Toyota Leads Ferrari as Le Mans Test Day Concludes

Toyota ended the 24 Hours of Le Mans test day on top of the timesheets, as Brendon Hartley set the fastest time in the afternoon session to outpace the best of the Ferraris.

Hartley set the benchmark of 3:26.246 at the very beginning of the three-hour session at the wheel of the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, immediately surpassing the best time from the morning session, set by AF Corse Ferrari driver Robert Kubica.

The New Zealander’s time proved good enough to top the session by 0.531 seconds from the works No. 51 Ferrari 499P of James Calado, who likewise set his best time in the early stages.

Kubica was third-fastest in the No. 83 Ferrari on a 3:26.902, marginally faster than his chart-topping morning effort.

Alpine emerged as best of the LMDh manufacturers as Mick Schumacher went fourth-fastest in the French marque’s No. 36 entry, 1.067 seconds off the pace, ahead of a pair of Porsche Penske Motorsport cars.

The No. 6 Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre was fifth-fastest ahead of Nick Tandy in the third-string No. 4 car.

Cadillac’s top representative, the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA car, was ninth-fastest with Alex Lynn at the wheel, behind the No. 50 Ferrari of Miguel Molina and the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid in which Robin Frijns set the best time.

The No. 20 BMW caused one of three red flags in the session when Sheldon van der Linde stopped in the runoff at the Porsche Curves at the end of the second hour, with the car being taken back to the pits and not reappearing for the rest of the session.

The second stoppage came with 38 minutes left on the clock when the No. 11 Proton Competition Oreca of Giorgio Roda crashed approaching Indianapolis, causing damage to the barriers that led to a 24-minute delay.

A third and final red flag was caused with five minutes to go as Brenton Grove went off exiting the Porsche Curves in the No. 63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Fastest in LMP2 was the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson of Pietro Fittipaldi on a 3:35.770, surpassing the benchmark from the morning session by more than a second.

Mathias Beche was second in class aboard the No. 29 TDS Racing Oreca, and best of the Pro-Am cars, a little under half a second slower than Fittipaldi, followed by Louis Deletraz in the No. 199 AO by TF machine.

Akkodis ASP swept the board in LMGT3 as the No. 87 Lexus RC F GT3 set the pace, again courtesy of Jose Maria Lopez.

The Argentine’s best time of 3:55.276 was almost two seconds faster than his own benchmark in the morning session.

Alessio Rovera led a 2-3 for Ferrari in the No. 21 AF Corse car, demoting the No. 57 Kessel Racing 296 GT3 of Casper Stevenson to third.

RESULTS: Test Session 2