Cloudy skies and a cool air temperature of 17°C greeted the 62 cars heading out for the first free practice session of the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans this afternoon. With just one three-hour period on the track before qualifying later in the day, this all-important session was vital to get the cars into shape before the 60-minute sprint to make Thursday’s Hyperpole.

Colin Braun of Crowdstrike Racing by APR was first out of the pit lane in the #45 Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 Pro/Am entry, but all 62 cars were soon out on the track.

Fastest time on Sunday’s Test Day was clocked by the Porsche Penske Motorsport #6 Porsche 963 in 3:26.907 but flying Dutchman Nyck de Vries in the #7 Toyota GR010-Hybrid got to within eleven thousandths off that time on just his second lap.

Test Day showed that Porsche is determined to show the other eight Hypercar manufacturers in the field that it means business in its quest for its 20th outright Le Mans win. In addition to its three factory 963s, the German manufacturer can also count on three customer entries. One of those, the #12 fielded by Hertz Team Jota, won the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps last month with Callum Ilott and Will Stevens at the wheel. British driver Ilott became the first racer today to eclipse the Test Day benchmark, going round in 3:26.610 on his fifth lap. The Proton Competition #99 Porsche 963 enjoyed a more discreet session until a 3:26.891 lap late on moved it into fourth place.

Both Alpine A424s showed early promise with a sixth lap around the 3.27.50 mark. The #20 BMW M Hybrid V8, with Robin Frijns at the wheel, dipped under 3:27 on lap 12. Five different manufacturers occupied the top five positions on the timesheet at the halfway point.

The standings were shaken up as the session edged to a close with Brendon Hartley in the #8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid going fastest, and Dries Vanthoor in the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 moving up to third with a 3:26.204 lap.

The session did not go so well for Iron Lynx’s #63 Lamborghini SC63 which spent some time in the team’s garage during the first half of the session, completing just seven laps in 90 minutes.

After 50 minutes, a slow zone was enforced as Panis Racing’s Rodrigo Sales spun the #65 Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 into the gravel in the Dunlop Chicane with Ryan Hardwick in the Proton Competition #77 Ford Mustang GT3 at close quarters.  Half an hour later, veteran Ben Keating – this year running in LMP2 in United Autosports USA’s #23 Oreca – suffered a mishap on entering the Porsche Curves, forcing another Slow Zone.

In this class, the fastest times were all set in the early stages of the session. AO by TF (#14 Oreca), Duqueine Team (#30 Oreca) and the aforementioned United Autosports USA entry were quickest before all the teams settled into a slower pace to perform the usual tests and adjustments that are also part and parcel of free practice.

In the new-to-Le Mans LMGT3 class, nine-time motorcycle world champion Valentino Rossi was first to take the wheel of the Team WRT #46 BMW M4 LMGT3. The McLaren 720S LMGT3 EVOs showed in the early stages with the #70 Inception Racing entry clocking a time of 3:58.770 on its third lap and the United Autosports #59 car two-tenths slower.

Esteban Masson stole the top position in the class right at the death with a 3:57.808 lap in the Akkodis-ASP #87 Lexus RC F GT3.

A broken suspension brought the #183 Oreca 07-Gibson driven by Nico Varrone to a stop in the Forest Esses, resulting in a five-minute slow zone until the telehandler had removed the stricken LMP2.

A second red flag was brandished with just over 20 minutes of the session remaining after Alex Lynn hit a barrier at Tertre Rouge leaving debris scatter over the track. Lynn nonetheless managed to pit the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R, minus a significant amount of carbon fibre.

Fastest times in FP1

HYPERCAR

#8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid – Toyota Gazoo Racing – Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa – 3:26.013

LMP2

#14 Oreca 07-Gibson – AO by TF – Hyett/Delétraz/Quinn – 3:34.245

LMGT3

#87 Lexus RC F LMGT3 – Akkodis ASP Team – Kimura/Masson/Hawksworth – 3:57.808