Glickenhaus fastest in Le Mans test sessions

Both test sessions were held in sunny conditions as the 62 cars competing in this year’s Le Mans took to the track, 33 of which are full-time WEC entrants.

As usual, these sessions were an opportunity to simulate slow zone and safety car procedures. The rules under the safety car protocol have changed this year. Cars second in their classes will be permitted, once per procedure, to overtake the first safety car they follow (there are three to cover the 13.626-km circuit) to reach the rear of the line for the next safety car.

Results from the first test session.

HYPERCAR
•    Brendon Hartley from the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hypercar posted the fastest lap time of the four-hour morning session with 3:31.268
•    Second fastest was Matthieu Vaxiviere in the Alpine Elf Matmut A480 Gibson car, 0.256s adrift of the pace-setting Toyota
•    Third overall was the sister No. 7 Toyota which was driven by Mike Conway
•    Glickenhaus Racing used the morning session to get to grips with its new Glickenhaus 007 LMH, the fastest of the two team cars being the No. 708 car with Franck Malleux at the wheel

LMP2
•    It was a dominant test session for United Autosports USA as its No. 23 and No. 22 Oreca 07 Gibsons cars were P1 and P2
•    Fastest in class was the No. 23 car with Scotsman Paul Di Resta quickest with a lap of 3:33.038
•    Third fastest was Belgian squad Team WRT with a lap time of 3:34.167 set later on in the session

LMGTE PRO
•    Porsche GT Team topped the LMGTE Pro times with the No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR setting a time of 3:52.901 with Kevin Estre at the wheel. The Frenchman drove most of the session, handing over to Neel Jani later on
•    The sister No. 91 car was second fastest making it a Porsche one-two
•    Third fastest overall was the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo

 LMGTE Am 
•    Topping the LMGTE Am times was the No. 98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage which is shared by Paul Dalla Lana, Nicki Thiim and Marcos Gromes

During the session, there were several red flags – one caused by the No. 777 D’Station car spun into the Porsche Curves with Satoshi Hoshino behind the wheel. Elsewhere, there was an incident for the GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 and TF Sport in the No. 95 Aston Martin AMR.

Results from the second test session.

HYPERCAR
•    The No. 708 Glickenhaus Racing entry driven by Luis Felipe Derani, Franck Mailleux and Olivier Pla set the fastest time of both test sessions with 3:29.115
•    American team’s lap eclipses Toyota Gazoo Racing’s best during the morning session [3:31.268] set by Brendon Hartley in the No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Hypercar
•    No. 7 and No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercars both clock sub 3:30 times this afternoon with No. 7 car 0.025s quicker than the sister car
•    Alpine Elf Matmut fourth fastest with a time of 3:30.111

LMP2
•    IDEC Sport fastest overall in LMP2 but out of the WEC entrants it was Team WRT who topped the scoresheets clocking a time of 3:31.488
•    United Autosports were second and third quickest out of the WEC entrants [fourth and fifth overall in class]

LMGTE PRO
•    WeatherTech Racing fastest overall in LMGTE Pro but it was No. 91 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR – 19 that was quickest out of the WEC entries with a time of 3:52.948

The next track action will be on Wednesday 18 August, followed by Hyperpole on Thursday [19 August]. The race will get underway at 16h00 on Saturday 21 August.

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