24H. Le Mans – EL1: Toyota ahead of Glickenhaus, problem for Alpine

The first three hours of Free Practice 24 Hours of Le Mans were lively with numerous off-track events or technical problems: Ultimate, Alpine, Vector Sport, Nielsen Racing and even WRT all experienced problems during this session, concluded just two hours before qualifying. Long dominated by Glickenhaus, this driving session finally saw Brendon Hartley sign the best time twenty minutes from the end. The New Zealander set the benchmark in 3:29.441 ahead of Frenchman Franck Mailleux n 3:29.917 on the Glickenhaus n°709 and Pipo Derani on the 708 in 3:20.102. For Alpine, it was a complicated session with a return to the pits at very low speed with an hour to go for Matthieu Vaxiviere. The French team finished this session in seventh place in the general classification, 2.634 behind Hartley.

L’écurie United Autosports s’est montrée la plus rapide de la catégorie LM P2 avec la n°23. Alex Lynn a bouclé son tour le plus rapide en 3:30.238 devant l’Oreca 07-Gibson n°38 de Jota à plus d’une seconde ! Le Britannique a même devancé la Toyota n°7 au classement général avec ce chrono. Le podium de cette classe a été complété par la Prema n°9 en 3:31.881.

Corvette still in good shape

Corvette confirmed its domination of Test Day by taking a double in LMGTE Pro. Antonio Garcia was the fastest in 3:53.250 on the C8.R. Tommy Milner finished second, just 0.110 seconds behind. THE Boys ont repoussé la troisième voiture, la Porsche n°91 de Gianmaria Bruni, à 0.831 seconde. L’AF Corse n°51 d’Alessandro Pier Guidi, Daniel Serra et James Calado n’a pris la piste qu’à moins de trente minutes du terme après avoir été obligée de changer de moteur.

Julien Andlauer was fastest in the LMGTE Am category in 3:55.082 in the No. 911 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 19 RSR – 79. He beat another Porsche, the #86 of GR Racing by 0.859 seconds. L'Aston Martin TF Sport's #33 Vantage AMR completed the podium at 0.915 seconds.

Next session, qualifying at 19 p.m. The six best in each category will qualify for the Hyperpole, which will take place on Thursday at 19 p.m.

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