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24H Le Mans

Kobayashi Quickest in FP3 Ahead of Hyperpole

Toyota 1-2 in final practice prior to Hyperpole for 24 Hours of Le Mans…

Photo: Toyota

The No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Kamui Kobayashi led the way in Free Practice 3 at Le Mans in the final session prior to tonight’s Hyperpole at Circuit de la Sarthe.

Kobayashi reeled off a 3:26.796 lap early in the three-hour session, which was delayed by ten minutes and saw a red flag for a heavy accident by a LMP2 car.

The four-time Le Mans pole winner’s time edged out Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Brendon Hartley by 0.319 seconds, whose time was also set in the first ten minutes of the session in qualifying simulation runs.

It wasn’t clear sailing for Toyota, however, with the No. 8 car slowing in the hands of Ryo Hirakawa prior to a lengthy trip to the garage with an electrical issue.

The pair of Glickenhaus 007 Pipos were third and fourth on the time charts, followed by the No. 36 Alpine A480 Gibson, which received a Balance of Performance break just prior to FP3.

Nico Lapierre, however, slowed on track in the closing stages of the session while stuck in gear.

LMP2 was paced by the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson of Filipe Albuquerque, who edged out teammate Alex Lynn in times that were set in the closing minutes of the session.

The No. 31 WRT Oreca of Robin Frijns, who set a benchmark 3:31.030 lap time, dropped to third in class followed by the No. 38 JOTA entry and No. 41 Realteam by WRT Oreca, which completed the top-five.

Corvette Racing paced GTE-Pro with the No. 64 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Nick Tandy edging out the No. 91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Richard Lietz. 

Antonio Garcia made a late improvement to put the No. 63 Corvette third in class, meanwhile.

The No. 46 Team Project 1 Porsche, meanwhile, led the way in GTE-Am in the hands of Mikkel O. Pedersen.

The session saw multiple incidents, including spins by Brendon Iribe and Rolf Ineichen prior to an off by the No. 30 Duqueine Team Oreca of Reshad De Gerus at Indianapolis.

The biggest hit came from Philippe Cimadimo, who slammed into the barriers at Porsche Curves in the No. 13 TDS Racing x Vaillante entry after contact with the No. 31 WRT Oreca of Sean Gelael.

It resulted in a red flag period to retrieve the car and complete barrier repairs, with the car reported by Radio Le Mans to have sustained tub damage. Cimadimo escaped serious injury in the crash.

Another LMP2 car found trouble just ten minutes after the session’s restart, with Sebastien Page into the barriers at Indianapolis in the No. 39 Graff Racing Oreca.

Alexander West, meanwhile, crashed with the No. 59 Garage 59-run Inception Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo at the Ford Chicane with less than two minutes left on the clock.

Hyperpole, to set the grid at the top of each class, gets underway at 8 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET).

RESULTS: Free Practice 3

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

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