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WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans 24 Hours practice and first qualifying

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Sarrazin is third after that initial set of runs in the #17 SMP BR1, albeit 3.5s back. He set the fastest first sector of all on that first run, and has done so again on his second lap.
No mucking about from Toyota - Nakajima is straight on the pace with a 3m17.270s, which is better than Kobayashi in the sister #7 car by 0.107s.
Both Rebellions are out of the pits now as the leading LMP1 cars head straight onto flying laps.
Reckon we might see a push for times now. There's the possibility of rain this time tomorrow, so this might be the time to get a lap in — it's still lightish and the temperatures are down.
Six of the LMP1 cars are straight out onto the track, including the two Toyotas. Just the Rebellions and the Manors - one of which is definitely still being worked on - in the pits at the moment.
Still a few minutes until the start of this session, but already cars are starting to queue at the end of pitlane. There's a bit of a jostling for position between the #31 DragonSpeed LMP2 car and the ByKolles machine to join the line, but Roberto Gonzalez and Oli Webb appear to have sorted that out.
The Ligier runners will hope to be a bit closer to the ORECAs in qualifying tonight after ORECA locked out the top five in practice. Jean-Eric Vergne's chart-topping time was a 3m26.529s, so still a bit of time to find to reach last year's pole mark - achieved in the same car by Alex Lynn - of a 3m25.352s.
Looks like Manor is still working to change the engine on its #6 Ginetta in time to take part in this evening's session...
Take a look at the top of the practice leaderboard and the Toyota 1-2 looks pretty ominous. But it took a late lap from Sebastien Buemi to hoist the #8 car up to second, and the privateer #3 Rebellion and DragonSpeed BR1 - particularly in the hands of Ben Hanley - looked pretty handy.

We'll get a better idea of the privateers' pace relative to the Toyotas this evening, though.
Evening, and welcome back to live coverage of Wednesday's 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours action. Practice is done and dusted, now it's time to get down to business for the first time with the first of three qualifying sessions.
Join us again in under an hour and a half for qualifying.
And GTE Am ends with a very impressive first place - with its best time good enough to nestle in the midtable of GTE Pro.

1. #88 Proton Dempsey Racing Porsche 911 RSR
2. #86 Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR
3. #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE
GTE Pro was an all-Porsche lockout:

1. #93 Porsche 911 RSR
2. #92 Porsche 911 RSR
3. #91 Porsche 911 RSR
And in LMP2:

1. #26 G-Drive Racing ORECA
2. #48 IDEC Sport ORECA
3. #28 TDS Racing
So, that makes your LMP1 top three:

1. #7 Toyota
2. #8 Toyota
3. #3 Rebellion Racing
And guess what? There's another improvement. Laurent does it once again with a 3m19.426s that keeps him third and an impressive 0.708s behind the leading Toyota.
And as the flag flew, Buemi restored Toyota back to a one-two with a 3m19.275s that means he ends the session 0.0557s behind Kobayashi in the #8 car.
A late improvement from Paul di Resta in the #22 United Autosports Ligier puts him best of the rest non-ORECAs in sixth, but still 1.7s seconds off the best time by Vergne's No. 26 G-Drive.
In that melee of faster laps, Kobayashi improved to 3m18.718s and that's now the best lap of practice as the session ends.
Buemi is now third in class aboard the #8 Toyota with a 3m20.124s lap set in the final two minutes.

He's now 1.406s behind the sister car driven by Kobayashi.
Laurent does it again, lowering the gap to 0.998s thanks to a laptime of 3m19.716s.
Laurent is one of the few improvements in LMP1 in the final minutes, improving to 3m19.976s aboard the #3 Rebellion car, closing the gap to the pacesetting #7 Toyota to 1.258s.
Jean Eric Vergne is still the only man under the 3m27s bracket in the #26 G-Drive ORECA, run by TDS Racing. On current form, that car could be a good bet for it's second pole in as many years.
The Ginetta-Manor of Oliver Turvey is still bottom of the times with a best lap of 4m06.812s, and there's just seven minutes left in the session. The other nine LMP1 cars lock out the top of the timesheets.
Button has just done a 3m21.487s, which is only a tenth down on team-mate Aleshin's 3m21.319s.
Buemi's improved the time of the second Toyota, setting a 3m21.319s lap - but that's still 1.693s slower than the #7's best time.
Vergne has just gone quickest in LMP2 aboard the lead G-Drive ORECA. His 3m26.529s has knocked Chatin in the IDEC ORECA off the top spot.
We should take our hats off to DragonSpeed and Hanley for their performance so far. The French-based US entrant didn't get its BR1 until shortly before the Ricard WEC test in April and then had to rebuild the car after Pietro Fittipaldi's accident in qualifying at Spa. Running has been limited and there it is just behind the best of the privateer LMP1s.
New GTE Pro leader with 20 minutes to go - Patrick Pilet posts a 3m50.330s in the #93 Porsche to go half a second up on Laurens Vanthoor's earlier best in the #92 car. Porsches again are 1-2-3.
Hanley's improved in the #10 DragonSpeed machine with a lap of 3m20.322s and climbs several positions to third in class.
Now the cars start to head to the track. We've got eight LMP1s out there - all but the second-placed Rebellion and the #6 Manor-Ginetta that has six laps to its name, and 30 or so cars from the remaining three classes.

By: Matt Beer

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