Toyota Gazoo Racing topped the timesheets during this afternoon’s free practice session as 62 cars took to the Le Mans track in preparation for the 2018-2019 World Endurance Championship Super Finale.
At the end of the 4-Hour session it was the no7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID which was out in front, with SMP Racing and Rebellion Racing second and third respectively. Toyota’s Kamui Kobayashi posted a time of 3:18.091, 1.840s ahead of the no11 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1-AER of Stoffel Vandoorne.
The session was red flagged at the half way point when the no99 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR crashed heavily into the barriers on the Mulsanne straight. American Tracy Krohn, who was driving at the time, was conscious when he was extracted from the car and was in good spirits. However the Texan complained of back pain, so he was taken to hospital for further checks as a precautionary measure.
Mixed weather conditions saw the teams able to test a variety of car set-ups, as well as both slick and wet tyres – which served as excellent preparation for the upcoming qualifying sessions which could see more rain fall on the Circuit des 24 Heures.
Porsche lead LMGTE Pro
The no92 Porsche 911 RSR led the highly-competitive LMGTE Pro category for the majority of today’s free practice session, with Kevin Estre behind the wheel when the FIA World Endurance GTE Manufacturers’ Champions set a time of 3:52.149 which could not be beaten. Ferrari AF Corse was best of the rest out of the WEC field in the no71 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, followed closely by Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK.
IDEC Sport Out in Front in LMP2
The twenty-strong LMP2 grid saw the no48 IDEC Sport car clock the fastest time in the closing stages of free practice but second-quickest, and fastest out of the seven WEC entries, was the no31 DragonSpeed Oreca 07 – Gibson entry followed by the no36 Signatech Alpine Matmut A470 – Gibson.
Porsche also lead in LMGTE Am
In LMGTE Am, the no77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche 911 RSR was quickest with a time of 3:55.304, 0.382s ahead of the no54 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE. Rounding out the top three was Aston Martin Racing’s no98 Aston Martin Vantage making it three different manufacturers topping the timesheets in LMGTE Am.
The first of three qualifying sessions will take place on Wednesday evening from 22h00. Drivers are able to use this two-hour session to complete both their mandatory night laps, as well as making a first claim for pole position in each of the four different categories.