Toyota’s Buemi Quickest in Warmup

Photo: James Moy/Toyota

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Sebastien Buemi was quickest in warmup for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Swiss driver in the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid laid down a quick lap of 3:28.529 late in the running to improve on his three previous laps set in the 15-minute session.

Buemi’s time was 1.499 seconds quicker than Nico Lapierre in the No. 36 Alpine A480 Gibson, who split the pair of Toyotas.

Mike Conway’s 3:30.248 was good enough for third overall, ahead of the LMP2 class-leading No. 23 United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson of Alex Lynn.

GTE-Pro was topped by the freshly rebuilt No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR-10 of Kevin Estre, in the car’s first laps since undergoing a chassis change following the Frenchman’s accident in Hyperpole.

The car, however, completed a rollout Friday evening on the Le Mans airfield.

The No. 71 Inception Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Ben Barnicoat was quickest in GTE-Am, meanwhile.

The session saw brief spins by Ricky Taylor, Sean Gelael and Robert Kubica, with none of the LMP2 cars making any contact with the barriers, while the No. 31 Team WRT Oreca of Robin Frijns was reported to have stopped on track after cutting through a chicane.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans gets underway at 4 p.m. local time (10 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Warmup

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