LeMans: Toyota takes provisional pole ahead of SMP Racing

#7 Toyota quickest so far
#7 Toyota quickest so far

Toyota Gazoo Racing clocked the fastest time during the first 24 Hours of Le Mans qualifying session with a time of 3:17.161 in the No. 7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID with Kamui Kobayashi at the wheel.

Russian privateer team SMP Racing in the No. 17 BR Engineering BR1 car was just 0.472s behind the leading Toyota, while Rebellion Racing placed third quickest in the No. 3 Rebellion R13 – Gibson making it two privateer LMP1 cars in the top three.

With just 45 minutes left on the clock, there was on-track drama between the No. 31 DragonSpeed car and the No. 7 Toyota driven by Mike Conway when the former stopped on the Ford chicane and the Toyota collided with the stationary car. The damage incurred saw the cars return to the pits for repairs and miraculously both teams were to make it back on track before the session ended.

World Championship leaders Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso in the #8 TS050 HYBRID hold provisional fourth before Thursday’s two 120-minute qualifying sessions. The starting grid is decided by the fastest single lap set in any of the three qualifying sessions.

Despite the incident, DragonSpeed was the fastest LMP2 car in Qualifying with a time of 3:26.852, just 0.131s ahead of the No. 36 Signatech Alpine Matmut Alpine A470 Gibson. American squad United Autosports – who is confirmed to join the FIA WEC for the 2019/2020 season – was third fastest.

Ford pip Aston Martin to the post in LMGTE Pro

Just 1.32s separated the top eight cars in LMGTE Pro at the end of tonight’s Qualifying session but it was Harry Tincknell in the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK that pipped Aston Martin Racing’s Alex Lynn to the post in the session’s closing stages with a time of 3:49.530.

#88 Dempsey Porsche tops LMGTE
#88 Dempsey Porsche tops LMGTE

Lynn led the field for the majority of Q1 but the hugely competitive nature of the LMGTE Pro category eventually saw the No. 91 Aston Martin Vantage AMR drop to third, 0.062s ahead of the No.91 Porsche 911 RSR belonging to the Porsche GT Team.

In LMGTE Am, it was a Porsche 1-2-3 with the No. 88 Dempsey-Proton Porsche 911 RSR fastest with a time of 3:52.454, 0.296s ahead of Team Project 1 in a similar car. Third fastest was Dempsey Proton’s second WEC entry – the No. 77 car – making it a hugely successful qualifying session for the team.

The second Qualifying session will get underway tomorrow at 19h00, followed by the third and final one at 22h00.

Fastest Driver Quote

Kamui Kobayashi (#7 TS050 HYBRID): “It wasn’t the best lap as I experienced quite a lot of traffic. It’s a pity not to have a clear lap but the car feels good and I think the time can be improved. Qualifying doesn’t mean anything in a 24-hour race so we are just preparing for the race as best we can. The track conditions today probably don’t match what we will face in the race so we still have preparation work to do."

Q1 Results

POS CLASS DRIVER TEAM TIME GAP
1 LMP1 M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez Toyota Gazoo Racing 3m17.161s 0.000s
2 LMP1 S.Sarrazin, E.Orudzhev, S.Sirotkin SMP Racing 3m17.633s 0.472s
3 LMP1 T.Laurent, N.Berthon, G.Menezes Rebellion Racing 3m19.603s 2.442s
4 LMP1 S.Buemi, K.Nakajima, F.Alonso Toyota Gazoo Racing 3m19.632s 2.471s
5 LMP1 H.Hedman, B.Hanley, R.van der Zande DragonSpeed 3m20.200s 3.039s
6 LMP1 N.Jani, A.Lotterer, B.Senna Rebellion Racing 3m20.297s 3.136s
7 LMP1 V.Petrov, M.Aleshin, S.Vandoorne SMP Racing 3m20.934s 3.773s
8 LMP1 T.Dillmann, O.Webb, P.Ruberti ByKOLLES Racing Team 3m25.246s 8.085s
9 LMP2 R.Gonzalez, P.Maldonado, A.Davidson DragonSpeed 3m26.804s 9.643s
10 LMP2 N.Lapierre, A.Negrao, P.Thiriet Signatech Alpine Matmut 3m26.935s 9.774s
11 LMP2 P.Hanson, F.Albuquerque, P.Di Resta United Autosports 3m27.338s 10.177s
12 LMP2 P.Lafargue, P-L.Chatin, M.Rojas Idec Sport Racing 3m27.847s 10.686s
13 LMP2 N.Jamin, P.Ragues, R.Dumas Duqueine Engineering 3m28.653s 11.492s
14 LMP2 H-Pin Tung, S.Richelmi, G.Aubry Jackie Chan DC Racing 3m28.738s 11.577s
15 LMP2 F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, L.Duval TDS Racing 3m28.840s 11.679s
16 LMP2 F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, N.de Vries Racing Team Nederland 3m28.909s 11.748s
17 LMP2 R.Rusinov, J.van Uitert, J-E.Vergne G-Drive Racing 3m29.107s 11.946s
18 LMP2 D.Zollinger, A.Pizzitola, J.Falb Algarve Pro Racing 3m29.126s 11.965s
19 LMP2 D.H.Hansson, J.King, R.Taylor Jackie Chan DC Racing 3m29.498s 12.337s
20 LMP2 R.Cullen, A.Brundle, W.Owen United Autosports 3m29.583s 12.422s
21 LMP2 R.Lacorte, G.Sernagiotto, A.Belicchi Cetilar Villorba Corse 3m29.748s 12.587s
22 LMP2 R.Binder, J.Canal, W.Stevens Panis Barthez Competition 3m29.821s 12.660s
23 LMP2 J.Smiechowski, J.Winslow, N.Moore Inter Europol Competition 3m30.744s 13.583s
24 LMP2 T.Gommendy, V.Capillaire, J.Hirschi Graff 3m30.970s 13.809s
25 LMP2 J.Farano, A.Maini, N.Nato RLR M Sport/Tower Events 3m31.017s 13.856s
26 LMP2 A.Fjordbach, D.Andersen, M.Beche High Class Racing 3m32.945s 15.784s
27 LMP2 M.Konopka, H.Enqvist, K.Tereschenko ARC Bratislava 3m35.480s 18.319s
28 LMP2 E.Creed, R.Ricci, N.Boulle Larbre Competition 3m38.663s 21.502s
29 GTE Pro A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell, J.Bomarito Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK 3m49.530s 32.369s
30 GTE Pro P.Pilet, E.Bamber, N.Tandy Porsche GT Team 3m49.558s 32.397s
31 GTE Pro M.Martin, A.Lynn, J.Adam Aston Martin Racing 3m50.037s 32.876s
32 GTE Pro R.Lietz, G.Bruni, F.Makowiecki Porsche GT Team 3m50.099s 32.938s
33 GTE Pro S.Muller, M.Jaminet, D.Olsen Porsche GT Team 3m50.278s 33.117s
34 GTE Pro M.Christensen, K.Estre, L.Vanthoor Porsche GT Team 3m50.468s 33.307s
35 GTE Pro N.Thiim, M.Sorensen, D.Turner Aston Martin Racing 3m50.812s 33.651s
36 GTE Pro D.Rigon, S.Bird, M.Molina AF Corse 3m50.850s 33.689s
37 GTE Pro N.Catsburg, M.Tomczyk, P.Eng BMW Team MTEK 3m51.476s 34.315s
38 GTE Pro R.Briscoe, R.Westbrook, S.Dixon Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA 3m51.821s 34.660s
39 GTE Pro J.Magnussen, A.Garcia, M.Rockenfeller Corvette Racing 3m52.109s 34.948s
40 GTE Pro A.P.Guidi, J.Calado, D.Serra AF Corse 3m52.128s 34.967s
41 GTE Am S.Hoshino, G.Roda, M.Cairoli Dempsey-Proton Racing 3m52.454s 35.293s
42 GTE Pro O.Gavin, T.Milner, M.Fassler Corvette Racing 3m52.490s 35.329s
43 GTE Am J.Bergmeister, P.Lindsey, E.Perfetti Team Project 1 3m52.750s 35.589s
44 GTE Pro P.Derani, O.Jarvis, J.Gounon Risi Competizione 3m52.997s 35.836s
45 GTE Pro J.Hand, D.Muller, S.Bourdais Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA 3m53.053s 35.892s
46 GTE Am M.Campbell, C.Ried, J.Andlauer Dempsey-Proton Racing 3m53.408s 36.247s
47 GTE Pro A.Farfus, A.F.da Costa, J.Krohn BMW Team MTEK 3m53.498s 36.337s
48 GTE Am P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda Aston Martin Racing 3m53.530s 36.369s
49 GTE Am T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, G.Fisichella Spirit of Race 3m53.793s 36.632s
50 GTE Pro S.Mucke, O.Pla, B.Johnson Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK 3m53.793s 36.632s
51 GTE Am S.Yoluc, E.Hankey, C.Eastwood TF Sport 3m53.974s 36.813s
52 GTE Am L.Prette Jr., P.Prette, V.Abril Proton Competition 3m54.324s 37.163s
53 GTE Am J.Segal, R.Baptista, W.Lu JMW Motorsport 3m54.513s 37.352s
54 GTE Am M.Ishikawa, O.Beretta, E.Cheever MR Racing 3m54.737s 37.576s
55 GTE Am M.Wainwright, B.Barker, T.Preining Gulf Racing 3m55.033s 37.872s
56 GTE Am C.MacNeil, T.Vilander, R.Smith WeatherTech Racing 3m55.544s 38.383s
57 GTE Am T.Kimura, K.Cozzolino, C.Ledogar CarGuy Racing 3m56.034s 38.873s
58 GTE Am L.P.-Companc, M.Griffin, M.Cressoni Clearwater Racing 3m56.072s 38.911s
59 GTE Am C.Schiavoni, S.Pianezzola, A.Piccini Kessel Racing 3m56.147s 38.986s
60 GTE Am M.Gostner, R.Frey, M.Gatting Kessel Racing 3m56.333s 39.172s
61 GTE Am B.Keating, J.Bleekemolen, F.Fraga Keating Motorsports 3m56.579s 39.418s
62 GTE Am P.Long, T.Krohn, N.Jonsson Dempsey-Proton Racing