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Jamie Klein

Le Mans 24h: Toyota fastest in first practice ahead of Cadillac

The two Toyota GR010 HYBRIDs locked out the top two positions during Wednesday afternoon's three-hour session, with Brendon Hartley setting the pace aboard the #8 car on a 3m27.742s.

That was almost two seconds up on the best time set in Sunday's official test day.

It was the sister #7 Toyota that led the way for most of the session, as Jose Maria Lopez punched in a 3m28.290s early on, going a tenth faster than Loic Duval in the leading Peugeot 9X8.

That was then bettered by Kamui Kobayashi, who lowered the bar to a 3m27.875s when the session was resumed following a red flag prompted by a crash at Tertre Rouge involving the #777 D'station Racing Aston Martin Vantage and the #13 TDS Racing-run Tower Motorsports LMP2.

Casper Stevenson had already suffered an off in the D'station car and was stranded in the middle of the circuit when Steven Thomas slammed into the side of the stricken Aston, leaving both cars badly damaged. The session was resumed after a 35-minute delay.

Hartley made his improvement with 23 minutes left on the clock to make it a Toyota 1-2, 0.133s ahead of Kobayashi, before the session was stopped for a second time with four minutes to go.

That was caused by another crash at Tertre Rouge, this time for the solo Corvette C8.R of Nico Varrone.

Jumping to third late on prior to the stoppage was the best of the Cadillac V-Series.R LMDhs, the #2 Chip Ganassi Racing-run car of Earl Bamber, who managed to get within two tenths of Hartley's benchmark with a 3m27.939s.

Next up were two Porsche 963s, with the #75 car of Felipe Nasr setting the fourth-fastest time ahead of Kevin Estre in the #6 car, both drivers coming within half a second of the pace. 

Peugeot's pair of 9X8 LMHs were sixth and seventh, Duval in the #94 car leading the #93 machine in which Mikkel Jensen set the best time prior to suffering a stoppage in the pitlane.

Ferrari, which had topped the test day with its new 499P LMH endured a low-key first practice session with Antonio Fuoco going eighth fastest in the #50 car, four places up on the sister #51 machine of Alessandro Pier Guidi.

Completing the top 10 were the #3 Cadillac of Sebastien Bourdais and the remaining works Porsche, the #5 car of Frederic Makowiecki.

In LMP2, an early lap of 3m34.579s from Pietro Fittipaldi in the #28 JOTA ORECA was enough to top the session by just three hundredths ahead of the #37 Cool Racing entry piloted by Malthe Jakobsen.

Prema's #9 car recovered from an early incident in which it sustained rear wing damage to set the third-fastest time in the hands of Mirko Bortolotti.

Leading the way in GTE AM was the #55 GMB Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GTE of factory driver Marco Sorensen with a best time of 3m55.020s.

Riccardo Pera was second-fastest in the #86 GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19, three tenths behind, followed by Valentin Hasse-Clot in another Aston, the #72 TF Sport entry.

The Garage 56-entered Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 NASCAR Cup car was comfortably faster than the entire GTE Am field with a best time of 3m49.475 set by ex-Formula 1 champion Jenson Button.

Early in the session, Robin Frijns survived an off at Tertre Rouge aboard the #31 WRT Oreca, albeit making contact with the guard rail.

Other LMP2 runners to hit trouble included the #35 Alpine LMP2 car, as Oli Caldwell crashed at the first part of the Ford chicane, and the #34 Inter Europol Competition machine, which broke down at the pitlane exit.

Also in the wars was the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE in which Louis Prette suffered a head-on collision with the barriers at the Ford chicane, with that car not reappearing for the rest of the session.

First qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours begins at 1900 local time, while second practice follows at 2200.

Le Mans 24 Hours - First practice results:

Pos. # Drivers Car Class Time Gap
1 8 SUI Sebastien Buemi
NZL Brendon Hartley
JPN Ryo Hirakawa
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid Hypercar 3'27.742  
2 7 GBR Mike Conway
JPN Kamui Kobayashi
ARG Jose Maria Lopez
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid Hypercar 3'27.875 0.133
3 2 NZL Earl Bamber
GBR Alex Lynn
GBR Richard Westbrook
Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 3'27.939 0.197
4 75 FRA Mathieu Jaminet
BRA Luiz Felipe Nasr
GBR Nick Tandy
Porsche 963 Hypercar 3'28.150 0.408
5 6 FRA Kevin Estre
GER Andre Lotterer
BEL Laurens Vanthoor
Porsche 963 Hypercar 3'28.167 0.425
6 94 FRA Loïc Duval
USA Gustavo Menezes
SUI Nico Müller
Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar 3'28.386 0.644
7 93 GBR Paul di Resta
DEN Mikkel Jensen
FRA Jean-Eric Vergne
Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar 3'28.533 0.791
8 50 ITA Antonio Fuoco
ESP Miguel Molina
DEN Nicklas Nielsen
Ferrari 499P Hypercar 3'28.708 0.966
9 3 FRA Sebastien Bourdais
NZL Scott Dixon
HOL Renger van der Zande
Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 3'28.799 1.057
10 5 USA Dane Cameron
DEN Michael Christensen
FRA Frédéric Makowiecki
Porsche 963 Hypercar 3'29.375 1.633
11 709 FRA Nathanaël Berthon
MEX Esteban Gutierrez
FRA Franck Mailleux
Glickenhaus 007 LMH Hypercar 3'29.617 1.875
12 51 GBR James Calado
ITA Antonio Giovinazzi
ITA Alessandro Pier Guidi
Ferrari 499P Hypercar 3'29.845 2.103
13 708 AUS Ryan Briscoe
FRA Romain Dumas
FRA Olivier Pla
Glickenhaus 007 LMH Hypercar 3'29.991 2.249
14 38 POR Antonio Felix da Costa
GBR Will Stevens
CHN Ye Yifei
Porsche 963 Hypercar 3'30.084 2.342
15 311 GBR Jack Aitken
BRA Pipo Derani
GBR Alexander Sims
Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 3'30.300 2.558
16 28 BRA Pietro Fittipaldi
DEN David Heinemeier Hansson
DEN Oliver Rasmussen
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'34.579 6.837
17 37 SUI Alexandre Coigny
DEN Malthe Jakobsen
FRA Nicolas Lapierre
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'34.611 6.869
18 4 FRA Tom Dillmann
ARG Esteban Guerrieri
FRA Tristan Vautier
Vanwall Vandervell 680 Hypercar 3'34.923 7.181
19 63 ITA Mirko Bortolotti
RUS Daniil Kvyat
FRA Doriane Pin
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'36.451 8.709
20 36 FRA Julien Canal
FRA Charles Milesi
FRA Matthieu Vaxivière
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'36.471 8.729
21 34 ESP Albert Costa
SUI Fabio Scherer
POL Jakub Smiechowski
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'36.796 9.054
22 31 HOL Robin Frijns
INA Sean Gelael
AUT Ferdinand Habsburg
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'36.870 9.128
23 14 SUI Mathias Beche
GBR Ben Hanley
USA Rodrigo Sales
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'36.941 9.199
24 923 GBR Tom Gamble
BEL Dries Vanthoor
TUR Salih Yoluc
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'36.993 9.251
25 10 FRA Gabriel Aubry
IRL Ryan Cullen
SUI Matthias Kaiser
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'37.223 9.481
26 30 AUT Rene Binder
SUI Neel Jani
CHI Nicolas Pino
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'37.305 9.563
27 43 BEL Maxime Martin
BEL Tom van Rompuy
BEL Ugo De Wilde
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'37.656 9.914
28 65

HOL Tijmen van der Helm

Venezuela Manuel Maldonado
HOL Job Van Uitert

Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.047 10.305
29 47 FRA Reshad de Gerus
RUS Vlad Lomko
FRA Simon Pagenaud
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.141 10.399
30 32 DEN Anders Fjordbach
USA Mark Kvamme
DEN Jan Magnussen
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.229 10.487
31 41 POR Rui Andrade
SUI Louis Deletraz
POL Robert Kubica
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.234 10.492
32 39 HOL Giedo van der Garde
ITA Roberto Lacorte
FRA Patrick Pilet
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.463 10.721
33 48 FRA Paul Loup Chatin
GER Laurents Hörr
FRA Paul Lafargue
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.767 11.025
34 80 GBR Ben Barnicoat
FRA Norman Nato
FRA François Perrodo
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.878 11.136
35 13 GER René Rast
USA Ricky Taylor
USA Steven Thomas
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.898 11.156
36 9 ECU Juan Manuel Correa
ROU Filip Ugran
HOL Bent Viscaal
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'39.266 11.524
37 23 GBR Tom Blomqvist
GBR Oliver Jarvis
USA Josh Pierson
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'39.299 11.557
38 35 GBR Olli Caldwell
BRA André Negrão
MEX Memo Rojas
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'40.411 12.669
39 45 AUS James Allen
USA Colin Braun
USA George Kurtz
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'40.817 13.075
40 22 POR Filipe Albuquerque
GBR Philip Hanson
GBR Frederick Lubin
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'41.249 13.507
41 24 GBR Jenson Button
USA Jimmie Johnson
GER Mike Rockenfeller
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 INNOVATIVE CAR 3'49.475 21.733
42 55 DEN Gustav Birch
DEN Jens Reno Møller
DEN Marco Sørensen
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'55.020 27.278
43 86 GBR Ben Barker
ITA Riccardo Pera
GBR Michael Wainwright
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'55.330 27.588
44 72 FRA Valentin Hasse-Clot
FRA Arnold Robin
FRA Maxime Robin
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'55.506 27.764
45 16 USA Ryan Hardwick
BEL Jan Heylen
CAN Zacharie Robichon
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'55.573 27.831
46 60 ITA Matteo Cressoni
BEL Alessio Picariello
ITA Claudio Schiavoni
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'55.624 27.882
47 98 GBR Ian James
ITA Daniel Mancinelli
ESP Alex Riberas
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'55.632 27.890
48 83 ARG Luis Perez Companc
ITA Alessio Rovera
FRA Lilou Wadoux
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'55.806 28.064
49 85 BEL Sarah Bovy
SUI Rahel Frey
DEN Michelle Gatting
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'55.883 28.141
50 88 GER Jonas Ried
GBR Harry Tincknell
USA Don Yount
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'55.972 28.230
51 25 Oman Ahmad Al Harthy
USA Michael Dinan
IRL Charlie Eastwood
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'56.038 28.296
52 56 ITA Matteo Cairoli
USA PJ Hyett
USA Gunnar Jeannette
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'56.073 28.331
53 66 FRA Neubauer Thomas
Italy Giacomo Petrobelli
MON Louis Prette
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'56.085 28.343
54 911 IRL Michael Fassbender
AUT Richard Lietz
EST Martin Rump
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'56.159 28.417
55 74 JPN Kei Cozzolino
JPN Yorikatsu Tsujiko
JPN Naoki Yokomizo
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'56.211 28.469
56 21 USA Simon Mann
BEL Ulysse De Pauw
FRA Julien Piguet
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'56.283 28.541
57 77 FRA Julien Andlauer
GER Christian Ried
DEN Mikkel Pedersen
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'56.457 28.715
58 57 USA Scott Huffaker
JPN Takeshi Kimura
BRA Daniel Serra
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'56.477 28.735
59 54 ITA Francesco Castellacci
SUI Thomas Flohr
ITA Davide Rigon
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'56.548 28.806
60 33 HOL Nicky Catsburg
USA Ben Keating
ARG Nicolas Varrone
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R LMGTE AM 3'56.552 28.810
61 777 JPN Tomonobu Fujii
JPN Satoshi Hoshino
GBR Casper Stevenson
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'56.961 29.219
62 100 INA Andrew Haryanto
USA Chandler Hull
USA Jeffrey Segal
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 4'00.446 32.704
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