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Le Mans 24h: Buemi and Toyota top damp warm-up

Toyota’s Sebastien Buemi has topped a damp Saturday morning warm-up session for the Le Mans 24 Hours.

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing - Toyota TS050 - Hybrid: Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, Brendon Hartley

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing - Toyota TS050 - Hybrid: Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, Brendon Hartley

Paul Foster

After overnight rain the Circuit de la Sarthe was in tricky condition at the start of the 15-minute warm-up session, which meant that most teams were reluctant to go out on track.

Although most teams decided to complete one or more reconnaissance laps, just 33 of the 59 participants set some sort of laptime.

Mike Conway initially clocked a best time of 3m39.375s in the #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, with teammate Buemi in the #8 sister car going quicker after the chequered flag dropped to post a 3m36.693s, still over 15 seconds slower than Toyota’s dry-weather pace.

Neither the two Rebellion cars or the lone ByKolles entry decided to set a laptime.

Giedo van der Garde was therefore third overall as the quickest LMP2 runner in his #29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca, setting a 3m43.022.

That was over six seconds quicker than Matthieu Vaxiviere in the Panis Racing Oreca and eight seconds ahead of Nick Foster in the Eurasia Motorsport Ligier.

Polesitter United Autosports was one of the many LMP2 teams to not set a laptime.

James Calado set a 4m12.476s to head GTE Pro in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, three seconds clear of Richard Lietz in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19.

The third-fastest GTE entrant was the leading GTE Am car of Giancarlo Fisichella, the #54 AF Corse Ferrari. The former F1 driver put a 4m17.393s on the board.

The short damp session preludes the 88th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours, which is also expected to be affected by rain. Many weather forecasts are predicting heavy rain on Saturday night and in the early hours of Sunday, with further wet spells expected during the final hours of the event.

The mixed conditions will be particularly challenging for the many amateur drivers and the 40-odd Le Mans rookies at the start of the race, with track time limited on a condensed race week schedule.

The French endurance classic will start and finish slightly earlier than usual at 2:30pm local time.

Warm-up results:

Cla # Drivers Car Class Time Gap
1 8 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi
Japan Kazuki Nakajima
New Zealand Brendon Hartley
Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 3'36.693
2 7 United Kingdom Mike Conway
Japan Kamui Kobayashi
Argentina Jose Maria Lopez
Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 3'39.375 2.682
3 29 Netherlands Frits van Eerd
Netherlands Giedo van der Garde
Netherlands Nyck de Vries
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'43.022 6.329
4 31 France Nico Jamin
France Julien Canal
France Matthieu Vaxiviere
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'49.568 12.875
5 35 Japan Nobuya Yamanaka
Australia Nick Foster Jr.
Spain Roberto Merhi
Ligier JSP 217 LMP2 3'51.214 14.521
6 24 Canada Garett Grist
United Kingdom Alex Kapadia
United Kingdom Tony Wells
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'51.788 15.095
7 16 Ireland Ryan Cullen
United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
United Kingdom Nick Tandy
Aurus 01 LMP2 3'52.302 15.609
8 34 Poland Jakub Smiechowski
Austria Rene Binder
Russian Federation Matevos Isaakyan
Ligier JSP 217 LMP2 3'53.224 16.531
9 28 France Paul Lafargue
France Paul-Loup Chatin
United Kingdom Richard Bradley
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'56.835 20.142
10 30 Switzerland Jonathan Hirschi
Russian Federation Konstantin Tereshchenko
France Tristan Gommendy
Oreca 07 LMP2 4'00.386 23.693
11 47 Italy Roberto Lacorte
Italy Andrea Belicchi
Italy Giorgio Sernagiotto
Dallara P217 LMP2 4'06.165 29.472
12 33 Japan Kenta Yamashita
United States Mark Patterson
Denmark Anders Fjordbach
Oreca 07 LMP2 4'08.083 31.390
13 26 Russian Federation Roman Rusinov
France Jean-Eric Vergne
Denmark Mikkel Jensen
Aurus 01 LMP2 4'08.179 31.486
14 51 Italy Alessandro Pier Guidi
United Kingdom James Calado
Brazil Daniel Serra
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE PRO 4'12.476 35.783
15 91 Italy Gianmaria Bruni
Austria Richard Lietz
France Frédéric Makowiecki
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE PRO 4'15.548 38.855
16 54 Switzerland Thomas Flohr
Italy Francesco Castellacci
Italy Giancarlo Fisichella
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 4'17.393 40.700
17 92 Denmark Michael Christensen
France Kevin Estre
Belgium Laurens Vanthoor
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE PRO 4'17.477 40.784
18 70 Japan Takeshi Kimura
France Vincent Abril
Japan Kei Cozzolino
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 4'17.799 41.106
19 83 France François Perrodo
France Emmanuel Collard
Denmark Nicklas Nielsen
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 4'17.979 41.286
20 66 United States Richard Heistand
United States Maxwell Root
Denmark Jan Magnussen
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 4'19.028 42.335
21 60 Italy Claudio Schiavoni
Italy Sergio Pianezzola
Italy Paolo Ruberti
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 4'20.707 44.014
22 88 Austria Thomas Preining
United States Dominique Bastien
Belgium Adrien de Leener
Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM 4'21.153 44.460
23 55 United Kingdom Duncan Cameron
United Kingdom Aaron Scott
Ireland Matthew Griffin
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 4'21.526 44.833
24 61 United States Francesco Piovanetti
Brazil Oswaldo Negri Jr.
France Côme Ledogar
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 4'22.310 45.617
25 86 United Kingdom Michael Wainwright
United Kingdom Benjamin Barker
United Kingdom Andrew Watson
Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM 4'22.569 45.876
26 75 Italy Rino Mastronardi
Italy Matteo Cressoni
Italy Andrea Piccini
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 4'23.716 47.023
27 57 United States Ben Keating
Brazil Felipe Fraga
Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen
Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM 4'24.577 47.884
28 98 Canada Paul Dalla Lana
United Kingdom Ross Gunn
Brazil Augusto Farfus
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 4'26.953 50.260
29 52 Switzerland Christoph Ulrich
Germany Steffen Gorig
Sweden Alexander West
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 4'27.392 50.699
30 62 United Kingdom Bonamy Grimes
United Kingdom Johnny Mowlem
United Kingdom Charles Hollings
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 4'27.754 51.061
31 78 Austria Horst Felbermayr Jr.
Italy Michele Beretta
Netherlands Max van Splunteren
Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM 4'28.208 51.515
32 95 Denmark Nicki Thiim
Denmark Marco Sorensen
United Kingdom Richard Westbrook
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE PRO 4'41.142 1'04.449
33 21 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya
France Timothé Buret
Mexico Memo Rojas
Oreca 07 LMP2 4'58.362 1'21.669
34 1 Brazil Bruno Senna
France Norman Nato
United States Gustavo Menezes
Rebellion R13 LMP1
35 3 France Romain Dumas
France Nathanael Berthon
Switzerland Louis Deletraz
Rebellion R13 LMP1
36 4 France Tom Dillmann
Canada Bruno Spengler
United Kingdom Oliver Webb
ENSO CLM P1/01 LMP1
37 11 France Adrien Tambay
France Erik Maris
Belgium Christophe d'Ansembourg
Ligier JSP 217 LMP2
38 17 United States Dwight Merriman
United Kingdom Kyle Tilley
New Zealand John Kennard
Oreca 07 LMP2
39 22 United Kingdom Philip Hanson
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
United Kingdom Paul di Resta
Oreca 07 LMP2
40 25 United States John Falb
Switzerland Simon Trummer
United States Matt McMurry
Oreca 07 LMP2
41 27 Sweden Henrik Hedman
United Kingdom Ben Hanley
Netherlands Renger van der Zande
Oreca 07 LMP2
42 32 United States Will Owen
United Kingdom Alex Brundle
Netherlands Job Van Uitert
Oreca 07 LMP2
43 36 Brazil Andre Negrao
France Pierre Ragues
France Thomas Laurent
Alpine A470 LMP2
44 37 China Ho-Pin Tung
France Gabriel Aubry
United Kingdom Will Stevens
Oreca 07 LMP2
45 38 United Kingdom Anthony Davidson
Portugal Antonio Felix da Costa
Mexico Roberto Gonzalez
Oreca 07 LMP2
46 39 Australia James Allen
France Vincent Capillaire
France Charles Milesi
Oreca 07 LMP2
47 42 France Nicolas Lapierre
Switzerland Antonin Borga
Switzerland Alexandre Coigny
Oreca 07 LMP2
48 50 Colombia Tatiana Calderon
Germany Sophia Flörsch
Netherlands Beitske Visser
Oreca 07 LMP2
49 56 Norway Egidio Perfetti
Netherlands Larry ten Voorde
Italy Matteo Cairoli
Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM
50 63 United States Cooper MacNeil
Finland Toni Vilander
United States Jeff Segal
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE PRO
51 71 Italy Davide Rigon
Spain Miguel Molina
United Kingdom Sam Bird
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE PRO
52 72 Taiwan Han-Chen Chen
United Kingdom Tom Blomqvist
Brazil Marcos Gomes
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM
53 77 Germany Christian Ried
Italy Riccardo Pera
Australia Matt Campbell
Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM
54 82 France Olivier Pla
France Sébastien Bourdais
France Jules Gounon
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE PRO
55 85 Italy Manuela Gostner
Switzerland Rahel Frey
Denmark Michelle Gatting
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM
56 89 France Philippe Haezebrouck
France Julien Piguet
Greece Andreas Laskaratos
Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM
57 90 Turkey Salih Yoluc
Ireland Charles Eastwood
United Kingdom Jonathan Adam
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM
58 97 Belgium Maxime Martin
United Kingdom Alex Lynn
United Kingdom Harry Tincknell
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE PRO
59 99 Thailand Vutthikorn Inthrapuvasak
Switzerland Lucas Legeret
France Julien Andlauer
Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM

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