Ferrari took a somewhat ominous 1-2 in Le Mans warmup, the 15 minute session 4 hours before the start of the biggest endurance race in the world.
Alessandro Pier Guidi set a 3:26540 in the #51 Ferrari to take the top spot, with his teammate Migel Molina second, 0.356 off in the sister #50 car. The #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi took third, 0.461 off Pier Guidi.
This is a stark difference to Ferrari’s grid positions; the #51 will be the highest-starting Ferrari, which was qualified in Hyperpole by Antonio Giovinazzi. The sister #51 failed to advance to Hyperpole 2, which Nicklas Nielsen qualified 12th.
Fourth was Fred Makowiecki in the #36 Alpine, 0.768 off, while Dani Juncadella in the #19 Genesis was fifth, just 0.002 off Makowiecki.
It’s key to remember, though, that warmup lap times are not hugely relevant. The session is mostly used by the teams to check systems are working correctly, test out tyre choices, and for drivers to generally get their eye in.
In LMP2, the #4 Crowdstrike by APR Oreca of Alex Quinn set the warmup pace with a 3:37.111. The #14 TDS Racing Oreca of Mathias Beche was only 0.009 adrift, while Job Van Uitert, who will start the race on pole in LMP2 after a 1 place grid penalty for original polesitter Esteban Masson for impeding, was almost a second off Quinn.
Jonny Edgar in the #33 TF Sport Corvette was quickest in the LMGT3 class, setting a 3:54.825. 0.129 off was Ben Green in the #2 TF Sport Corvette, making it a Corvette 1-2.
The #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes was third, with Maxime Martin behind the wheel.
This year’s edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans gets underway at 4pm local time.
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