Bourdais Puts JOTA Cadillac on Top in Le Mans FP1

Photo: Fabrizio Boldoni/DPPI

Sebastien Bourdais put Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA on top of the time charts in the first Free Practice session for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Frenchman recorded a fast lap of 3:25.148 in the final 40 minutes of the three-hour session, which was halted twice by red flags along with several Full Course Yellows.

Bourdais, in the No. 38 Cadillac V-Series.R, was 0.154 seconds quicker than the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco, whose 3:25.302 benchmark held for the majority of the running.

Kevin Estre slotted in third aboard the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963, whose lap was record during the second hour following the first stoppage for Stephen Grove’s wrecked No. 63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo at Dunlop.

Grove was evaluated and released from the medical center although the car saw no further action in the session.

The second red came ten minutes after the resumption of track action due to debris and resulted in a quick restart.

Brendon Hartley was fourth quickest in the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, in a lap, like Fuoco, was set at the start of the session.

Julien Andlauer completed the top-five in the No. 5 Penske Porsche, followed by a late improvement from Will Stevens in the second JOTA Cadillac.

Felipe Nasr appeared likely to set the quickest lap of the session on his final flying lap in the No. 4 Penske Porsche but instead elected to pit, ending the session with the seventh best time.

The No. 15 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 of Dries Vanthoor, along with Alpine’s Paul-Loup Chatin and Proton Competition Porsche driver Neel Jani, all made last-minute improvements to complete the overall top-ten in Hypercar.

LMP2 was led by the No. 16 RLR M Sport Oreca 07 Gibson of Patrick Pilet, who reeled off a 3:38.888 lap time in the opening stages of the session.

The No. 43 Inter Europol Competition and No. 45 Algarve Pro Racing Orecas were second and third quickest, respectively.

The No. 78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth topped LMGT3, thanks to a 3:57.248 lap that was set in the opening hour.

Davide Rigon was second quickest in the No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, followed by a late improvement from Valentin Hasse-Clot in the No. 10 Racing Spirt of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

In addition to the two reds, a FCY came out early for the No. 24 Nielsen Racing Oreca of Colin Braun, who spun into the gravel at Arnage.

It was followed by a Slow Zone for Custodio Toledo in the No. 150 AF Corse Ferrari, which stopped into the gravel trap at Dunlop.

The car was later assessed a five-minute stop-and-hold penalty for Toledo having five track limits infractions.

A second FCY was called for debris prior to the two red flag stoppages.

Next up is first qualifying, which gets underway at 6:45 p.m. CEST (12:45 p.m. EST) for LMP2 and LMGT3, with Hypercar on track at 7:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. EST).

RESULTS: Free Practice 1

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John