24 Hours of Le Mans, Free Practice 4 – Toyota finishes a perfect evening

In the wake of the first Hypercar pole in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans won by the number 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing, the fourth and final Free Practice session took place at night between 22 p.m. and midnight... with a new best time for the Japanese team.

Published on 20/08/2021 à 00:27

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24 Hours of Le Mans, Free Practice 4 – Toyota ends a perfect evening

Just crowned with the first pole position in the history of the Hypercar category, Toyota Gazoo Racing numéro 7 s’élançait dès le début des deux heures d’essais débutées avec dix minutes de retard. Mike conway signed a first reference time in 3:32.114, very far from his friend's 3:23.900 Kamui Kobayashi in Hyperpole. Kazuki Nakajima lowered this time to 3:30.363 with sister car number 8. The Japanese was the first to go below 3:30 in this session by achieving a 3:27.994. Mid-session, theAlpine Elf Matmut number 36 was more than three seconds behind the best time, while the Glickenhaus continued to save their driving time in preparation for the weekend. Andre Negro finally offered a 3:29.965 to the French team, but insufficient to take the number 8 Toyota from the top of the timesheet. Toyota number 7 completed the podium ahead of Glickenhaus number 709.

LM P2: G-Drive Racing ahead of Racing Team Nederland

In LM P2, it was the number 1 Richard Mille Racing Team driven by Dutchwoman Beitske Visser who started first. It was nevertheless the number 31 of Team WRT who set the first time in 3:33.802 under the leadership of Frenchman Charles Milesi. Other teams improved quickly with Racing Team Nederland then G-Drive Racing with a lap in 3:31.414 signed by the youngest of this edition, Franco Colapinto (18 years old). A time never beaten in this category during this session. Racing Team Nederland and United Autosports USA completed the podium for the evening. Note that the number 17 IDEC Sport did not complete a single lap this evening after going off the track at the Dunlop chicane in Hyperpole.

GTE Pro: Porsche garde la main

Surprise winner of the Hyperpole earlier in the evening, the No. 72 Porsche of Hub Auto Racing (Martin/Parente/Vanthoor) has not confirmed. During the 4^e and last free test session of these 89^e24 Hours of Le Mans, the yellow and black 911 RSR-19 settled for 5^e rank. The Porsches still ruled the roost since the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing car (McNeil/Vanthoor/Bamber) won in 3'48''246 ahead of the official No. 91 car (Bruni/Lietz/Makowiecki ). Several small mistakes prevented both Ferrari AF Corse N°51 (Pier Guidi/Calado/Ledogar) and 52 (Serra/Molina/Rigon) (escape 2nd Mulsanne chicane with 1h20 to go) to get involved in the fight. Behind the dominating Porsches, the two Corvette C8.RN No. 63 (Garcia/Taylor/Catsburg) and No. 64 (Milner/Tandy/Sims) lined up for the laps without knowing any alert. Note that only 7 of the 8 competitors in the GTE AM category took part in these 2 hours against the clock. Indeed, the Porsche 911 RSR-19 No. 92 of the GT Team (Estre/Jani/Christensen) was not able to restart after the Frenchman's exit during the Hyperpole.

GTE Am: Ferrari and Perrodo show up

In this category bringing together 23 cars, there were also some surprises. As in GTE AM, the winners of the Hyperpole did not confirm during these last laps before Saturday's Warm Up. The Ferrari 488 GTE EVO AF Corse No. 83 (Perrodo/Nielsen/Rovera) climbed to the top of the rankings (in 3'51''561) despite a short straight at the Hunaudières chicane. She is ahead of the No. 71 Ferrari of Inception Racing (Iribe/Millroy/Barnicoat). The latter, however, ended the session badly since Millroy sent her into a spin at the Ford chicane with only 15 minutes remaining. The podium is completed by the No. 99 Porsche of the German Proton Competition team (Long/Giraudi/Laser). Not all competitors took part in this final session. In fact, both Aston Martin GTE AM of TF SPORT have not left the garages.