Le Mans FP1: Hartley sets pace for Toyota; Akkodis ASP Lexus quickest in LMGT3

Hypercar

Callum Ilott in No.12 Jota Porsche 963 set an early benchmark of 3m26.610 with early time in first free practice session

The Spa winning car, which Ilott shares with Will Stevens and Norman Nato, was eventually beaten though as Brendon Hartley claimed a 3m26.013s in the No.8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid Hypercar

Hartley, who is pushing for his fourth victory at Le Mans, shaded Ilott’s best by 0.5s, while the second Toyota places sixth as Nyck de Vries sets best lap on 3m26.918s

In third place is the No.15 BMW M Team WRT car as Dris Vanthoor bangs in a late 3m26.671 lap. That just shades the No.99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 Hypercar in the hands of Spa hero Julien Andlauer

Alex Lynn contacts the Tertre Rouge barrier in final 25 minutes of session but manages to get back to the pits with minimal damage to the Cadillac V.Series R Hypercar. The No.2 car ends session in sixth position after earlier time of 3m26.928s set by Lynn

The second BMW ‘Art’ Hypercar is seventh heading the first of the Ferraris with No.60 in eighth place.

The Alpines sat ninth and tenth with the No.36 car ahead of the No.35 machine. Ferdinand Habsburg is forced to stop the No.35 Alpine A424 Hypercar after 90 minutes, while simultaneously Arnold Robin in the No.78 Akkodis ASP Lexus LMGT3 also stops on the run from Mulsanne Corner to Indianapolis Corner. This caused a brief red flag period.

LMGT3

Inception Racing had topped the times in the first ever official LMGT3 Le Mans week session for all but the last minute of the three hours session

Brendan Iribe peaked on a 3m58.770s lap in the McLaren LMGT3 challenger that he shares with Frederik Schandorff and Olilie Millroy 

That lap headed the No.59 United Autosports with Le Mans rookie Gregoire Saucy lapping in 3m58.975s and cementing what looked to be a strong McLaren 1-2

But taking the best lap on the final tour was Esteban Masson in the No.87 Akkodis ASP Lexus as the Argentinian sets a  flyer of 3m57.808s in car he shares with super sub Jack Hawsworth and Takeshi Kimura

In fourth is the Heart of Racing Aston Martin with Daniel Mancinelli setting a best of 3m 59.058s. The car briefly stops at the Dunlop chicane but is able to re-start and continue

Fifth in LMGT3 is the No.86 GR Racing Ferrari with Daniel Serra claiming best lap for the British team that took third place in LMGTE Am last year

Sixth is the No.60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini with Franck Perera just 0.040s off Serra’s best

Michael Wainwright stopped the GR Racing Ferrari 296 LMGT3 at first Mulsanne Chicane just before final hour of practice and triggers third slow zone period as car has to be retrieved

There was drama for the No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3, which had a fuel-related fire and spent the remainder of the session in the pits having repairs

LMP2

Louis Deletraz takes the best time in LMP2 with the AO TF Sport ‘Spike’ car he shares with Le Mans rookie Alex Quinn and American PJ Hyett.

The No.14 car is also the best placed Pro-Am category entry as it heads the Duqueine Oreca-Gibson entry with James Allen getting to within 0.5s of Deletraz’s best

Third in LMP2 is the No.23 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson as Ben Hanley sets time just 0.060s off Allen’s

But the other Ben in that team, Ben Keating, has to be winched from the Porsche Curves gravel trap after skating off after 75-minutes of running with the 2023 LMGTE Am champion and Le Mans category winner returning to the pits after second Slow Zone is deployed

Rounding out the top six is the No.9 Proton Competition entry, No.22 United Autosports and the Inter Europol Competition entry that is aiming to defend its LMP2 title

Panis Racing Oreca-Gibson entry driven by Rodrigo Sales causes first of four slow zone periods

Trouble also hit the No.183 AF Corse LMP2 car as Nicolas Varrone stops on the run to Tertre Rouge with damage to front right wheel. Incident triggers a fourth slow zone of the session and the car sits out remainder of session