Le Mans Qualifying Practice – Rain, Red Flag and Racing

Record book running starts tomorrow. Click to Enlarge.

It’s not surprising here that weather played a factor in today’s qualifying practice session at LeMans. Nor is it surprising here that Kamui Kobayashi set the pace 3m27.247s in the hour-long session. However, real record-book racing starts tomorrow. The No.7 Toyota Gazoo Racing driver set his fastest lap in the dry first 30-minutes of the session before a red flag and then pouring rain nullified affected any improvements in Hypercar or any other class.

Olivier Pla set the second fastest time at 3m27.355s in a Glickenhaus 007LMH cars.  The Frenchman was just 0.108s off Kobayashi’s best pace. The No.8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010-Hybrid Hypercar only complted one dry lap after repairs to the right rear of the car were made suring the dry first part of the session.the Alpine ELF Team end session fourth with a 3m29.656s best.

Hollywood actor Michael Fassbender crashed severely under braking for first Mulsanne Chicane, but apparently emerged physically unhurt. In the LMGTE Pro class, Laurens Vanthoor was fastest on a 3m50.999s in No.92 Porsche 911 RSR-19. However, Vanthoor’s lap beat the No.63 Corvette Racing car by just 0.133s. The  No.91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 placed third at 3m51.352s set by Frederic Makowiecki.  Corvette was fourth with No.64 driven by Nick Tandy was within 0.109s of third placed Porsche. AF Corse Ferrari was fifth and sixth with No.52 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo heading the sister No.51 car, which was repaired in free practice after technical issues

LMP2

WRT’s Robin Frijns and teammates Rene Rast and Sean Gelael look to make it back-to-back WEC victories, while Frijns aims for second consecutive Le Mans LMP2 triumph. The Dutchman at  3m29.898s lap was quickest and had the only lap to go below 3m30s. Antonio Felix da Costa trailed by just 0.026s.  Norman Nato in the Realteam by WRT was third. United Autosports No.23 and No.22 cars are fourth and fifth respectively

LMGTE Am  

Nikki Thiim’s 3m52.559s ensures that the Northwest AMR head the 23-car LMGTE Am field.  No.57 Kessel Racing Ferrari place second as future Peugeot Hypercar driver Mikkel Jensen laps just under a second away from the Aston Martin. The No.54 AF Corse Ferrari was third with Nick Cassidy setting quickest lap, ahead of Iron Dames Ferrari.