Brendon Hartley topped the timesheets for Toyota in the second of two sessions at Le Mans for the traditional test day, before the 24 hour classic next weekend.
The Kiwi, in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, set a 3:26.246, the fastest lap of the day, with Hartley almost a second quicker than Robert Kubica’s fastest in the morning session.
Second was Ferrari’s James Calado, with a 3:26.777, while third was Mick Schumacher with a 3:27.313, over a second slower than Hartley.
The session was a little messy, with two red flags interrupting proceedings. The first was caused by the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Sheldon van der Linde, who stopped the car near Porsche Curves, towards the end of the lap. BMW told media it was a “mechanical issue”, and the team would investigate once the car returned to the pits.
The second was caused by the #11 Proton Oreca LMP2 car of Giorgio Roda, who crashed approaching the banked Indianapolis corner. The crash damaged the barriers which led to a substantial delay of around 24 minutes while marshals carried out repairs.
And the third was caused by Brenton Grove, in the #63 Iron Lynx Mercedes AMG GT3, who hit the barriers at Porsche Curves with five minutes to go.
Fourth in Hypercar was Kevin Estre in the #6 Porsche 963, with fifth going to the satellite #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Phil Hanson.
Fittipaldi and Lopez fastest in other classes
In LMP2, Pietro Fittipaldi went quickest, with a 3:35.770 in the #22 United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson. Following him was Mathias Beche in the #29 TDS Racing Oreca, almost half a second off Fittipaldi, while third was Louis Deletraz in the #199 AO by TF Oreca, a further three tenths off.
Finally, Jose Maria Lopez continued his session-topping form from the morning, setting a 3:55.276 to go quickest in the #87 ASP Lexus RC F GT3. Second was Alessio Rovera in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, over a second and a half off Lopez. Third was Clemens Schmid in the sister #87 ASP Lexus, a tenth and a bit off Lopez.
Track action resumes on Wednesday at 14:00 local time, for the first practice session for the race, which begins at 4pm local time on Saturday. See the full afternoon session results on the FIAWEC results website.
READ MORE: Robert Kubica quickest in opening Le Mans Test Day session
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