Cadillac’s Sebastien Bourdais set the pace in the first practice session for this year’s edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with a 3:25.148 from the Frenchman.
Bourdais — who was born in Le Mans — set the lap on the #38 JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R’s 24th tour of the circuit, a tenth and a half faster than Miguel Molina in the #50 Ferrari 499P.
Kevin Estre set the third fastest lap time in the #5 Porsche, in a single flying lap between the two red flags.
One was for the #63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Stephen Grove, who crashed the car just before Dunlop curve at the start of the lap, mid way into the session. Grove was released from the medical centre and the car wasn’t seen again in the session.
The reason for the second red flag is currently unclear, following roughly 12 minutes after the first and lasting for six minutes.
“I feel like we made a decent amount of progress, feeling more comfortable in the braking,’ said Bourdais.
“It’s quite hot and the tires are not having an easy time. Overall, it’s starting to find your footing a little bit. It was a messy session with red flags and full-course yellows, so it’s difficult to work and get in a rhythm. It kind of came together at the end when we did a quali sim.”
Fourth and fifth in Hypercar were the #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, and the #5 Porsche of Julien Andlauer.
Pilet and Robin fastest in LMP2 and LMGT3
In LMP2, Patrick Pilet topped the timesheets in the pro/am-entered #16 RLR M Sport Oreca 07-Gibson. The Frenchman set a time of 3:36.888 to go quickest, 0.237 ahead of Nick Yelloly in the #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca. Third was Alex Quinn in the #45 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca, another couple of tenths off Yelloly.
Jack Hawksworth was quickest in the LMGT3 class, setting a 3:57.248 in the #78 ASP Lexus RC F GT3. Second fastest was Davide Rigon in the #54 AF Corse Ferrari, while third quickest was Valentin Hasse Clot in the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3.
Qualifying starts 18:45 local time.
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