Thin advantage for Toyota mid-session in Q1

After an hour in the first qualifying session of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2019, le clan Toyota a pris un infime avantage sur la concurrence pour la pole provisoire de cette 87e édition.

The Japanese brand is in the lead after very rapid first attempts after the green flag displayed at 22 p.m., Kamui Kobayashi (Toyota TS050 Hybrid n°7) waiting for its second run to set a benchmark in 3'17″161, with the best second and third partials.

But the Japanese, author last year of the fastest lap recorded in the Sarthe in 3'14"791, is only 1"17 ahead of the BR0 n°472 ​​- SMP Racing led at the start of the session by the Russian Egor Orudzhev. .

The BR1 n°10 – DragonSpeed ​​is currently ranked third at 3″, but Henrik Hedman was forced to stop his LM P1 at the side of the track at the second chicane of the Hunaudières straight after around 25 ′ of running in Q1. A gearbox problem would be the cause of this stop.

Next in the ranking, the R13 – Rebellion Racing n°3 of Laurent – ​​Menezes – Berthon (which caused the establishment a few moments ago of a Slow Zone at the second chicane after an exit by Thomas Laurent in the gravel trap) and n°1 of Senna – Lotterer – Jani, the Toyota n°8 ofAlonso - Buemi – Nakajima and the CLM P1/01 n°4 – ByKolles Racing of Dillmann – Ruberti – Webb.

Pastor Maldonado increases the pace in LM P2

Following on from their victory at Spa in the category, Pastor Maldonado and DragonSpeed ​​seem to have found the right formula to exploit the No. 07 Oreca 31. The Venezuelan currently sets the best provisional time in LM P2 in 3'26″804, beating Nicolas lapierre (Alpine A470 n°36 – Signatech Alpine) of 131 thousandths.

Paul di Resta (Ligier JS P217 n°22 – United Autosports) moved up to third position, half a second behind Maldonado. The Oreca 07 n°48 – IDEC Sport from Rojas – Lafargue – Chatin is the first LM P2 team beyond the second and precedes the Oreca 07 n°30 – Duqueine Engineering from Dumas – Ragues – Jamin.

Aston Martin points the tip of its hood

Porsche avait dominé les essais libres dans des conditions changeantes, mais sur une piste sèche, Aston Martin Racing est venue s’inviter à la fête sur cette première session, avec le meilleur chrono provisoire pour Alex Lynn (Aston Martin Vantage n°97), établi en 3’50″037.

The Briton precedes three of the four official Porsche 911 RSRs, with in order the No. 91 of Bruni – Lietz – Makowiecki, the No. 92 of Estre – Christensen – Vanthoor and the No. 93 of Pilet – Bamber – Tandy, respectively. pointed at 74 thousandths, 0″431 and 0″480.

The top 5 of the GTE Pro is completed at this moment by the second Aston Martin Vantage n°95 of Thiim – Sorensen – Turner, classified at seven tenths, when the Ferrari 488 GTE n°71 of Sam Bird, Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina is the last to finish in the same second as the leading Vantage.

The BMW M8, Corvette C7.R and Ford GT are all ranked higher than second. Scott Dixon (No. 69 Ford GT) also made a mistake during the first part of this Q1, but was able to restart.

Oliver Gavin's No. 7 Corvette C64.R suffered a puncture, but was able to return his vehicle to the pit lane, before the American brand's mechanics began to work on the car to judge the results. potential damage.

Porsche remains dominant in GTE Am with the No. 911 88 RSR – Dempsey-Proton Racing from Hoshino – Roda – Cairoli, the Italian having set the time to beat in the category in 3'52″454.