LeMans Test Day: Toyota Ends on Top; Corvette Leads GTE-Pro
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| LeMans |
Many won’t have been to Le Mans since last year’s race. For first-timers everything will be new. All will have been looking forward to taking to the 13.626-km circuit in preparation for the big race. By all accounts, the field made good use of the day-long session. The weather was splendid: 37°C on the track and an air temperature of 31°C.
After yesterday’s static photo call, the 62 cars sprang into action today, each crew sizing up the opponents. The 43 teams fielding the 62 cars on the grid are split into four classes: 8 in LMP1, 20 in LMP2, 17 in LMGTE PRO and 17 in LMGTE Am. The 33 rookies all completed their mandatory ten laps, five of which had to be officially timed.
Testing was the operative word today, from tyre compounds, to pit stop operations and fuel consumption. Then there were checks on reliability and resistance and revision of the rulebook. It may only be a test run, but it is by no means easy going! Drivers were introduced to a few slight alterations to the circuit: a resurfaced area, rumble strips in new angles, narrower passages and areas with more rubber deposits than before.
The new Full Course Yellow procedure was also tested today. Race Control had the ideal opportunity to check that the rules were fully understood by all and the army of track marshals ensured the procedure ran smoothly.
Toyota continued to dominate the times during the 24 Hours of Le Mans pre-event Test Day, with Sebastien Buemi setting the fastest lap overall on Sunday afternoon.
The Swiss diver’s time of 3:19.440 put the No. 8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid eight tenths clear of its No. 7 sister car, and almost two seconds ahead of the best non-hybrid LMP1 contender.
It was enough for Buemi to improve on his benchmark from the four-hour stretch of morning track activity which resulted in a time of 3:21.875.
However, it wasn’t quick enough to eclipse the quickest time from last year’s Test Day; a 3:19.066 set by Fernando Alonso.
Kamui Kobayashi’s 3:20.586 behind the wheel of the Japanese manufacturer’s sister car was enough for second in the afternoon, ahead of the No. 1 Rebellion Racing R13 Gibson with Andre Lotterer at the wheel.
Corvette Racing continued to lead the way in GTE-Pro with the American manufacturer’s No. 63 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R going fastest.
Mike Rockenfeller posted a time of 3:54.001 to improve on his co-driver Antonio Garcia’s table-topping effort from earlier in the day.
The top three cars in the class, which included the No. 67 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT and the No. 64 Corvette, were covered by less than a tenth of a second, while the next five entries including the FIA World Endurance Championship entries from Porsche and Ferrari also lapped in the low 3-minute 54s.
In LMP2, Jackie Chan DC Racing’s No. 38 Oreca 07 Gibson fronted the class courtesy of Ho-Pin Tung, who lapped three tenths clear of Pastor Maldonado in the Oreca entered by DragonSpeed.
WeatherTech Racing Ferrari Fastest in LMGTAM
WeatherTech Racing drivers Cooper MacNeil (Hinsdale, Ill.), Toni Vilander (Kankaanpää, Finland), and Rob Smith (Essex, UK) finished at the top of the time chart in today's 24 Hours of Le Mans official practice day.
The Scuderia Corsa prepared No. 62 WeatherTech Racing Ferrari did a total of 53 laps around the 8.46-mile (448-miles) Circuit de la Sarthe circuit today. The three drivers all cycled through the black and white Ferrari to get reacclimated to the long Le Mans circuit. Vilander, two time Le Mans winner, posted the fast lap of 3:56.862 that had the American team fastest in the LMGTAM class on the day.
"Very positive test at Le Mans today," MacNeil said. "The WeatherTech Ferrari was quick right off of the truck. A great effort by Michelotto, Ferrari and the Scuderia Corsa team for getting the car together in a short time. It was good enough to get us into P1 in class today. It is a good start to our Le Mans race weekend to be fastest in the test."
"Great day," Vilander said. "It is a great feeling to be back at Le Mans. It is a special race track. We have a new car and sometimes you worry that things won't go so well but that was not the case today. We wanted to put in a good lap time to confirm our preparation. We confirmed the WeatherTech Ferrari is good. We worked together to improve the car during the day. I am looking forward to coming back in a week to get ready for the race."
"It was an amazing day with WeatherTech Racing today, great to be back on the greatest circuit in the world," Smith said. "Our day started late as I flew in from the Paul Ricard Circuit in the south of France and Cooper and Toni flew in from the U.S. Toni did a super job to quickly set the Ferrari up and give us a great car balance for the day. I felt right at home in the new Ferrari 488 GTE and can't wait to go back to la Sarthe in one week to prepare for the main race."
No red flag periods were thrown in the afternoon after a stoppage for the No. 37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca brought the morning session to a halt.