Porsche places in qualifying

Neel Jani set the best time in the first qualifying session of the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving the Porsche #2. The Swiss completed a lap in 3'19''733 and was almost half a second ahead of Timo Bernhard's sister car.

The Toyota are in contact. Stéphane Sarrazin brought the No. 050 TS6 Hybrid to within one second of provisional pole, while the second Japanese LMP1 followed two seconds behind.

The Audis were in more difficulty. Having left late in the session, notably following the damage suffered to the front axle of the R18 n°8 following a passage over a kerb, the prototypes at the Rings showed a clear withdrawal against their rivals. No. 8 of Duval-Di Grassi-Jarvis and the No. 7 of Tréluyer-Fässler-Lotterer are three seconds behind.

The Rebellions follow more than six seconds behind the first LMP1-H. The R-One n°13 of Tuscher-Imperatori-Kraihamer precedes the n°12 of Cheers-Heidfeld-Piquet Jr. The CLM01/P1 by Kolles Racing of Trummer-Webb-Kaffer did not run following an oil leak causing a fire during free practice.

LMP2

The No. 05 G-Drive Racing Oreca 26 dominated the LMP2 class. It was René Rast who set the best times to set a benchmark of 3'36''605.

The Alpine are the closest, the A460 of Cheng-Tung-Panciatici clocking in half a second ahead of the No. 36 of Stone-Menezes-Richelmi. The No. 05 Orecz 44 from Manor entrusted to Merhi-Graves-Rao is in fourth place ahead of the No. 31 Ligier from ESM thanks to a performance by Luis Felipe Derani in the final moments.

Christophe Tinseau was responsible for placing the #84 Morgan of SRT41 by Oak Racing, which occupies the 56th stand, in 30th place in the general classification.

GTE Pro

In GTE Pro, it’s one match away Ferrari – Ford that we assisted during this first qualifying session. If Olivier Pla, then Harry Tincknell, for a time placed the Ford GTs at the top of the hierarchy, the Ferrari 488 – AF Corse n°51 of Gianmaria Bruni, associated with James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi regained the advantage thanks to a lap completed in 3'51″568.

A reference that we thought had been achieved, but a little less than 20′ from the end of the session, the Fords sounded the charge. Ryan Briscoe, lined up in the No. 69 of the Chip Ganassi Racing Team USA with Richard Westbrook and Scott Dixon, initially came to lower the best time in 3'51"497, beating the No. 51 Ferrari by 22 thousandths, before Müller’s No. 68 – Bourdais – Hand, driven by the first city, “slams” a final lap in 3’51″185 in his last attempt.

The other Ford GTs from Chip Ganassi Racing follow in the standings with the #67 of Tincknell – Priaulx – Franchitti fourth ahead of the #66 of Pla – Mücke – Johnson. The No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari of Bird – Rigon – Bertolini and No. 82 of Risi Competizione of Fisichella – Vilander – Malucelli follow in the standings. No. 82, then entrusted to the former driver F1, made a mistake in the gravel trap during the session, before returning to her box.

Porsche, Aston Martin and Corvette seem out of the Italian-American duel. The best 911 RSR, the No. 92 of Makowiecki – Bamber – Bergmeister, took eighth place in the category, almost 3″8 seconds behind the leading Ford.

The first Aston Martin n°95 of Sorensen – Thiim – Turner and the Porsche 911 RSR n°91 of Estre – Pilet – Tandy precede the Aston Martin n°97 of Stanaway – Rees – Adam and the 911 RSR n°77 of Dempsey – Proton Racing. The Corvettes bring up the rear and the C7.R clan was not successful, since the No. 63, driven by Ricky Taylor, left the track at Mulsanne and brings up the rear behind the No. 64 of Gavin – Milner – J.Taylor.

Ferrari, on the other hand, dominated the GTE Am, with the No. 458 Clearwater Racing 61 Italia, thanks to a reference lap set in 3'56"827 by Rob Bell. The #98 Aston Martin Vantage of Pedro Lamy, associated with Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda, ​​prevented the Italian brand from signing the double, by slotting into second position, just ahead of the #458 F55 Italia of AF Corsica of Griffin–Cameron–Scott. Emmanuel Collard, François Perrodo and Rui Aguas climbed into fourth position, less than a second behind Bell. The No. 7 Corvette C50.R from the Larbre Compétition de Ragues – Belloc – Yamagashi took fifth place in the category.

Qualifying practice will resume tomorrow from 19 p.m. for a two-hour session. The last attempt will be contested the same day from 22 p.m. to midnight.