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Motorsport
Motorsport
Sport
Gary Watkins

Le Mans 24h: Porsche beats Ferrari in opening night practice

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.

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.

#24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 of Jimmie Johnson, Mike Rockenfeller, Jenson Button (Photo by: Alexander Trienitz)

The NASCAR Garage 56 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 lapped in 3m51.904s in this session, as its drivers ensured its lights system was in full working order.

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 - Free Practice 2 results:

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