Porsche fastest in LM24 practice

Porsche had the 2 fastest cars during the practice for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Porsche #2 was marginally faster than Porsche #1 while Audi and Toyota came on the following places.

Toyota #6 had problems at the end of practice when Stephane Sarrazin put the car in the armco between Indianapolis and Arnage corner. He got his rear wheel slightly off the track, which sent the car spearing accross the track and into the guard rail on the opposite site of the track. It got quite a bit of damage on the nose but could drive back to the pits under its own power.

Audi #8 had problems too with something that looked like the hybrid system. Lucas Di Grassi outbraked himself at the first chicane on the Mulsanne straight, and had to limp back to the pits where the mechanics started repairing the car instantly.

Bykolles had quite an fire in the engine bay, and Pierre Kaffer was quickly out of the car trying to put the fire out. The car from the outside looked undamaged, but no pictures shown of the engine and gearbox area under the bodywork, most likely it had got a fair bit of damage from the fire.

In LMP2 we saw KCMG fastest from Signatech Alpine. But as always the times are tight in LMP2.

AF Corse #51 Photo: JJ Media
AF Corse #51
Photo: JJ Media

GTE-Pro saw a fight between Ford and Ferrari. First it was Ford going faster than anybody had driven on the testday, which instantly sparked speculations about their real speed. Before this week, they received a BOP break – a break that got huge critical words from the other manufactures. But after that, Ferrari upped their game. Perhaps a little too much for Risi Competizione #82 with Toni Vilander behind the wheel. He was on a lap looking like a 3,52 but slowed right before the finishing line and ended with “just” a 3,54. Shortly after that AF Corse #51 beat that time, so Ferrari ended 1-2 in GTE-Pro.

GTE-Am saw a lot of changes at the front, but it ended up with 3 Ferraris ahead of 2 Porsches. Clearwater Racing #61 was fastest haead of Scuderia Corsa #62

Corvette and Aston Martin were lacking speed in both GTE-Pro and Am. So let’s see if they can pick up the pace for qualifying.

 

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