Le Mans 2017: Wednesday
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Safety car
Ah, an explanation from race control. Apparently, a tyre barrier needs to be repaid on the run out of the Porsche Curves. It's not clear why as we've not seen anyone hitting that, but then again there don't seem to be as many trackside TV cameras in operation as there will be later in the week.
Here's the situation in LMP1 at the moment
GTE PRO
Also, the #71 AF Corse Ferrari driven by Davide Rigon went third fastest on 3m57.403s, dropping the sister car of Pier Guidi to fourth.
LMP2
In LMP2, the order is: 1 #13 Rebellion ORECA (Piquet Jr), 3m32.408s; 2 #37 DC Racing ORECA (Brundle), 3m33.611s; 3 #38 DC Racing ORECA (Tung), 3m34.178s; 4 G-Drive ORECA (Rusinov), 3m34.332s; 5 #31 Rebellion (Senna), 3m34.762s.
Safety car
Race control warns that, after the safety car is gone, there will be a slow zone on the run out of the Porsche Curves.
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Crash
Replays show it was Le Mans rookie Philippon who caused the safety car, spinning the Larbre Corvette into the inside wall at the corner formerly known as Karting... but which, a few years ago, was renamed Corvette!
Here's that incident which caused the disruption to free practice
Green flag
The safety car has now returned to the pits, but a slow zones remains in place out of the Porsche Curves.
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Driver Change
We've had a number of driver changes after that safety car period, with all three Toyotas switching driver. It's now Kunimoto in the pacesetting #9 car, Nakajima in the #8 and Conway in the #7.
LMP2
Here are the leading cars in LMP2 at the moment
Driver Change
Lammers, winner of Le Mans in 1988 for Jaguar, is out in the #29 Dallara. This is the 61-year-old's 23rd Le Mans and, provided all goes well, he will become only the seventh driver to reach that mark.
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Speaking of Lammers, he's got a long way to go to get the outright Le Mans starts record. That is held by Henri Pescarolo with a remarkable 33!
LMP1
First LMP1 driver to improve after that caution period is Hartley in the #2 Porsche, who sets a 3m23.967s, but remains fifth fastest.
LMP1
And Hartley improves again. This time he's split the Toyotas with a 3m22.728s that puts him third. And he's only seven tenths of a second off the ultimate pace.
GTE PRO
The current top eight in GTE Pro
Driver Change
Scott Dixon, fresh from his airborne adventures in IndyCar racing, is in for Briscoe in the #69 Ford.
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With a number of driver changes out of the way and the halfway point approaching, here's another round-up of how the classes are shaping up so far in practice:
LMP1: While Lapierre's early fast time continues to keep the #9 Toyota at the top of the timesheets, it is now joined in a Toyota 1-2-3 thanks to quick laps by Davidson and Sarrazin. All three cars are separated by less than a second. The fastest Porsche time - set by Tandy in the #1 car - is 1.8s slower than Lapierre's best.
LMP2: Piquet Jr is fastest in LMP2 in the #13 Rebellion ORECA. After 50 minutes, he broke the Jackie Chan DC Racing one-two, with the #37 example second courtesy of Brundle and the #38 third with a time set by Tung. ORECAs currently lock out the top 10.
GTE Pro: Aston Martin continues to set the pace, although the two AMR-entered cars have now been split by a Ford and two Ferraris. Sorensen took another slice out of his fastest time in the leading #95 Aston with a 3m56.763s lap in response to a 3m57.200s by Briscoe in the Ford just before the safety car. Rigon and Pier Guidi are third and fourth quickest in AF Corse’s Ferrari 488s on 3m57.403s and 3m57.450s, ahead of Serra’s earlier 3m57.698 in the #97 Aston.
GTE Am: The #50 Larbre Competition Chevrolet Corvette remains at the top of the GTE Am timesheets, but with little prospect of improving on its 3m58.234s (set by Rees) with Le Mans rookie Philippon at the wheel. His best time at the test was 4m08s, and he was responsible for bringing out the safety car this evening by spinning into the tyre barrier at the exit of the Porsche Curves. Spirit Of Race’s #55 Ferrari, currently driven by Cameron, is second in class with a 3m59.111s set earlier by Cioci. Third is Dalla Lana in the #98 AMR Aston, whose 3m59.997s fastest lap so far was set by Lauda.
LMP1: While Lapierre's early fast time continues to keep the #9 Toyota at the top of the timesheets, it is now joined in a Toyota 1-2-3 thanks to quick laps by Davidson and Sarrazin. All three cars are separated by less than a second. The fastest Porsche time - set by Tandy in the #1 car - is 1.8s slower than Lapierre's best.
LMP2: Piquet Jr is fastest in LMP2 in the #13 Rebellion ORECA. After 50 minutes, he broke the Jackie Chan DC Racing one-two, with the #37 example second courtesy of Brundle and the #38 third with a time set by Tung. ORECAs currently lock out the top 10.
GTE Pro: Aston Martin continues to set the pace, although the two AMR-entered cars have now been split by a Ford and two Ferraris. Sorensen took another slice out of his fastest time in the leading #95 Aston with a 3m56.763s lap in response to a 3m57.200s by Briscoe in the Ford just before the safety car. Rigon and Pier Guidi are third and fourth quickest in AF Corse’s Ferrari 488s on 3m57.403s and 3m57.450s, ahead of Serra’s earlier 3m57.698 in the #97 Aston.
GTE Am: The #50 Larbre Competition Chevrolet Corvette remains at the top of the GTE Am timesheets, but with little prospect of improving on its 3m58.234s (set by Rees) with Le Mans rookie Philippon at the wheel. His best time at the test was 4m08s, and he was responsible for bringing out the safety car this evening by spinning into the tyre barrier at the exit of the Porsche Curves. Spirit Of Race’s #55 Ferrari, currently driven by Cameron, is second in class with a 3m59.111s set earlier by Cioci. Third is Dalla Lana in the #98 AMR Aston, whose 3m59.997s fastest lap so far was set by Lauda.
Slow Zone
A slow zone has been deployed in the first part of the track - so that covers the Dunlop Curves. This is because of a marker board on the track.
GTE PRO
Corvettewatch: Magnussen now faster than Fassler, having set a 3m59.238s. That's still nine-tenths off what Rees managed earlier in the Larbre GTE Am car, though. 10th and 12th in class for the works Chevrolets.
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Green flag
The slow zone is cleared.
GTE PRO
Estre, running sixth in class in the fastest of the works Porsche 911s, has just shaved a little off his previous best (3m57.875s) with a 3m57.828s.
LMP2
It's fairly settled in LMP2 at the moment. Silver-rated Heinemeier Hansson is at the wheel of the #13 Rebellion ORECA that Piquet Jr earlier went fastest in.
Crash
Keating in the #43 Keating Riley has a grassy moment, but keeps it out of the barriers and rejoins.
LMP1
Hartley stays third, but has fractionally improved again. Besides the #2 Porsche, none of the other runners have improved recently.
LMP2
Guibbert puts the #39 Graff ORECA fifth fastest with a lap of 3m34.479s.
LMP2
Jarvis puts the #38 Jota Sport-run Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA second with a lap of 3m33.544s. That puts it back ahead of the sister #37 car.
Crash
News: it's emerged that Lucas Di Grassi won't take part in the Le Mans 24 Hours and will be replaced by Ferrari regular Michele Rugolo.
Driver Change
Former Williams protege Alex Lynn heads out for the first time having taken over the #26 G-Drive ORECA in LMP2.
LMP1
We are almost halfway through this practice session and there are still two LMP1 drivers we have yet to see: Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota and Webb in the ByKolles. The Toyota did spend a while in the garage earlier in the session, which explains why that crew might be a little behind.
GTE PRO
It's all starting to happen now as Estre goes second fastest with a 3m57.069s lap, and Porsche team-mate Makowiecki goes fourth on 3m57.328s. Serra moves up to fifth with a 3m57.346s in the second Aston.
Driver Change
Lammers is out of the #28 RTN Dallara, and is replaced by Barrichello.
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GTE PRO
Magnussen now flying in the Corvette. Last time out he did a 3m58.087s, now he's sliced nearly a second out of that with a 3m57.293s. That's good enough for fourth, ahead of Makowiecki.
LMP1
We're past halfway in free practice now. Here's how the top class shapes up:
GTE PRO
That's eclipsed some improvements from earlier. Behind Sorensen-Estre-Dixon-Magnussen-Makowiecki-Serra, Molina improved the #71 AF Corse Ferrari's best to 3m57.403s and Kaffer wrangled 3m58.020s from the #82 Risi Ferrari.
GTE AM
Parente goes to the top in GTE Am with a 3m57.797 in the Clearwater Ferrari 488.
GTE PRO
Magnussen has now knocked Sorensen off his perch and is fastest of all in GTE Pro, lapping in 3m56.004s.
By: Matt Beer
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