Pla Tops Le Mans Test Day in Glickenhaus

Photo: MPS Agency

A late flyer by Olivier Pla has put Glickenhaus Racing atop the time charts in Sunday’s Le Mans test day.

The Frenchman in the No. 708 Glickenhaus 007 Pipo reeled off a 3:29.115 lap time with less than ten minutes remaining in the five-hour afternoon session held at at Circuit de la Sarthe.

Pla’s lap time, likely as a qualifying simulation run, edged out the pair of Toyota GR010 Hybrids by more than two-tenths in the debut of the Hypercar class at Le Mans.

Mike Conway recorded the second quickest lap of the day at a 3:29.340 in the No. 7 Toyota, which provisionally held as the fastest time through the majority of the session.

Teammate Kazuki Nakajima in the No. 8 Toyota made a late-session improvement to a 3:29.622, ahead of Brendon Hartley, who was quickest in the closely fought morning session.

The pair of Toyotas combined to complete 131 laps over the course of the second session, with only the No. 24 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson matching the lap count set by the pair of LMH hybrids.

The No. 36 Alpine A480 Gibson of Nico Lapierre ended up fourth quickest in LMH with a 3:30.111, with Romain Dumas in the sister Glickenhaus at best time of a 3:30.924.

All five LMH cars slotted in ahead of the LMP2 class.

LMP2 was led by the No. 48 IDEC Sport Oreca of Paul Loup Chatin, thanks to a 3:31.105 lap in the French entry, which edged out the No. 65 Panis Racing Oreca of Will Stevens by just 0.015 seconds.

Louis Deletraz was third on the class time sheets in his No. 41 Team WRT Oreca, followed by the Nos. 23 and 22 United Autosports entries.

The No. 82 Risi Competizione-entered Oreca was sixth in class ahead of the Pro-Am pace-setting No. 29 Racing Team Nederland entry in seventh among the LMP2 runners.

Porsches Dominate GTE Ranks

Kevin Estre’s 3:52.901 flyer from the morning session held as the quickest of the test day in GTE-Pro, despite the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Earl Bamber topping the afternoon session but ending up third quickest of the day.

Porsche ended the test 1-2-3 in class, with Gianmaria Bruni’s 3:52.904 time holding as the second fastest time. 

The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of James Calado was the quickest non-Porsche, just under two-tenths from Estre’s best time, while the pair of debuting Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs brought up the rear of the eight-car class.

The No. 63 Corvette returned for the final hour of the session after undergoing an engine and gearbox change following a powertrain failure in the morning when Antonio Garcia was at the wheel.

GTE-Am debutant Harry Tincknell posted the quickest time in his class aboard the No. 99 Proton Competition Porsche, outpacing the No. 56 Team Project 1 Porsche of Riccardo Pera by 0.030 seconds.

The afternoon session saw three Full Course Yellows but no red flag periods unlike the opening hours this morning.

Roberto Lacorte in the No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo stopped in the Kink to bring out the first FCY, followed by an off for the No. 57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Scott Andrews at the Porsche Curves and a spin by Bruni, also at the Porsche Curves.

All three cars did not appear to sustain any significant damage.

An unidentified LMP2 car was seen parked outside the barriers on the Mulsanne Straight in the closing minutes of the session, which only brought out a local yellow.

RESULTS: Le Mans Test Day (Combined)

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