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Autosport
Autosport
Sport
Gary Watkins

Le Mans 24 Hours: Porsche heads second practice from Ferrari

Laurens Vanthoor went quickest with just over 30 minutes of the two-hour night session remaining on Wednesday aboard his Porsche 963 LMDh to beat Ferrari driver James Calado’s mark by three tenths.

Vanthoor posted a 3m29.157s to go quickest aboard the only one of the three Porsche Penske Motorsport entries not to make it through to the Hypercar qualifying session for the double-points round of the World Endurance Championship.

That put him just seven hundredths up on Calado before he made a further improvement to get down to 3m28.878s.

Calado had been quickest with a 3m29.225s set at the start of the session.

Porsche backed up its upturn in form in the WEC by taking third position courtesy of a 3m29.307s from Dane Cameron.

Cadillac took fourth position, Earl Bamber posting a 3m29.545s to end up seven tenths off the pace aboard the Ganassi team’s full-season WEC entry with the V-Series.R LMDh.

Kamui Kobayashi jumped to fifth place in the best of the Toyota GR010 HYBRIDs right at the end of the session with a 3m29.624s.

#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez (Photo by: Alexander Trienitz)

The Jota Porsche customer team managed a series of quick times after failing to complete a flying lap in first qualifying.

Will Stevens made a late improvement on Antonio Felix da Costa’s previous best with a 3m29.784s to propel the car from eighth to sixth.

The Action Express Racing Cadillac team ended up seventh fastest after failing to make it through to Hyperpole, Jack Aitken getting down to a 3m29.846s.

Ferrari’s second 499P was eighth courtesy of a 3m30.086s from Nicklas Nielsen.

The top 10 in the Hypercar class was rounded out by Olivier Pla in the best of the Glickenhaus-Pipo 007 LMHs and Renger van der Zande in the second Ganassi-run Cadillac Racing entry.

Mirko Bortolotti jumped to the top of the order in LMP2 with just minutes left on the clock in his Prema ORECA-Gibson 07.

He posted a 3m36.863s, two tenths up on United Autosports driver Filipe Albuquerque, another late improver with a 3m37.079s.

Albuquerque beat Jota ORECA driver Pietro Fittipaldi, who had been fastest in class for much of the session, into third place.

Kessel Ferrari driver Kei Cozzolino jumped to the top of the order in GTE Am as the chequered flag was shown on the stroke of midnight.

His 3m53.796s aboard the CarGuy-backed Ferrari 488 GTE Evo beat Iron Lynx Porsche driver Alessio Picariello into second by three tenths.

The WEC cars will return to the track for three hours of free practice at 15:00 local time on Thursday, with the half-hour Hyperpole session starting at 20:00.

Le Mans 24 Hours second practice results

Cla # Drivers Car Class Time Gap
1 6 France Kevin Estre
Germany Andre Lotterer
Belgium Laurens Vanthoor
Porsche 963 Hypercar 3'28.878  
2 51 United Kingdom James Calado
Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
Italy Alessandro Pier Guidi
Ferrari 499P Hypercar 3'29.225 0.347
3 5 United States Dane Cameron
Denmark Michael Christensen
France Frédéric Makowiecki
Porsche 963 Hypercar 3'29.307 0.429
4 2 New Zealand Earl Bamber
United Kingdom Alex Lynn
United Kingdom Richard Westbrook
Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 3'29.545 0.667
5 7 United Kingdom Mike Conway
Japan Kamui Kobayashi
Argentina Jose Maria Lopez
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid Hypercar 3'29.624 0.746
6 38 Portugal Antonio Felix da Costa
United Kingdom Will Stevens
China Ye Yifei
Porsche 963 Hypercar 3'29.784 0.906
7 311 United Kingdom Jack Aitken
Brazil Pipo Derani
United Kingdom Alexander Sims
Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 3'29.846 0.968
8 50 Italy Antonio Fuoco
Spain Miguel Molina
Denmark Nicklas Nielsen
Ferrari 499P Hypercar 3'30.086 1.208
9 708 Australia Ryan Briscoe
France Romain Dumas
France Olivier Pla
Glickenhaus 007 LMH Hypercar 3'30.172 1.294
10 3 France Sébastien Bourdais
New Zealand Scott Dixon
Netherlands Renger van der Zande
Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 3'30.238 1.360
11 8 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi
New Zealand Brendon Hartley
Japan Ryo Hirakawa
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid Hypercar 3'30.500 1.622
12 75 France Mathieu Jaminet
Brazil Felipe Nasr
United Kingdom Nick Tandy
Porsche 963 Hypercar 3'30.740 1.862
13 94 France Loic Duval
United States Gustavo Menezes
Switzerland Nico Müller
Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar 3'30.800 1.922
14 93 United Kingdom Paul di Resta
Denmark Mikkel Jensen
France Jean-Eric Vergne
Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar 3'30.823 1.945
15 709 France Nathanael Berthon
Mexico Esteban Gutierrez
France Franck Mailleux
Glickenhaus 007 LMH Hypercar 3'31.196 2.318
16 4 France Tom Dillmann
Argentina Esteban Guerrieri
France Tristan Vautier
Vanwall Vandervell 680 Hypercar 3'35.147 6.269
17 63 Italy Mirko Bortolotti
Russian Federation Daniil Kvyat
France Doriane Pin
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'36.863 7.985
18 22 Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
United Kingdom Philip Hanson
United Kingdom Frederick Lubin
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'37.079 8.201
19 28 Brazil Pietro Fittipaldi
Denmark David Heinemeier Hansson
Denmark Oliver Rasmussen
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'37.855 8.977
20 23 United Kingdom Tom Blomqvist
United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
United States Josh Pierson
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.153 9.275
21 43 Belgium Maxime Martin
Belgium Tom Van Rompuy
Belgium Ugo de Wilde
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.275 9.397
22 14 Switzerland Mathias Beche
United Kingdom Ben Hanley
United States Rodrigo Sales
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.330 9.452
23 34 Spain Albert Costa
Switzerland Fabio Scherer
Poland Jakub Smiechowski
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.399 9.521
24 9 United States Juan Manuel Correa
Romania Filip Ugran
Netherlands Bent Viscaal
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.890 10.012
25 923 United Kingdom Tom Gamble
Belgium Dries Vanthoor
Turkey Salih Yoluc
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'39.036 10.158
26 36 France Julien Canal
France Charles Milesi
France Matthieu Vaxiviere
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'39.450 10.572
27 37 Switzerland Alexandre Coigny
Denmark Malthe Jakobsen
France Nicolas Lapierre
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'39.507 10.629
28 65 Netherlands Tijmen van der Helm
Venezuela Manuel Maldonado
Netherlands Job Van Uitert
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'39.797 10.919
29 31 Netherlands Robin Frijns
Indonesia Sean Gelael
Austria Ferdinand Habsburg
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'39.818 10.940
30 45 Australia James Allen
United States Colin Braun
United States George Kurtz
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'40.185 11.307
31 47 France Reshad de Gerus
Russian Federation Vlad Lomko
France Simon Pagenaud
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'40.221 11.343
32 30 Austria Rene Binder
Switzerland Neel Jani
Chile Nicolas Pino
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'40.272 11.394
33 39 Netherlands Giedo van der Garde
Italy Roberto Lacorte
France Patrick Pilet
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'40.361 11.483
34 35 United Kingdom Olli Caldwell
Brazil Andre Negrao
Mexico Memo Rojas
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'41.018 12.140
35 41 Portugal Rui Andrade
Switzerland Louis Deletraz
Poland Robert Kubica
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'41.074 12.196
36 48 France Paul-Loup Chatin
Germany Laurents Hörr
France Paul Lafargue
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'41.301 12.423
37 10 France Gabriel Aubry
Ireland Ryan Cullen
Liechtenstein Matthias Kaiser
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'41.678 12.800
38 32 Denmark Anders Fjordbach
United States Mark Kvamme
Denmark Jan Magnussen
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'42.133 13.255
39 80 United Kingdom Ben Barnicoat
France Norman Nato
France François Perrodo
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'43.191 14.313
40 24 United Kingdom Jenson Button
United States Jimmie Johnson
Germany Mike Rockenfeller
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 INNOVATIVE CAR 3'51.904 23.026
41 74 Japan Kei Cozzolino
Japan Yorikatsu Tsujiko
Japan Naoki Yokomizo
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'53.796 24.918
42 60 Italy Matteo Cressoni
Belgium Alessio Picariello
Italy Claudio Schiavoni
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'54.080 25.202
43 56 Italy Matteo Cairoli
United States PJ Hyett
United States Gunnar Jeannette
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'54.172 25.294
44 54 Italy Francesco Castellacci
Switzerland Thomas Flohr
Italy Davide Rigon
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'54.585 25.707
45 77 France Julien Andlauer
Germany Christian Ried
Mikkel Pedersen
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'54.639 25.761
46 85 Belgium Sarah Bovy
Switzerland Rahel Frey
Denmark Michelle Gatting
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'54.753 25.875
47 33 Netherlands Nick Catsburg
United States Ben Keating
Argentina Nicolás Varrone
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R LMGTE AM 3'54.764 25.886
48 57 United States Scott Huffaker
Japan Takeshi Kimura
Brazil Daniel Serra
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'54.792 25.914
49 83 Argentina Luis Perez Companc
Italy Alessio Rovera
France Lilou Wadoux
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'54.896 26.018
50 88 Germany Jonas Ried
United Kingdom Harry Tincknell
United States Don Yount
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'55.075 26.197
51 911 Germany Michael Fassbender
Austria Richard Lietz
Estonia Martin Rump
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'55.191 26.313
52 100 Indonesia Andrew Haryanto
United States Chandler Hull
United States Jeff Segal
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'55.241 26.363
53 98 United Kingdom Ian James
Italy Daniel Mancinelli
Spain Alex Riberas
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'55.831 26.953
54 25 United Kingdom Ahmad Al Harthy
United States Michael Dinan
Ireland Charles Eastwood
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'56.219 27.341
55 86 United Kingdom Benjamin Barker
Italy Riccardo Pera
United Kingdom Michael Wainwright
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'56.371 27.493
56 21 France Simon Mann
Belgium Ulysse De Pauw
France Julien Piguet
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'56.616 27.738
57 72 France Valentin Hasse-Clot
Arnold Robin
Maxime Robin
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'56.753 27.875
58 55 Denmark Gustav Birch
Denmark Jens Reno Moller
Denmark Marco Sorensen
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'57.220 28.342
59 16 United States Ryan Hardwick
Belgium Jan Heylen
Canada Zacharie Robichon
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'57.803 28.925
60 66 France Thomas Neubauer
Italy Giacomo Petrobelli
Louis Prette
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'58.307 29.429
61 13 Germany René Rast
United States Ricky Taylor
United States Thomas Steven
Oreca 07 LMP2    
62 777 Japan Tomonobu Fujii
Japan Satoshi Hoshino
United Kingdom Casper Stevenson
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM    
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