Ferrari On Top In First Le Mans Test Session

Beautiful, sunny skies, an idyllic late spring morning – the perfect conditions to ring in the first test session for the centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which was topped by the #50 499P of Antonio Fuoco, with a 3:30.886.

One by one, the field of 62 cars began to make their way out onto the Circuit de la Sarthe for this three-hour session.

Incidents early on were minor, and allowed Race Control, the teams, and drivers to practice procedures for the race. The #45 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07 came to a stop less than half an hour into the first test. That offered the first chance to go through Slow Zone procedures.

Just before half-time, debris at the first Mulsanne Chicane offered the chance to practice the new Safety Car procedures – merging, pass-arounds, and dropbacks. From the minute the Safety Car was deployed, to the notice that the Safety Car would be withdrawn, the process of re-ordering the field took roughly 24 minutes or 3-4 laps.

The #32 Inter Europol Competition Oreca of Mark Kvamme went back to the garage about two hours in with minor damage to the left front after he left the course before Dunlop Chicane.

Then, with 35 minutes to go, there was the first red flag as the #93 Peugeot 9X8 Hybrid of Paul Di Resta stopped along Les Hunaudieres. The Peugeot was towed back to the garage on a flatbed with no damage – but it was not the best start for the only French Hypercar marque in the field.

This left 15 minutes remaining – but before the chequered flag, Mike Conway in the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 HYBRID ran off into the grass, and spun into the barrier at Tertre Rouge.

Conway walked away from his battered Toyota which came away with significant damage to the front body panels. A second red flag was thrown right away, and brought an end to this first test.

All looks good at Ferrari AF Corse with its two Ferrari 499P Hypercars, especially as Fuoco in the #50 set the fastest time in Hypercar with his 3:30.886, while his fellow single-seater alumnus James Calado was fourth-fastest in the #51.

While the #93 Peugeot had its mechanical dramas, the #94 Peugeot 9X8 was fast and trouble-free, completing a session-best 31 laps with Gustavo Menezes setting the second-fastest time, at 3’31.346 (a faster lap of 3:31.189 was deleted for exceeding track limits.)

The Porsche 963s now look fast too. Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 Penske Porsche Motorsport 963 set a time of 3:30.787 which would have stood as the fastest – had it not been deleted for exceeding track limits as well.

But Porsche still was represented in the top three as Yifei Ye reeled off a 3:31.477 in the gold #38 Hertz Team JOTA 963.

And while Conway’s crash dampened the mood at Toyota Gazoo Racing, if the #7 GR010 can be repaired well enough, he was still fifth-fastest with a 3:31.856, just two-tenths ahead of the fastest Cadillac V-Series.R, the yellow #3 from the Chip Ganassi Racing-run squad courtesy of Renger van der Zande.

Reshad de Gerus was a surprise pacesetter in the LMP2 class, driving the #47 COOL Racing Oreca to first place with a rapid time of 3:36.409 – faster than two of the Hypercars, and a full second quicker than the next-fastest driver in the class.

That next driver was Paul-Loup Chatin in the Delage-sponsored #48 IDEC Sport Oreca in second.
Ferdinand Habsburg was third-fastest in LMP2 in the #31 Team WRT Oreca, followed by Fabio Scherer in the #34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca in fourth, and Matthieu Vaxiviere in the #36 Alpine Elf Team Oreca in fifth.

Fast times rolled in one by one during the final hour of LMGTE Am’s first tune-up. Louis Prette took the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE EVO up to the top spot with a 3:56.623.

Prette was followed closely by the #21 AF Corse Ferrari of the rapid Belgian, Ulysse de Pauw, in second.

The fastest Aston Martin Vantage GTE was the orange #25 ORT by TF Sport Aston Martin, with Charlie Eastwood setting the third-fastest time. Of the Porsche 911 RSR – 19s, the #60 Iron Lynx Porsche was the fifth-fastest, courtesy of Alessio Picariello.

But there’s good news for fans of this year’s NASCAR Garage 56 entry: The #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 looks rapid compared to the rest of the GTE Am field!

Especially in the hands of Jenson Button, who set a blazing lap of 3:56.880, which would have been fourth-quickest in the GTE Am running order.

A lunch break follows, and the second Test Day session will begin promptly at 15:30 local time.

SESSION 1 TIMES >>>