24 Hours of Le Mans – Test Day, Afternoon: The Aston Martin Valkyrie Surprise

Tom Gamble caused a surprise this Sunday afternoon by dominating the second half of the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans Test Day at the wheel of the No. 007 Aston Martin Valkyrie.

The test day of the 94th edition of 24 Hours of Le Mans concluded this Sunday under a generous sun in Sarthe, with a fine performance from theAston Martin Valkyrie in Hypercar form.

It was the No. 007 Aston Martin THOR Team of Tom Gamble, Harry Tincknell and Ross Gunn that set the fastest time of the afternoon, with the first-named clocking a 3:26.293 on soft tires.

La Toyota No. 8 of Sébastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley, after his morning accident with the No. 25 Oreca 07 of Algarve Pro Racing, recovered well with the second fastest time (3:26.827) on medium tires, ahead of the No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA of Norman Nato, Louis Delétraz and Will Stevens (3:26.853).

Both Alpine A424 completes the top 5, with the nº35 of António Félix da Costa, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi ahead of the nº36 of Jules Gounon, Frédéric Makowiecki and Victor Martins. The first Classic Ferrari for sale, the No. 51 of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi, is in ninth place, despite Pier Guidi going off the track at Indianapolis.

In terms of distance, the BMW No. 15 of Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello and Kevin Magnussen distinguished herself with 87 laps completed throughout the day.

Van Uitert does the job in LMP2

In LMP2, it was Job van Uitert in the No. 28 Oreca of IDEC Sport who set the fastest time (3:35.344), alone with Matthias Beche (TDS Racing, 3:35.519) to go under the 3:36 mark.

Matthieu Vaxivière (AF Corse) completed the podium in the category. The session was marked by numerous five-minute stop-and-go penalties for exceeding track limits.

The official driver Porsche Laurens Vanthoor has completed his first laps with United Autosports, allowing him to be ready in case he needs to replace a driver for the Anglo-American team.

LMGT3: Ferrari ahead by a hair

In LMGT3, the Ferrari 296 GT3 The Vista AF Corse Evo #54 topped the timesheets with a 3:56.646 set by Francesco Castellacci. With 43 laps completed, it was also the most active car in its category that afternoon.

The Manthey DK Engineering Porsche 911 GT3 R No. 91 driven by Timur Boguslavskiy was separated by only one hundredth (3:56.655), ahead of the TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R No. 33 driven by Jonny Edgar (3:56.885).

The race week of the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans officially begins on Wednesday at 14:00 PM with the first free practice session.

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24 Hours of Le Mans 2026 – Test Day
The afternoon ranking