10 things we've learned from Le Mans so far

Toyota's margin over its privateer LMP1 rivals in qualifying for this year's Le Mans 24 Hours might be significantly smaller than the advantage it enjoyed 12 months ago, but there's no doubt it will start the race as the overwhelming favourite after locking out the top two starting spots as it did 12 months ago.

That Kamui Kobayashi and Kazuki Nakajima sealed first and second in the respective #7 and #8 TS050 HYBRIDs with relative ease might provoke fears of a processional race at the front of the order, but their qualifying times in the face of stronger one-lap competition at least prove the manufacturer is still taking things seriously after finally breaking its Le Mans curse last year.

And even if there is a lack of excitement about the top class at this year's race, there should be anticipation about what's to come in the future, with the World Endurance Championship's organiser the Automobile Club de l'Ouest outlining its top class hypercar vision on Friday. Toyota and Aston Martin have committed to the new rules.

All of that forgets the other classes, too - one of which featured a multi-make fight for pole, while another's original pole winner was subsequently excluded from qualifying.

Toyota has still got the edge on one-lap pace...

By Gary Watkins @gazzasportscars

...despite its own predictions. Toyota forecast that it was going to face a challenge from the best of the LMP1 privateers in qualifying, but it didn't quite work out that way.

The faster of SMP Racing's BR Engineering BR1s might have got within a second of Kamui Kobayashi's pole lap, but that doesn't tell the whole story.

The two TS050 HYBRIDs did their times right at the start of second qualifying, whereas SMP managed its best laps in the 'happy hour' at the start of the third session.

SMP found eight tenths of a second when the conditions were undoubtedly quicker with lower temperatures and more rubber down.

Toyota did have a pop at that moment, but both Kobayashi and Nakajima encountered traffic and didn't improve.

Rebellion is the 'indie' having the issues

By Gary Watkins

The Rebellion squad arguably owes its position ahead of SMP in the WEC points to its reliability - and an ability to keep its cars out of the barriers.

But chinks appeared in its armour during qualifying on Thursday night. Both the Gibson-powered R-13s started trailing oil smoke over the course of the two sessions, the #3 in the opening two hours and the #1 car in the second period. The team has confirmed that both cars needed engine changes.

A new-spec version of the 4.5-litre Gibson V8 came on stream at Spa. It's more powerful, but has it removed a string from Rebellion's bow in the indie battle?

SMP flies down the Mulsanne

By Gary Watkins

SMP experimented with different downforce levels at the test day at the start of the month, but the ART-run team appears to have settled on a pretty low-drag configuration.

The two BR1s topped the speedtrap figures in each of the three qualifying sessions, and by some margin.

They were consistently five or six klicks up on the best of the Rebellions and 15 or so up on the Toyotas, which are kick-ass quick onto the straights thanks to their hybrid punch but then run out of puff.

The privateers, remember, have as much as 150bhp more from their conventional powerplants than the Toyotas under the Equivalence of Technology.

So here's a thought: how about one or more of the BR1s sails past the Toyotas somewhere on the Mulsanne Straight during the opening lap? Shades of Jan Lammers' heroics in the Racing for Holland Dome against Audi in the early 2000s...

Dunlop versus Michelin won't be a foregone conclusion

By James Newbold @james_newbold

Even before Dunlop-shod Loic Duval inherited his pole position in LMP2 when Tristan Gommendy's time was expunged from the record books, Dunlop's engineers would be right to consider it a job well done as fears that Michelin would dominate qualifying proved to be wide of the mark.

The tyre war is expected to be the major talking point in the third year of the current LMP2 regulations, with several teams - including defending winner Signatech Alpine and United Autosports - switching from Dunlop to Michelin after the French tyre manufacturer's strong showing last year.

Michelin's WEC programme manager Jerome Mondial told Autosport that the data it banked from running the same three compounds last year has given its customers a better understanding of what it can expect during a stint this term, with United's Filipe Albuquerque among those quickly on the pace.

"It seems like the Michelin gives the Ligier a bigger operating window, this year we didn't struggle as much as last year," he said.

But Dunlop's new 'C' spec tyre - introduced at Sebring - has added another dimension of uncertainty to the contest.

The much cooler conditions than those seen at the test day ought to favour the Michelin, but despite showing "really strong" long run pace, Signatech's Nicolas Lapierre commented that "until Saturday midnight it will be hard to draw any conclusion".

"The Dunlops are a bit more consistent in hot and in cold conditions," said Nyck de Vries, whose Racing Team Netherlands Dallara runs on Michelins. "They have a bit less degradation and evolution than Michelin."

As 2017 class winner Ho-Pin Tung put it, for the Dunlop teams "the objective was never to have the fastest tyre over one lap."

That could prove ominous come 3pm on Sunday.

Davidson's eye for detail helping DragonSpeed shine

By James Newbold

Anthony Davidson was the forgotten man as Toyota finally ended its Le Mans jinx last year, but after seeing out his duties as the reserve driver, he is back in action in LMP2 alongside Pastor Maldonado and Roberto Gonzalez in the #31 DragonSpeed ORECA.

After coming so close to overall victory in 2016, only to see it cruelly snatched away in the closing minutes, Davidson knows better than anyone that the details can make all the difference at Le Mans. And while Maldonado has set the headline-grabbing times so far, topping the first and second qualifying sessions before ending up second, Davidson has been plugging away in the background, pushing the team to improve the unseen details that make a sportscar squad tick.

The unsanitised world of LMP2 is very different from the polished hybrid LMP1 lifestyle he's used to, but that doesn't trouble Davidson one bit.

"In LMP1, you're bubble-wrapped - you've got physios and bag-carriers and helmet-polishers, you don't have to do anything," he says. "You're told where to be at what time, it's like a well-oiled machine, but in LMP2 you have to take responsibility, and push the team more to do driver change practice.

"There are so many details to it, it makes your head hurt, but I like the challenge of putting everything in order before you even get in the car. You're fighting so many cars of the same spec that yes, the teams make a little bit of difference, but it's mostly down to the drivers.

"It's like racing coming back to its roots in a way."

The GTE fight looks super-tight, unlike last year

By Jamie Klein @JamieKlein_

Last year, the gap in qualifying between the fastest and slowest manufacturer in GTE Pro was the best part of five seconds - partly due to Gianmaria Bruni's 3m47s mega-lap, but also because the new Aston Martin Vantage GTE was way off the pace.

Fast forward 12 months, and that same figure is just 1.391s. Part of that is down to nobody being able to challenge Bruni's lap time this year, although Marco Sorensen's 3m48.000s effort certainly was anything but slow, but it also demonstrated just what a good job the rulemakers have done to even out the competition between the six manufacturers.

In the run-up to qualifying, BMW seemed to be the laggard in the class, but Augusto Farfus banged in a 3m49.108s to put the best of the MTEK-run M8 GTEs a strong fifth - which, incredibly, makes it five different makes in the top five, with only Ferrari missing out.

Given both Ford and BMW are heading for the exit after this year's Le Mans, hopes are high that this year's GTE Pro class contest will be one to remember. So far, the signs are good.

Michelin IMSA switch is helping Corvette's bid

By Jamie Klein

This year's Le Mans is a special one for Corvette, as it marks its 20th participation in a row, and almost certainly the last with its current-gen C7.R.

The evidence from both test day and qualifying suggests the popular American marque has a decent chance of making it nine wins in 20 attempts after a race to forget in 2018.

One of the keys to this turnaround is the fact that the IMSA SportsCar Championship has switched to Michelin tyres this year, meaning Corvette doesn't have to go through its usual routine of trying to get to grips with different rubber in the run-up to the race.

Corvette's Tommy Milner explained: "Having had half a season on the tyre, it's sped up our programme for here specifically. In years past we take a good part of the test day to understand tyre pressures, whereas this year right from the get-go we could skip that stuff and get right into our programme."

Antonio Garcia showed Corvette's hand in Q1 on Wednesday with a lap that was later disallowed, and followed that up on Thursday with a time good enough for third. He still reckons Porsche is the "team to beat", but added: "I think we have a chance."

Ford feels pressure to win on farewell

By Jamie Klein

While Corvette's streak of GTE Pro appearances doesn't look set to end any time soon, Ford surprised nobody earlier this year when it confirmed its fourth trip to Le Mans with the sleek GT will be its last - at least as a full factory effort.

Ford returned with a bang in 2016 with victory on the 50th anniversary of its first outright win back, but since then it has found itself on the back foot, with the rulemakers on both sides of the Atlantic struggling to effectively 'BoP' the GT.

Ahead of qualifying, Ford IMSA driver Richard Westbrook stressed the importance of bowing out on a high upon the conclusion of a programme that has yielded its fair share of disappointments as well as triumphs.

"We started off so well [in 2016] and then there was a big bounce back to earth in years two and three," said Westbrook. "It was really tough. We need to end this programme on a high, that's the goal. We feel like we have a chance. We don't feel like we have an advantage, but we feel there's a level playing field this year."

GTE strategy is back

By Jamie Klein

It's fair to say that last year's GTE Pro race was a damp squib, and while a major reason for that was the safety car breaking up the field, matters weren't helped by the imposition of very strict rules on stint length that significantly narrowed teams' strategic options.

Essentially, teams were not allowed to go further than 14 laps on a tank of fuel.

Now they can - and while the imposition of fuel-flow meters has resulted in rulemakers tailoring fuel capacities to equalise stint lengths, at least a driver can now attempt to gain the upper hand by backing off, saving fuel and shortening the car's refuelling time at the next stop.

It's unlikely any car will be able to eke out a 15th lap in green-flag conditions, but any slow zones or full-course yellows will make that a more realistic target.

IndyCar champion Scott Dixon, pictured above, was one of several drivers to welcome the change, saying: "[There] could be a huge swing. Some cars were just not worrying about saving fuel, so it definitely opens up some opportunities. I think it's good because a team that doesn't have the speed maybe has the chance to eliminate a stop."

The WEC is safe

By Gary Watkins

The confirmation that Toyota and Aston Martin are developing machinery for the new hypercar concept class that will come into force for the 2020/21 WEC season was a significant moment for the series.

It means that we can all let out a sigh of relief after months of uncertainty. We now know where the series is going in the future - and that it has one!