24 Hours of Le Mans – Toyota fastest in FP3 but issues remain
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24 Hours of Le Mans – Toyota fastest in FP3 but issues remain

As preparations for the 90th 24 Hours of Le Mans hot up, the third free practice provided a further opportunity to hone race setups or tweak the Hyperpole challengers for pure speed. The session was halted for 20 minutes just after half-time when body parts from the TDS Racing X Vaillante #13 Oreca 07-Gibson littered the Porsche Curves.

After a ten-minute delay for track repairs, the green flag signalled the start of the third free practice session for the 90th 24 Hours of Le Mans. A mix of light grey cloud and sunny spells greeted the runners and riders as almost half the field set out at the start of the three-hour period.

An early yellow flag at the Daytona chicane slowed most of the runners and riders, but not Brendon Hartley who was already through the trouble spot and on his way to a 3:27.115 lap in the #8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid. That time was soon eclipsed by Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 sister car. The Japanese driver is already in the groove as he warms up for this evening’s Hyperpole where he’ll be gunning for a fifth Le Mans pole position.

Matthieu Vaxiviere managed to hoist the #36 Alpine A480-Gibson above the Glickenhaus duo in his tenth lap at a time when both American challengers were in the pits, but soon slipped back down to the fifth once Franck Mailleux in the #709 and then Olivier Pla in the #708 returned to the track following a batch of tweaks.

After around 75 minutes of the session, Ryō Hirakawa in the #8 Toyota ground to a halt just off the track on the exit from Indianopolis. At first, it appeared that this could be a scheduled incident management exercise for the Japanese team, but Hirakawa climbed out of the cockpit on reaching the pit, suggesting a technical issue.

A spate of incidents affected the LMP2 field in the first hour with the Team WRT #32 Oreca 07-Gibson going straight on into the gravel at Arnage, followed shortly afterwards by Reshad de Gerus in the Duqueine #30 Oreca hitting the tyre wall at the exit from Indianapolis, resulting in a slow zone.

The United Autosports USA #23 Oreca set the early marker (3:31.823) in this class. The Algarve Pro Racing #45 Oreca that was rebuilt yesterday following a heavy crash in FP1, returned to action after an hour of the session following a regulatory inspection.

After 1 hour 45 minutes, Philippe Cimadomo in the #13 Oreca 07-Gibson was nudged off and into the tyre barrier in the Porsche Curves. The resulting debris scattered over the asphalt brought out the red flag. At that point, the TDS Racing X Vaillante challenger was holding the fifth fastest time of the session in the LMP2 class.  Shortly after the restart, Robin Frijns in the WRT #31 Oreca surged to the top of the LMP2 timesheet as the Graff Racing #39 Oreca suffered significate body damage in a collision on its out-lap.

In the closing stages of the session, United Autosports USA showed it still had two aces up its sleeve as Filipe Albuquerque and Alex Lynn clinching the two best times in the #22 and #23 Orecas respectively.

The GTE fields enjoyed a relatively trouble-free session. Reflecting yesterday’s free practice and qualifying sessions, the pair of Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs and the #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 resumed their rivalry in LMGTE Pro, with the #92 Porsche briefly joining the battle. The yellow #64 claimed the early advantage with Nick Tandy at the wheel.

The Team Project 1 #46 Porsche again showed the 23-strong LMGTE Am posse that it will be the one to beat with the top time on its 13th lap. The TF Sport #33 Aston Martin trailed a quarter of a second behind. As the chequered flag was about to appear, Alexander West collided with the barrier at the final chicane, practically ripping off the rear wing.

Top times in FP3

Hypercar

#7 Toyota GR010-Hybrid – Toyota Gazoo Racing – Conway/Kobayashi/López – 3:26.796
#8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid – Toyota Gazoo Racing – Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa – 3:27.115
#708 Glickenhaus 007 LMH – Glickenhaus Racing – Pla/Dumas/Derani – 3:27.466
 

LMP2

#22 Oreca 07-Gibson – United Autosports USA – Hanson/Albuquerque/Owen – 3:30.964
#23 Oreca 07-Gibson – United Autosports USA – Lynn/Jarvis/Pierson – 3:31.025
#31 Oreca 07-Gibson – Team WRT – Gelael/Rast/Frijns – 3:31.030
 

LMGTE Pro

#64 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R – Corvette Racing – Milner/Tandy/Sims – 3:52.307
#91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 – Porsche GT Team – Bruni/Makowiecki/Lietz – 3:52.787
#63 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R – Corvette Racing – García/Taylor/Catsburg – 3:52.824
 

LMGTE Am

#46 Porsche 911 RSR-19 – Team Project 1 – Cairoli/Pedersen/Leutwiler – 3:54.386
#33 Aston Martin Vantage AMR – TF Sport – Keating/Chaves/Sørensen – 3:54.618
#99 Porsche 911 RSR-19 – Hardpoint Motorsport – Haryanto/Picariello/Rump – 3:54.906
 

Coming up!
The 23 qualifiers for Hyperpole will be back on track at 20:00 for the 30-minute sprint to determine the pole positions for Saturday's big race.

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