Le Mans warm-up: Andre Lotterer fastest for Audi amid red flags

Lotterer displaced Toyota's Mike Conway at the top with 11 minutes remaining in the 45-minute session.

Both leading cars were on course to improve next time around, but David Cheng crashed the #35 BAXI DC Racing LMP2 ORECA at Indianapolis after hitting a wet kerb at the fast right-hand kink before the braking zone.

With Cheng in the barriers, race officials had no choice but to stop the session for the second time, and the decision was taken not to restart given how little time was remaining.

That was the second red flag of the session, after Paul-Loup Chatin caused a 15-minute stoppage when he crashed the Panis Barthez Competition Ligier at the Porsche Curves after just eight minutes.

Chatin hit the inside kerb at the apex of the second left-hander of the sequence, firing his LMP2 machine into the barrier on the right.

The front-right corner hit the barrier, then the right-rear and the car then slid across the track and into the gravel trap at the ensuring right-hander.

Shortly before the second red flag Romain Dumas put the polesitting #2 Porsche third in the order with a 3m27.3s, while the only other LMP1 times of note were a 3m29.1s from Loic Duval in the #8 Audi early on, and a 3m30.2s from Sebastien Buemi in the #5 Toyota.

Alexandre Imperatori put the #13 Rebellion sixth, 12.7s off the pace, while the #4 ByKolles CLM, #1 Porsche and #12 Rebellion did not even get a chance to set a meaningful laptime due to the disrupted nature of the session.

RAST ON TOP IN LMP2
By Edd Straw

Class pole position qualifier Rene Rast set the pace in LMP2, banging in a time of 3m40.724s on his first flying lap after the early red flag.

Like many in the class, the G-Drive Jota ORECA driver had no opportunity to improve due to the second red flag.

Laurens Vanthoor was second fastest in the Michael Shank Racing Ligier, which goes into the race having to take a five-minute stop/go penalty for an engine change, four tenths off Rast.

Just before the session came to an end, Andrea Pizzitola put the Algarve Pro Racing Ligier third, relegating the Signatech ORECA, in which Gustavo Menezes set the time, to fourth.

FORD STILL IN FRONT IN GTE
By Scott Mitchell

GTE Pro pole-winner Dirk Muller set the pace for Ford, with a 3m57.397s in the pegged-back GT.

That time was 1.5s faster than Aston Martin's Richie Stanaway, who was the only driver to set two proper flying laps.

Dempsey-Proton Porsche's Richard Lietz was the only other driver to dip below the four-minute barrier, highlighting the reduced pace of the session.

Patrick Pilet had a moment at Indianapolis, which may have been caused by oil on the track, leading to a quick trip through the gravel before recovering to set the fourth-best time in the #91 Porsche Motorsport 911 RSR.

In GTE Am, Patrick Long was quickest in the #88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Porsche (fourth overall in GTE), while the sister Proton Competition entry is seeking permission to replace Cooper MacNeil with Gunner Jeanette because MacNeil fell ill overnight.

Marc Miller drove the previous-generation 911 RSR in the warm-up.

WARM-UP RESULTS