Robert Kubica of the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P was the quickest driver following the first track action in the 24 Hours of Le Mans test day.
The first on-track action as part of the 93rd running of the event commenced as part of the fourth FIA World Endurance Championship round.
Two key interruptions took place within the first half of the three-hour session. Firstly, debris on the left-hand side at the first chicane initiated a brief full-course yellow to remove it.
Then, an incident by #34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 LMP2 driver Luca Ghiotto set the majority of the first half under safety car.
Ghiotto, the 30-year-old Italian, inflicted front-left suspension damage on his car after losing it in the middle of the Porsche Curves.
Amid the incident clear-up, it allowed utilising the full safety car procedure, deploying three (SC A, B, C) at the different sectors before merging the three groups onto SC A and commencing a pass-around so that drivers could restart respectively in their group of same-class cars.
The latter half of the session ran far smoother, allowing teams to gain useful mileage at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Privateer Ferrari at the top
In the Hypercar category, Robert Kubica was the quickest after setting a lap time of 3:27.010 at the wheel of the #83 Ferrari.
The #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid machine completed 39 laps in total, the fastest of which was a 3:28.000 by Brendon Hartley out of 34 laps in total by their line-up.
Earl Bamber took third in the #38 JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R with a 3:28.491, the quickest out of 35 driven by their drivers.
AF Corse’s #51 Ferrari finished in fourth place after Antonio Giovinazzi drove a 3:28.843, the fastest in the 36 laps racked up by the 2023 Centenary Le Mans winners.
Jack Aitken rounded out the top five in the #311 Whelen Cadillac (3:28.923), having driven in the first two hours before travelling to Zandvoort for DTM’s Race 2.
RLR M Sport fastest in LMP2, both Lexus in LMGT3 top-three
In the all-Oreca 07 LMP2 category, the #16 RLR M Sport topped the field with a 3:36.593 time from Patrick Pilet.
CLX – Pure Rxcing’s #37 machine followed in second place (3:36.853) by Tom Blomqvist, as Inter Europol’s other #43 machine claimed third (3:36.927) with credit to Tom Dillmann.
Job van Uitert secured fourth in the category for the #28 IDEC Sport machine with a 3:36.975, and Clement Novolak rounded out the top five in the LMP2 class for the #29 TDS Racing team (3:37.243)
In LMGT3, Jose Maria Lopez was quickest in the #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F LMGT3 with his 3:57.109 lap time.
The #54 AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 finished second with a 3:57.378 by Alessio Rovera, followed in third by the other #78 Lexus (3:57.807) by Jack Hawksworth.
Kessel Racing’s #57 Ferrari was in fourth (3:58.018), owing to Casper Stevensen.
Riccardo Agostini rounded out the top five in LMGT3 with his 3:58.213 in the #150 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari.
See here for full results. Test day running continues with another 180-minute session from 15:30 local time.
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