24h Le Mans
Sixty-one of the 62-car field returned to the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans this afternoon (Thursday 8 June) for the third free practice session, ahead of the Centenary race this weekend. Blue skies and warm air temperatures have been the order of the day since race week began with scrutineering in the city centre last Friday, and there was no change on that front as the thermometer approached the 29°C mark. The Hypercar class is bubbling nicely too with Toyota, Porsche, Cadillac and Ferrari all showing form since Test Day.
The teams had another three hours of precious track time this afternoon to tweak settings, iron out issues and perfect pit lane procedures. While the Hyperpole qualifiers had an eye on the evening’s 30-minute showdown, others took the option of switching parts to get the car into race trim. Peugeot TotalEnergies and Porsche Penske Motorsport didn’t hang about getting to work with the #94 and #5 Hypercars among the first onto the track at the green flag.
The TDS support team has done a remarkable job changing the chassis of the #13 Tower Motorsports Oreca 07-Gibson and getting it out on track at the start of the session following its heavy crash in yesterday afternoon’s free practice. When asked what was needed to get the car back into the action, Steven Thomas – the driver involved in the collision – simply said “extraordinary mechanics”.
The only absentee was the #777 Aston Martin Vantage AMR of D’Station Racing that also required a chassis change following the FP1 incident. The crew hopes to be out for the final practice session this evening.
The pair of Toyota GR010-Hybrids and the #38 Porsche 963 of Hertz Team JOTA were the first to make an impression, all recording sub-3:28 times – separated by 0.1 second – on their third laps. Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota shaved a couple of tenths off his mark shortly afterwards. The Ferrari 499Ps sat out the early laps, with the #50 car entering the track after about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, the Ferrari AF Corse pit crew was busy working on the #51 which made an appearance in the second half of the session. The #3 and #311 Cadillac V-Series.Rs of Cadillac Racing returned to the pits before recording a lap time. That was also true of the #6 Porsche 963 that subsequently spent considerable time in the garage while the crew got to the bottom of sensor issues. In the final 15 minutes, the Ferraris put in dummy qualifying laps in preparation for Hyperpole. Antonio Fuoco recorded a time of 3:26.579, sending the #50 Ferrari 499P to the top of the overall timesheet, followed by the #51 sister car four-tenths down.
After just seven minutes, Ferdinand Habsburg at the wheel of the #31 Team WRT Oreca 07 went off at Indianapolis. Habsburg managed to coax the LMP2 entry back to the pits where it remained until the final minutes of the session. The #28 JOTA car took up a familiar position at the top of the LMP2 standings with a time of 3:34.071. After 75 minutes, Rodrigo Sales in the #14 Nielsen Oreca 07, second fastest in class at that point, albeit three seconds down on the JOTA, went off into the deep gravel trap at Mulsanne Corner, calling the truck crane into action.
In LMGTE-Am, Heart of Racing’s #98 Aston Martin Vantage hit a kerb rather too heavily in the Porsche Curves. After driver Ian James pulled up at pit out, the crew dolly-jacked the car back to the pit for repairs. The lead in this class swapped hands between the #60 and #86 Porsche 911 RSR-19s of Iron Lynx and GR Racing, and the #54 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO of AF Corse that ended the session P1.
The Garage 56 entry, the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL.1, did not join the fray during the first hour. Driver Jimmie Johnson explained that the team had decided to replace the engine and several other components that had done a lot of mileage, to get the car ship-shape for the race itself. Jensen Button took the car out with 30 minutes left on the clock to test the set-up before the last hour-long night session.
Panis Racing’s Manuel Maldonado in the #65 Oreca went off at the Daytona chicane – the first on the Mulsanne Straight – with five minutes to go, resulting in a Full Course Yellow that all but ended the session.
Twenty-four of the field will now return to the track for Hyperpole at 20:00. The final night free practice will follow at 22:00.
1. #50 Ferrari 499P | Ferrari AF Corse – Antonio Fuoco/Miguel Molina/Nicklas Nielsen – 3:26.579
2. #51 Ferrari 499P | Ferrari AF Corse – Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Antonio Giovinazzi – 3:27.013
3. #7 Toyota GR010-Hybrid | Toyota Gazoo Racing – Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/José María López – 3:27.580
4. #8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid | Toyota Gazoo Racing – Sébastien Buemi/Brendon Hartley/ Ryō Hirakawa – 3:27.866
5. #38 Porsche 963 | Hertz Team Jota – António Félix da Costa/Will Stevens/Yifei Ye – 3:27.927
LMP2 | #28 ORECA 07-Gibson | JOTA – David Heinemeier Hansson/Oliver Rasmussen/Pietro Fittipaldi – 03:34.071
LMGTE Am | #54 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | AF Corse – Thomas Flohr/Francesco Castellacci/Davide Rigon – 3:53.681
Innovative Car | #24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 | Hendrick Motorsports – Jimmie Johnson/Mike Rockenfeller/Jenson Button – 3:52.752
