Porsche’s Jaminet Quickest in Le Mans FP3

Photo: Charly López/DPPI

Mathieu Jaminet went quickest in the third Free Practice session for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, thanks to a late flyer in the three-hour session.

Jaminet, in the No. 5 Penske Porsche 963, laid down a 3:24.717 lap time with 35 minutes to go.

The No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R of Earl Bamber also made a late-session improvement to go second, ahead of teammate Will Stevens in the No. 12 entry, both of which came in the final five minutes.

It bumped the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Antonio Giovanzzzi, whose 3:25.705 lap time held as the quickest for the majority of the running.

Yifei Yi’s 3:26.322 lap in the third-string No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari was fifth, while Sheldon van der Linde completed the top-six in the No. 20 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8.

Felipe Nasr was seventh in the No. 4 Penske Porsche, ahead of the No. 311 Action Express Racing  Cadillac of Jack Aitken in eighth.

Wayne Taylor Racing’s Cadillac lost the majority of the session undergoing an engine change, although returned back on track in the closing moments for several installation laps.

LMP2 was led by the No. 29 TDS Racing Oreca 07 Gibson of Mathias Beche, who topped Oliver Jarvis’ No. 23 United Autosports entry in second and the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition entry of Clement Novalak.

Zach Robichon was quickest in LMGT3 in the final minutes aboard the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, ahead of Riccardo Pera’s No. 92 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

The No. 78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth was third in class.

The session featured one red flag, three Slow Zones and a Full Course Yellow.

Francois Perrodo made contact with the barriers in his No. 183 AF Corse Oreca at the Porsche Curves to bring out the red roughly halfway through the session.

Two Slow Zones preceded that, the first for the No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Thomas Flohr that went into the gravel at the Ford Chicane.

Jonas Ried, meanwhile, stuffed his No. 9 Iron Lynx – Proton Oreca into the gravel at Indianapolis for the second Slow Zone.

There was also drama for No. 37 CLX – Pure Rxcing entry of Alex Malykhin, who clipped the tire bundle at the first chicane in avoidance of a half-spun No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche of Celia Martin.

The final Slow Zone came out for a loose wheel from a LMP2 competitor.

It’s unclear the cause of the FCY, which came out in the final 30 minutes.

Hyperpole, to set the grid for Saturday’s French endurance classic, gets underway at 8 p.m. CEST (2 p.m. EST).

RESULTS: Free Practice 3

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