Test Day Ends With Ferrari Fastest In Afternoon Session

The temperatures were climbing during Le Mans Test Session 2 at Circuit de la Sarthe – and so too were the lap speeds, though we’re not yet up to the pace we should expect to see once the first official competitive practice begins on Wednesday.

But there are still trends to examine across Sunday afternoon’s three-hour session. Sunny skies and ambient temperatures hovering around 30 degrees Celsius – now, the atmosphere truly feels like the early days of summer in West France!

After the first hour, there were a couple of small incidents involving GTE Am cars. Second-generation driver Jonas Ried went off at the second Mulsanne Chicane, and Ahmad Al-Harthy spun at the entrance of the Ford Chicanes. Both required Slow Zone interventions, and both cars were able to continue while the other cars on track practised getting to within the required 80 km/h limit.

At the one hour, 35 minute mark, Rodrigo Sales in the #14 Nielsen Racing Oreca 07 went up the inside of Laurents Hörr in the #48 IDEC Sport Oreca, and made contact in the Forest Esses – sending both Sales and Hörr off into the gravel trap.

It was decided to bring out the Safety Car where the teams would practice another round under the new procedure with merging, wave bys, and drop backs.

The process, including getting the two stranded Orecas free from the kitty litter, took just a shade over 30 minutes or 1/48th of a 24-hour endurance race.

Just in time, the Safety Car peeled in with an hour to go, the fans attending today’s public test sessions would get a taste of the Safety Car restarts that we may see if such an intervention is required.

Two Hypercars that spent significant time in the garage re-appeared at this time: After the electrical issue that brought it to a stop in Test Session 1, the #93 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 got back on track to make up for the lost time. The #75 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 also spent a lot of the session in its garage undergoing a brake system component change, but it was able to get out for some running in the last hour.

The #88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 was back out on track after Ried Jnr’s drama earlier in the session, but with just 23 minutes left, gentleman driver Don Yount – went off in the gravel at the Dunlop Chicane, bringing out another Slow Zone intervention.

Some minutes later, the #14 Nielsen Racing Oreca stopped again at the first Mulsanne Chicane but was able to resume. The #32 Inter Europol Competition Oreca of Mark Kvamme had also stopped near the Mulsanne Corner in the final hour and was loaded onto a flatbed hauler, its testing agenda was over prematurely and it would not return.

Once again, it was Ferrari-AF Corse on top with its two Ferrari 499Ps. After the #50 car led Test Session 1, the #51 Ferrari turned in the fastest time of the day – a 3’29.504 from the three-year Formula 1 veteran and WEC premier class rookie, Antonio Giovinazzi.

Both Ferraris looked quick in these early days and had more one-lap pace to spare. Fellow Ferrari Driver Academy graduate Antonio Fuoco set a 3’29.856 in the #50 car, after leading the morning test he was fourth-fastest in the afternoon.

Laurens Vanthoor went second-fastest in the #6 Penske Porsche 963, just over a tenth away from Giovinazzi’s best time. And after all that time spent in the garage, Felipe Nasr went fifth-fastest in the #75 Porsche at the very end, just ahead of the #5 Porsche of Frederic Makowiecki.

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s morning test came to a disappointing end when Mike Conway crashed the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID at Tetre Rouge. After two hours of repairs, the #7 Toyota was not only back on track, but third-fastest and completed 39 laps. The sister #8 Toyota wasn’t up near the top of the time sheets but did log laps steadily – with the reminder to all that these times likely won’t be representative of the days to come.

Paul di Resta was fastest for Peugeot, setting a 3’30.427 in the once-ailing #93 car, good for seventh-fastest.

Not far behind, the “blue deuce” #2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R of Earl Bamber was the best of the marque. All three Cadillacs had trouble-free test sessions.

Even the three privately-built Hypercars, the #4 Floyd Vanwall Racing Team Vandervell 680 and the two Glickenhaus Racing 007s, were able to show flashes of competitive pace over one lap – so far.

JOTA’s “Mighty 38” may have been elevated to Hypercar but its #28 Oreca 07 still gives the team a fighting presence in LMP2.

Pietro Fittipaldi set the car’s best time towards the end of the afternoon session at 3’35.472 – the only man to surpass the sub-3’36 bracket.

Fittipaldi took the top spot from the #31 Team WRT Oreca which had been leading the time sheets courtesy of Ferdinand Habsburg, that time would be second-fastest at the end.

And in third was the #35 Alpine Elf Team Oreca of Andre Negrao, looking a little more representative of the best that the Signatech-operated squad has to offer, with Matthieu Vaxiviere right behind him in fourth aboard the refreshed #36.

Tom Blomqvist was fifth-fastest aboard the #23 United Autosports Oreca.

In LMGTE Am, the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE EVO was quickest for the second straight session. Louis Prette paced the morning test, but this time Thomas Neubauer had the fastest time at 3’56.088.

Less than a tenth of a second adrift was Francesco Castellacci in the silver #54 AF Corse Ferrari, while Daniel Serra made it a Ferrari 1-2-3 class result in the fluorescent yellow #57 Kessel Racing (CarGuy) Ferrari.

But the top Porsche wasn’t very far back – there were only two-tenths separating Neubauer from fourth-fastest Benjamin Barker in the #86 GR Racing Porsche.

Le Mans newcomer Casper Stevenson was seventh-quickest for D’station Racing and fastest of the Aston Martin Vantage GTEs aboard car #777.

Meanwhile, the #33 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R was roughly mid-table, 14th out of 21 with Nick Catsburg setting a 3’57.768.

And how about the fan-favourite Garage 56 car, the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1? It was over two seconds better than the fastest time in GTE Am, with Mike Rockenfeller reeling off a 3’53.761 early in the test, showing more of the NASCAR racer’s potential.

The on-track activity comes to an end until Wednesday, with Free Practice 1 scheduled to kick off at 14:00 local time.

Results to follow

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