but that car has only completed three timed laps.
LMP1
Sarrazin has returned to the pits and there is some fairly significant work taking place at the front of his #7 Toyota.
LMP2
Barrichello has just improved his best time in the #29 Dallara to a 3m39.386s. That's 10th in LMP2. He reckons that the Dallara was running without enough downforce during the pre-event test day, and that this played a part in a big deficit to the ORECAs.
LMP1
Lopez has set his first lap of the session in the leading Toyota and it's five seconds slower than Lapierre's best. In other driver change news, Earl Bamber is now in the #2 Porsche replacing Bernhard.
LMP2
The #17 Ligier is in the pits and the front bodywork has been removed. Zollinger is in that car currently.
GTE AM
Mathias Lauda has just been given a warning for not respecting track limits at Tertre Rouge. He's also been bunked down the GTE Am order somewhat; fastest is now Fernando Rees in the #50 Chevrolet, lapping in 4m00.540s, closely followed by Alvaro Parente in the Clearwater Ferrari #60, with 4m00.559s and Niclas Jonsson's DH Racing Ferrari #83 with 4m00.598s.
Stopwatch
Tung puts the #38 ORECA, that's one of the Jackie Chan DC Racing entries run by Jota. He's done a 3m34.308s, which is just over 1.5s faster than Canal's pace in the #31 ORECA.
By: Matt Beer
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