As darkness descended on the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans and pit lights illuminated the home straight, the #10 Oreca 07-Gibson of Vector Sport was first out of the pit lane for the day’s final two hours of track time. Temperatures were still hovering around the 27°C mark at the end of another warm day in this corner of France.

The #13 Oreca 07-Gibson of Tower Motorsports and the #777 Aston Martin Vantage of D’Station Racing, damaged in a collision during the first practice session, again sat out after missing qualifying.

A tightly fought qualifying session ended with less than one second separating the top eight Hypercars and the crowds were looking forward to seeing the Toyota GR010-Hybrids do battle once again with the newcomers to the class.

Alessandro Pier Guidi in the Ferrari AF Corse #51 Ferrari 499P was the first go sub-3.30 on its second lap, followed a few minutes later by Frédéric Makowiecki in the #5 Porsche 963 of Porsche Penske Motorsport and Mike Conway in the #7 Toyota.  

Prema Racing top the LMP2 standings

JOTA has dominated the LMP2 class so far this week and it was no surprise when Pietro Fittipaldi jumped to the top of the pack on his third lap. Prema Racing might prove to be the British outfit’s main rival. The #63 car, third in qualifying, shaved a fraction of a second off JOTA’s time with 40 minutes of the session remaining. United Autosports, always a force to be reckoned with, slipped into P2 with minutes left on the clock.

The Iron Dames’ #85 LMGTE Am entry found itself embedded in the gravel shortly before the end of qualifying, but no lasting damage was done as the bright pink Porsche 911 RSR-19 was soon back out on the track, much to their many fans’ delight. Two other Porsches, however, made the early pace in the field. The Iron Lynx #60 car and the #911 entered by Proton Competition led the class standings as the clock edged towards the halfway point.

The #5 Porsche 963 stopped on the edge of the track just after exiting the pit lane, while Alexander Sims coaxed the Action Express Racing #311 Cadillac V-Series.R to the pits with the right-hand headlight out. The incident appeared to be minor as Sims shortly rejoined the action.

With thirty minutes of the night session left to run, Laurens Vanthoor put the #6 Porsche 963, entered by Porsche Penske Motorsport, at the top of the standings with a time of 3:28.878. The Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010-Hybrids covered the greatest distance during the two-hour session, with the #5 completing 31 laps.

The Garage 56 entry showed good pace, sitting nicely between the LMP2 and LMGTE Am fields and getting the mandatory night stints in for the Hendrick Motorsports drivers.

The runners and riders will be back tomorrow for three hours of action from 15:00 in Free Practice 3, before Hyperpole at 20:00.

Top 5 overall in FP2

1. #6 Porsche 963 | Porsche Penske Motorsport – Kévin Estre/André Lotterer/Laurens Vanthoor – 3:28.878

2. #51 Ferrari 499P | Ferrari AF Corse – Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Antonio Giovinazzi – 3:29.225

3. #5 Porsche 963 | Porsche Penske Motorsport – Dane Cameron/Michael Christensen/Frédéric Makowiecki – 3:29.307

4.  #2 Cadillac V-Series.R | Cadillac Racing – Earl Bamber/Alex Lynn/Richard Westbrook – 3:29.545

5. #7 Toyota GR010-Hybrid | Toyota Gazoo Racing – Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/José María López – 03:29.624

The top times in the other three classes:

LMP2 | #63 ORECA 07-Gibson | Prema Racing – Doriane Pin/Daniil Kyvat/Mirko Bortolotti – 3:36.863

LMGTE Am | #74 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | Kessel Racing – Kei Cozzolini/Yorikatsu Tsujiko/Naoki Yokonizo – 3:53.796

Innovative Car | #24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 | Hendrick Motorsports – Jimmie Johnson/Mike Rockenfeller/Jenson Button – 3:51.904