Toyota will cross FP1 during an eventful session

In the first free practice, there were very small differences between the three Hypercar teams: both Toyota and Alpine made their fastest lap times in the same tenth (3.29.3). Both Glickenhaus hypertakes were a little behind in the session, but they have already shown last weekend that they can elevate their game to the level of their other two competitors.

At LMP2, United Autosport reaffirmed its excellent momentum (3.29,441) and reaffirmed the idea that Oreca 07 could win the overall win next Sunday.

The session was marked in red for nearly twenty minutes and an hour left when Antonio Fuoco # 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo and Antonio Felix da Costa contacted # 28 Jota Oreca 07 Gibson in Tertre Rouge. Both drivers left their cars undamaged.

“I know Antonio well,” Da Costa said during the session. “It was just a misunderstanding. I’m sorry about our team. At least the damage is limited.”

In the Hypercar class, Kazuki Nakajima’s # 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR10 Hybrid quickly set the fastest lap time (3.29,396) early in the session. He stayed on top of schedules for almost 2 hours. He then dropped two places in the rankings, with Nicolas Lapierre in # 36 Alpine Elf Matmut A480 Gibson reaching 3.29,395 and Jose Maria Lopez # 7 in Toyota Gazoo Racing GR10 grabbing 3.29,309.

LMP2

In LMP2 30 minutes after the session, Phil Hanson # 22 at United Autosport Oreca 07 Gibson drove the first 3.30 lap time of the race week (3.29,441). He would not be challenged until the checkered flag.

# 26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01 Gibson, shared by Roman Rusinov, Franco Colapinto and Nick de Vries, finished second, nearly seven-tenths after the fastest LMP2 (3.30,094). # 28 The Oreca 07 Gibson, driven by Sean Gelael, Stoffel Vandoorne and Tom Blomqvist, was third fastest (3.30,629).

Further afield in the LMP2 series, Marco Sorensen’s # 20 High Class Racing in the Oreca 07 Gibson race took off the lap before Hurricane Dunlop, crashed into a tire wall and damaged the right front end of his car. He returned to the wells for repair, which took nearly 75 minutes.

This was the first of several events in the class: # 74 Racing Team India Eurasia Ligier JSP217 Gibson and # 29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca left at the same time in Dunlop’s Chicane gravel trap – there was no connection between the two cars.

During the second hour, # 29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca 07 Gibson lost a significant amount of fluid on the track. The car had to be repaired before it could continue testing.

# 34 Competition between Europol Oreca 07 Gibson also spent a lot of time in his pit considering the car’s alternator.

Finally, in the last hour, # 21 Dragonspeed Oreca 07, driven by Juan Pablo Montoya, left Indianapolis. The car was returned to the wells with a flat bed with a broken wheel when the session was placed completely yellow.

GTE-Pro

Placing a qualifier 90 minutes after the end of today’s first practice is a tricky challenge for team leaders. In addition to some drivers putting the cars in the qualifiers and eventually deciding on the grid location early on, they had to complete installation rounds: Sam Bird, for example, replaced the injured Davide Rigon in a # 52 AF Corse Ferrari. However, the British driver did not recall much of his previous experience with the car, but he brought the class lead 3: 50,614 in the second hour, and teammate Alessandro Pier Guidi followed in a tenth to destroy the GTE-Pro Porsches. put the leading mark during the first hour.

The introduction of the Corvettes C8.R in Le Mans began a little tentatively. The # 64 car lay in 3: 52.3s, while the # 63 car slowed and faltered on the track before settling in the middle of 3: 52.6s, both mixing it with the leading GTE-Ams. Nick Tandy jumped on board the # 64 car during the deadly minutes, but hit 3: 50,163 in the class-leading movement. However, Daniel Serras # 52 AF Corse Ferrari saw the challenge of the 2015 winners.

This late pace performance promises good for the upcoming 1-hour qualifier, Gianmaria Bruni presented Porsches ’potential by going third 3: 50,488 when the stop / start session ended.

GTE-Am

The track temperature was significantly cooler than expected at this time of year, however, Matteo Cairoli opened Porsches ’offers early so they could lead the overall GTE schedule to the last minutes. More than half a second ahead of the leading GTE-Pro times, 3: 50,193 was Team Project 1s Porsche 911 RSR-19, which was the best 3 seconds of the test day’s GTE overall result — and the fastest free practice or qualifying round ever around La Sarthe.

Ben Barker supplanted Dempsey Proton Racings # 88 with Porsche second at 3: 51.326 in the final 30 minutes in the class with a Porsche 1-2-3, Kessel Racings Ferrari with a tenth in fourth.
Tom Ferrier, the principle of the team that won the TF Sport race in recent years, gave some idea of ​​3: 51.224, where his Aston Martin would be entangled behind Kessel Ferrari: It’s a small compromise in preparing the car for qualifying and letting all the guys have time to drive. However, what we drive in the qualifiers is largely what we drive to the race.

Antonio Fuocos mixes with # 38 Jota with Oreca in Tertre Rouge, which means major repairs threaten Cetilar Racing Ferrari’s role in the qualifiers and continue the team’s bad luck after Monza.

Warning periods disrupted the end of the three-hour session, # 60 Iron Lynx and # 46 Project 1 Porsche-guilty GTE-Am parties as gravel traps were found in Mulsanne Corner and Porsche Curves.

2021 Le Mans 24 Hour FP1