Brendon Hartley topped the timesheets in the first practice session for the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid driver setting a 3:26.013 to go fastest.
Callum Ilott was second quickest, with the Brit almost six tenths off Hartley, in the #12 JOTA Porsche 963. Ilott set his lap time early in the session, and was fastest until the last half hour or so, when Hartley set did his session-topping lap.
Driers Vanthoor did briefly displace Ilott in second, setting a 3:26.204 in the dying minutes of the session in the #15 BMW Team WRT M Hybrid V8, but the lap was deleted as the Belgian exceeded track limits.
Vanthoor then set another lap, a 3:26.671, to go third behind a few hundredths behind Ilott.
In fourth, Julien Andlauer set a 3:26.891 in the #99 Proton Porsche 963, slotting this in minutes before the end of the session.
Fifth was the sister #7 Toyota of Nyck de Vries, just over nine tenths off his Kiwi teammate. Similar to Hartley, Kobayashi set his lap in the second half of the session.
Sixth was Alex Lynn in the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R. Lynn caused the second red flag of the session when he spun his Cadillac at Tertre Rouge and tapped the barriers, although he managed to recover and get it back to the pits.
Robin Frijns was seventh in the #20 BMW, with the first of the Ferraris eight, Antonio Fuoco in the #50 Ferrari 499P.
Louis Deletraz topped the LMP2 times in the #14 AO by TF Oreca 07-Gibson, with a 3:34.245. This was almost eight tenths faster than James Allen in the #30 Duqueine Oreca 07-Gibson, with Ben Hanley a further half a tenth off in the #23 United Autosports USA oreca 07-Gibson.
These top three cars in the LMP2 class were all LMP2 pro/am subclass cars, although the drivers who set the fastest laps were the car’s professional drivers. The machinery between the two subclasses is identical, with every team using te Oreca 07-Gibson combination.
Bent Viscaal topped the LMP2 ‘pro’ class, fourth in LMP2 overall in the #9 Proton Competition Oreca 07-Gibson, while Nolan Siegel and Clement Novalak were second and third, fifth and sixth overall in LMP2.
In the LMGT3 class, Inception Racing led the way during the early stages of the session with their #70 McLaren 720S LMGT3 EVO and bronze-rated driver Brendon Iribe.
Meanwhile United Autosports, who run two McLarens in the WEC, ran behind in second place owing to the efforts of #59 driver Gregoire Saucy who joined the #70 in the 3-minute 59-second margin.
Despite qualifying practice looming in for the 23 LMGT3 cars, FP1 saw many teams conduct longer runs as they will look to optimise the tyres during the race
The Akkodis ASP Lexus #78 Arnold Robin encountered issues causing it to stop near Mulsanne Corner, while the #35 Alpine A424 of Ferdinand Habsburg stopped at Dunlop Chicane, caused the first red flag around halfway point as he was encouraged by his engineer to return to the pits.
The stricken Lexus also returned to the pits, albeit on the back of a flat bed, with the team pushing it down the pitlane to the Akkodis ASP garage.
Later on, Michael Wainwright also suffered troubles in his #86 GR Racing Ferrari 296 after stopping at first chicane, thus triggering a slow zone.
Alex Riberas also momentarily temporarily stopped his #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR at the entry of the Dunlop Chicane, but continued onwards.
By the end, Iribe’s lap time of 3:58.770 put him at the top in the #70, followed by Saucy’s 3:58.975 which settled a 1-2 for McLaren machinery.
Third position was taken by Heart of Racing’s Daniel Mancinelli after he set a 3:59.058 in the #27 Aston Martin, followed by the #86 GR Racing Ferrari’s 3:59.277.
Franck Perera rounded off the top-five in the #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 EVO2 with a 3:59.317.
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