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24H. Le Mans – FP3: The No.7 Toyota dominates the final dress rehearsal before the Hyperpole

Without much surprise, Toyota placed its two cars at the head of the final free practice session before the Hyperpole this Thursday at 20:00 p.m. The GR010 N°7 was ahead of the N°8 and the Glickenhaus 007 N°708.

Published on 09/06/2022 à 18:18

Gonzalo Forbes

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24H. Le Mans – FP3: The No.7 Toyota dominates the final dress rehearsal before the Hyperpole

Thanks to Kamui Kobayashi, the No.7 Toyota dominated FP3 of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. ©DPPI/F. Le Floc’h

This third and final free practice session before the Hyperpole was not very lively on the track, time-wise. If the best time of the week, held by Olivier Pla on Glickenhaus 007 No. 700 in 3'28"900, was certainly beaten by more than 2 seconds, it was mainly the accidents which scratched these EL3s.

C’est d’abord l’Oreca 07 N°13 du Team TDS Racing X Vaillante qui s’est illustrée avec la première neutralisation de la séance d’essais libres. Aux commandes de la LM P2 de l’écurie héraultaise, Philippe Cimadomo a terminé sa course dans le mur de béton au niveau des Esses Porsche. En tentant de dépasser une GT, il a percuté la WRT N°31 et n’a pas pu échapper au pire.

Sébastien Page on the Oreca No. 39 of Graff Racing was the 2e driver to have experienced a mishap during these EL3. He lost control of his mount leaving Indianapolis and hit the safety rails on the left side of the track.

Toyota ensures

Comme prévu, c’est Toyota qui s’est illustré au niveau des chronos en plaçant ses 2 GR010 en tête de la feuille des temps. La N°7 a devancé la voiture sœur (N°8) grâce à Kamui Kobayashi. The Japanese made a better passage in 3'26"796 thus relegating Brendon Hartley on the No. 8 by a little more than 3 tenths. Glickenhaus 007 No. 708 completed the Top 3 by almost 7 tenths.

Alpine for its part still fails to get closer to the lead car. Despite increased power with 11 MJ of energy regained to reach 785 MJ, the A480 No. 36 could not do better than 5th of the Hypercars, more than 2 from the Toyota GR4 No. 010. At this rate, it seems difficult to seek pole position this Thursday evening unless the authorities decide to adjust the BoP again. 

In LM P2, United Autosports also achieved a double with its No. 22 and No. 23 Oreca, the former finishing in the lead with a lap in 3'30″964. On the line, it was only ahead of its sister car by 61 thousandths and the No. 31 WRT by 66! Enough to glimpse a very tight Hyperpole in the category.

Eliminated from the race at the Hyperpole, the No. 37 of COOL Racing finished on the outskirts of the Top 3 thanks to a best lap of 3'32"057 signed by Ricky Taylor.

Corvettes in control in GTE Pro, Porsche in Am

In LM GTE Pro, it is difficult to form an opinion on the order of the classification as the Ferrari finished far from the Porsches and especially the Corvettes. The first 488 GTE EVO in the category standings, the No. 52 finished 5th, more than a second behind the No. 64 Corvette which clocked a time of 2'52″307. It remains to be seen whether the AF Corse machines hide their game to win their case with the BoP.

 

In Am, the No. 46 Porsche of Team Project 1 took the peloton ahead of theAston Martin No. 33 from TF Sport and the No. 99 Porsche from Hardpoint Motorsport.

ALSO READ > The program for the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022

Gonzalo Forbes

In charge of promotion formulas (F2, F3, FRECA, F4...). Carried by the grace of Franco Colapinto.

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