Le Mans 24h: Toyota leads SMP in disrupted practice
Kamui Kobayashi put Toyota on top of the times in a rain-hit, red-flagged opening practice session for the Le Mans 24 Hours, 1.8 seconds ahead of the best of the SMP Racing LMP1s.
Kobayashi hit the front with less than two minutes of the four-hour session remaining, clocking a 3m18.091s aboard the TS050 Hybrid he shares with Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez to deny the #11 SMP crew top spot.
Stoffel Vandoorne had put SMP's #11 BR Engineering BR1 top with 20 minutes remaining, but his time ended up 1.840 seconds shy of Kobayashi's on a rapidly drying track.
Ex-McLaren Formula 1 driver Vandoorne's 3m19.931s time was a mere 0.029s faster than that set by Gustavo Menezes, whose 3m19.960s lap in the Rebellion R-13 he shares with Thomas Laurent and Nathanael Berthon had stood as the benchmark for much of the session.
Menezes posted that effort moments before a red flag was shown when GTE Am driver Tracy Krohn crashed the #99 Porsche 911 RSR an hour and 40 minutes into the session.
Krohn had a hefty shunt on the run between the second chicane and Mulsanne corner, leaving a significant amount of debris across the track - delaying running by around 45 minutes.
An update from the FIA World Endurance Championship via Twitter said Krohn had been taken to hospital for precautionary checks but that he was "conscious and in good spirits".
The length of the delay allowed a heavy rain shower to hit the circuit before the session restarted, but in the final hour the sun broke through the clouds and helped dry the track.
The second Toyota ended the session fourth thanks to a 3m20.941s lap set by Fernando Alonso, who was the first driver from the #8 car's line-up to take to the track.
Kazuki Nakajima looked on course to improve on that time with his final lap, but his effort was thwarted by a yellow flag being shown in the final sector caused by Erwin Creed's spinning #50 Larbre Competition Ligier.
The #1 Rebellion was fifth with Andre Lotterer at the wheel, 3.166s off the pace, ahead of the #17 SMP car of Sergey Sirotkin.
DragonSpeed's Gibson-powered BR1 and the ByKolles ENSO CLM P1/01 brought up the rear of the LMP1 order, lapping 6.355s and 9.752s off the pace respectively.
LMP2: IDEC Sport sets the early pace
LMP2 was topped by the IDEC Sport Oreca of Paul-Loup Chatin, who set the fastest time in class - a 3m28.363s - late on, beating the DragonSpeed Oreca of Pastor Maldonado.
#48 IDEC Sport Oreca 07 Gibson: Paul Lafargue, Paul-Loup Chatin, Memo Rojas, Patrice Lafargue
Photo by: Marc Fleury
Jonathan Hirschi had been the first driver to break under the 3m30 bracket in the #39 Graff Oreca, but as track conditions improved, his time was beaten by both Maldonado and the #26 G-Drive Racing Aurus-branded Oreca of Jean-Eric Vergne, who ended up third.
Pierre Thiriet was another late mover in the #36 Signatech Alpine Oreca, bumping Nyck de Vries in the best non-Oreca – the #29 Racing Team Nederland Dallara – down to sixth in class.
The best-placed Ligier ended the session in seventh, as Filipe Albuquerque moved the #22 United Autosports car up the order in the dying moments after a spell in the garage having an engine oil pump replaced.
GTE: Porsche takes 1-2
Porsche took a 1-2 in the GTE Pro division, with Michael Christensen's early lap of 3m52.149s in the #92 911 RSR surviving a late flurry of improvements to stand as the top time.
Mathieu Jaminet made a late jump up the order in the #94 Porsche, 0.315s off the pace of Christensen, while Sam Bird was third-fastest in the best of the Ferrari 488 GTEs, the #71 machine.
#92 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR: Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Stefan Mucke was the quickest of the Fords in fourth, having briefly gone second in the black-and-white retro-liveried #66 GT, ahead of James Calado in the second of the factory AF Corse-run Ferraris and Augusto Farfus in the top BMW M8 GTE.
The late improvements shuffled down the #67 Ford, which had been second at the red flag, all the way down to seventh, ahead of the remaining two Porsches and the top Corvette C7.R.
Aston Martin’s top Vantage GTE was 11th and 1.653s off the pace in Alex Lynn’s hands.
In GTE Am, the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche of Julien Andlauer led the way on a 3m55.304s.
That was enough to beat the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella by 0.382s, while Pedro Lamy was only another 0.028s behind in the #98 Aston Martin.
Additional reporting by James Newbold
Practice results:
| Cla | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 |  Mike Conway  Kamui Kobayashi  Jose Maria Lopez | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 3'18.091 | |
| 2 | 11 |  Vitaly Petrov Mikhail Aleshin  Stoffel Vandoorne | BR Engineering BR1 | LMP1 | 3'19.931 | 1.840 |
| 3 | 3 |  Thomas Laurent Nathanael Berthon  Gustavo Menezes | Rebellion R13 | LMP1 | 3'19.960 | 1.869 |
| 4 | 8 |  Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima  Fernando Alonso | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 3'20.941 | 2.850 |
| 5 | 1 | Neel Jani  Andre Lotterer  Bruno Senna | Rebellion R13 | LMP1 | 3'21.257 | 3.166 |
| 6 | 17 | Stéphane Sarrazin Egor Orudzhev Sergey Sirotkin | BR Engineering BR1 | LMP1 | 3'22.431 | 4.340 |
| 7 | 10 |  Henrik Hedman Ben Hanley  Renger van der Zande | BR Engineering BR1 | LMP1 | 3'24.446 | 6.355 |
| 8 | 4 | Tom Dillmann Oliver Webb  Paolo Ruberti | ENSO CLM P1/01 | LMP1 | 3'27.843 | 9.752 |
| 9 | 48 | Paul Lafargue Paul-Loup Chatin  Memo Rojas | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'28.363 | 10.272 |
| 10 | 31 | Roberto Gonzalez  Pastor Maldonado Anthony Davidson | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'28.730 | 10.639 |
| 11 | 26 | Roman Rusinov Job Van Uitert Jean-Eric Vergne | Aurus 01 | LMP2 | 3'28.893 | 10.802 |
| 12 | 39 | Tristan Gommendy Vincent Capillaire Jonathan Hirschi | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'28.959 | 10.868 |
| 13 | 36 | Nicolas Lapierre Andre Negrao Pierre Thiriet | Alpine A470 | LMP2 | 3'29.978 | 11.887 |
| 14 | 29 | Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Nyck de Vries | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 3'30.611 | 12.520 |
| 15 | 22 | Philip Hanson  Filipe Albuquerque Paul di Resta | Ligier JSP 217 | LMP2 | 3'30.862 | 12.771 |
| 16 | 38 |  Ho-Pin Tung  Stéphane Richelmi Gabriel Aubry | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'30.893 | 12.802 |
| 17 | 32 |  Ryan Cullen Alex Brundle | Ligier JSP 217 | LMP2 | 3'31.299 | 13.208 |
| 18 | 37 |  David Heinemeier Hansson Jordan King Ricky Taylor | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'31.416 | 13.325 |
| 19 | 30 | Nico Jamin Pierre Ragues Romain Dumas | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'31.416 | 13.325 |
| 20 | 23 |  Rene Binder Julien Canal Will Stevens | Ligier JSP 217 | LMP2 | 3'31.951 | 13.860 |
| 21 | 25 | David Zollinger Andrea Pizzitola John Falb | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'32.138 | 14.047 |
| 22 | 20 | Anders Fjordbach Dennis Andersen Mathias Beche | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'32.353 | 14.262 |
| 23 | 47 | Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto Andrea Belicchi | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 3'33.009 | 14.918 |
| 24 | 28 | François Perrodo Matthieu Vaxiviere Loic Duval | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'34.483 | 16.392 |
| 25 | 43 |  John Farano  Arjun Maini Norman Nato | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3'34.823 | 16.732 |
| 26 | 34 |  Jakub Smiechowski James Winslow Nigel Moore | Ligier JSP 217 | LMP2 | 3'36.237 | 18.146 |
| 27 | 49 |  Miro Konopka Henning Enqvist Konstantin Tereshchenko | Ligier JSP 217 | LMP2 | 3'36.241 | 18.150 |
| 28 | 50 | Erwin Creed Romano Ricci Nicholas Boulle | Ligier JSP 217 | LMP2 | 3'38.171 | 20.080 |
| 29 | 92 | Michael Christensen Kevin Estre Laurens Vanthoor | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE PRO | 3'52.149 | 34.058 |
| 30 | 94 | Sven Muller Mathieu Jaminet  Dennis Olsen | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE PRO | 3'52.464 | 34.373 |
| 31 | 71 | Davide Rigon Sam Bird Miguel Molina | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 3'52.743 | 34.652 |
| 32 | 66 | Stefan Mücke Olivier Pla Billy Johnson | Ford GT | LMGTE PRO | 3'52.778 | 34.687 |
| 33 | 51 | Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado Daniel Serra | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 3'52.844 | 34.753 |
| 34 | 82 | Augusto Farfus Antonio Felix da Costa  Jesse Krohn | BMW M8 GTE | LMGTE PRO | 3'52.969 | 34.878 |
| 35 | 67 |  Andy Priaulx Harry Tincknell Jonathan Bomarito | Ford GT | LMGTE PRO | 3'53.027 | 34.936 |
| 36 | 93 | Patrick Pilet  Earl Bamber Nick Tandy | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE PRO | 3'53.157 | 35.066 |
| 37 | 91 | Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz Frédéric Makowiecki | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE PRO | 3'53.182 | 35.091 |
| 38 | 63 | Jan Magnussen Antonio Garcia Mike Rockenfeller | Chevrolet Corvette C7R | LMGTE PRO | 3'53.343 | 35.252 |
| 39 | 97 | Alex Lynn Maxime Martin Jonathan Adam | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE PRO | 3'53.802 | 35.711 |
| 40 | 95 | Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim Darren Turner | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE PRO | 3'53.904 | 35.813 |
| 41 | 68 | Joey Hand Dirk Muller Sébastien Bourdais | Ford GT | LMGTE PRO | 3'54.055 | 35.964 |
| 42 | 69 |  Ryan Briscoe Richard Westbrook Scott Dixon | Ford GT | LMGTE PRO | 3'54.189 | 36.098 |
| 43 | 64 | Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner Marcel Fassler | Chevrolet Corvette C7R | LMGTE PRO | 3'54.198 | 36.107 |
| 44 | 81 | Nick Catsburg Martin Tomczyk Philipp Eng | BMW M8 GTE | LMGTE PRO | 3'54.258 | 36.167 |
| 45 | 77 | Matt Campbell Christian Ried Julien Andlauer | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 3'55.304 | 37.213 |
| 46 | 54 | Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella | Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE AM | 3'55.686 | 37.595 |
| 47 | 98 | Paul Dalla Lana Pedro Lamy Mathias Lauda | Aston Martin Vantage | LMGTE AM | 3'55.714 | 37.623 |
| 48 | 78 | Louis Prette Philippe Prette Vincent Abril | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 3'56.046 | 37.955 |
| 49 | 88 | Satoshi Hoshino Giorgio Roda Matteo Cairoli | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 3'56.282 | 38.191 |
| 50 | 89 | Pipo Derani Oliver Jarvis Jules Gounon | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 3'56.429 | 38.338 |
| 51 | 84 | Jeff Segal Rodrigo Baptista Wei Lu | Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE AM | 3'57.017 | 38.926 |
| 52 | 86 | Michael Wainwright Benjamin Barker Thomas Preining | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 3'57.137 | 39.046 |
| 53 | 83 | Manuela Gostner Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting | Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE AM | 3'57.463 | 39.372 |
| 54 | 57 | Takeshi Kimura Kei Cozzolino Côme Ledogar | Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE AM | 3'57.480 | 39.389 |
| 55 | 70 | Motoaki Ishikawa Olivier Beretta Eddie Cheever III | Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE AM | 3'57.991 | 39.900 |
| 56 | 62 | Cooper MacNeil Toni Vilander Robert Smith | Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE AM | 3'58.280 | 40.189 |
| 57 | 56 | Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Lindsey Egidio Perfetti | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 3'58.326 | 40.235 |
| 58 | 90 |  Salih Yoluc Euan Hankey Charles Eastwood | Aston Martin Vantage | LMGTE AM | 3'58.522 | 40.431 |
| 59 | 61 | Luis Perez Companc Matthew Griffin Matteo Cressoni | Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE AM | 3'58.933 | 40.842 |
| 60 | 85 | Ben Keating Jeroen Bleekemolen Felipe Fraga | Ford GT | LMGTE AM | 3'59.660 | 41.569 |
| 61 | 60 | Claudio Schiavoni Andrea Piccini Sergio Pianezzola | Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE AM | 3'59.948 | 41.857 |
| 62 | 99 | Tracy Krohn Nic Jönsson Patrick Long | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 4'00.472 | 42.381 |
| View full results | ||||||
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About this article
| Series | Le Mans |
| Event | 24 Hours of Le Mans |
| Author | Jack Cozens |
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