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Le Mans 24 Hours: Kazuki Nakajima lap puts Toyota top in warm up

Kazuki Nakajima put Toyota on top in Saturday morning's 45-minute warm-up session for the Le Mans 24 Hours, three tenths clear of the sister car of Kamui Kobayashi

Nakajima logged a best time of 3m18.308s at the very end of the session in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, enough to beat team-mate Kobayashi's 3m18.661s effort by 0.363s.

Those two late improvements knocked Nick Tandy and Porsche off the top spot, the Briton having logged a 3m20.120s in the #1 919 Hybrid to hold the advantage heading into the closing stages.

The 2015 Le Mans winner's time ended up 1.812s off the pace, and just two tenths up on the time set by Le Mans debutant Yuji Kunimoto in the #9 Toyota at the end of the session.

Porsche's second car, the #2, was fifth in the hands of Brendon Hartley, another tenth back on Kunimoto's time.

The #4 ByKolles ENSO CLM failed to log a representative time, with Marco Bonanomi's 4m09.884s putting the Austrian team some 51 seconds off the pace and down in 49th overall.

LYNN CONTINUES TO SET LMP2 PACE

Alex Lynn, who took LMP2 pole position on Thursday, set the pace in the TDS-run #26 G-Drive ORECA.

Lynn deposed early pacesetter Matthieu Vaxiviere's #28 TDS ORECA with 20 minutes remaining with a lap of 3m29.097s, improving to a 3m27.096s on his next attempt before handing over to Pierre Thiriet.

Julien Canal put the #31 Rebellion ORECA second fastest with a lap 2.329s off the pace right at the end of the session.

This bumped the #13 Rebellion ORECA of Nicolas Prost down to third.

Mikhail Aleshin produced the highest classification for anything other than an ORECA in LMP2 at Le Mans by going fourth fastest in the #27 SMP Dallara.

Ben Hanley was fifth fastest in the #21 DragonSpeed ORECA, with the #28 TDS ORECA ending up sixth after Vaxiviere's attempt to improve was frustrated by a slow zone before he handed over to Francois Perrodo.

The best-placed Ligier was again the #32 United Autosports entry of Filipe Albuquerque, 4.244s off the pace.

The two Signatech ORECAs went eighth and ninth with late laps, with Nelson Panciatici the faster of the two in the #35 car ahead of Romain Dumas in #36.

The sole Riley in the field, the #43 Keating car, was slowest of the cars that set a time, although eight cars ran but not not complete any flying laps.

The #39 Graff ORECA of Enzo Guibbert briefly stopped on its outlap before getting going again and eventually reaching the pits after 15 minutes. It did not re-appear.

There was also a crash for the #17 IDEC Sport Ligier, with Paul Lafargue losing the rear in the second left-hander in the Porsche Curves.

He nosed into the barrier and ended up in the gravel trap at the final part of the Porsche Curves, with the car suffering only cosmetic damage and able to return to the track later.

FORD SWEEPS GTE PRO

The Chip Ganassi-run Ford GTs set four of the five fastest times in the warm-up session, with Ryan Briscoe fastest of all in the #69 car he shares with Richard Westbrook and Scott Dixon.

Most significantly, in a session during which most teams would logically focus on race setups, Briscoe's lap of 3m51.789s, set 20 minutes before the chequered flag, was just half a second off the time that put the #69 Ford fifth on the GTE Pro grid.

Kevin Estre was second fastest with a 3m52.526s in the #92 Porsche 911, which like its sister entry has been granted an 8kg weight reduction in an overnight Balance of Performance adjustment.

Ford GTs were third (3m52.668s, Dirk Muller), fourth (3m53.362 Luis Derani) and fifth (3m53.475s, Johnson).

Very little separated the Ferrari 488s in this race-pace rehearsal. Pierre Kaffer led the Ferrari contingent with a 3m53.633s in the #82 Risi Competizione car, fractionally ahead of Davide Rigon (3m53.688s) and Michele Rugolo (3m53.693s) in the AF Corse entries.

The polesitting #97 Aston Martin set a 3m54.524s in the hands of Jonny Adam over the course of a handful of laps at the beginning of the session, and the sister #95 entry did not set a lap time.

Nic Jonsson went fastest of the GTE Am runners right at the end of the session in the DH Racing Ferrari 488. Ben Barker had been fastest in class with a 3m56.532s in the #86 Gulf Porsche that has been playing catch-up since suffering an oil leak on Wednesday before being usurped by Jonsson's 3m55.575s. Klaus Bachler was third on 3m56.608s in the #88 Proton Porsche.

The cars at the sharp end of the grid did not figure highly in the warm-up times: Romain Brandela spun the polesitting #50 Corvette at the Ford chicane on his way to setting a 4m00.447s, and the #98 Aston Martin that qualified second in class did not set a timed lap.

WARM UP RESULTS

Pos Class Driver Team Car Time Gap
1 LMP1 A.Davidson, S.Buemi, K.Nakajima Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 3m18.308s -
2 LMP1 M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, S.Sarrazin Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 3m18.661s 0.353s
3 LMP1 N.Tandy, A.Lotterer, N.Jani Porsche LMP Team Porsche 3m20.120s 1.812s
4 LMP1 J.M.Lopez, Y.Kunimoto, N.Lapierre Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 3m20.327s 2.019s
5 LMP1 T.Bernhard, E.Bamber, B.Hartley Porsche LMP Team Porsche 3m20.430s 2.122s
6 LMP2 A.Lynn, R.Rusinov, P.Thiriet G-Drive Racing ORECA/Gibson 3m27.096s 8.788s
7 LMP2 N.Prost, B.Senna, J.Canal Vaillante Rebellion ORECA/Gibson 3m29.425s 11.117s
8 LMP2 N.Piquet Jr., M.Beche, D.H.Hansson Vaillante Rebellion ORECA/Gibson 3m29.698s 11.390s
9 LMP2 M.Aleshin, S.Sirotkin, V.Shaytar SMP Racing Dallara/Gibson 3m30.648s 12.340s
10 LMP2 B.Hanley, F.Rosenqvist, H.Hedman Dragonspeed - 10 Star ORECA/Gibson 3m30.696s 12.388s
11 LMP2 E.Collard, M.Vaxiviere, F.Perrodo TDS Racing ORECA/Gibson 3m30.986s 12.678s
12 LMP2 F.Albuquerque, W.Owen, H.de Sadeleer United Autosports Ligier/Gibson 3m31.340s 13.032s
13 LMP2 N.Panciatici, A.Negrao, P.Ragues Signatech Alpine Matmut Alpine/Gibson 3m31.370s 13.062s
14 LMP2 R.Dumas, G.Menezes, M.Rao Signatech Alpine Matmut Alpine/Gibson 3m32.356s 14.048s
15 LMP2 M.Rojas, R.Hirakawa, J.Gutierrez G-Drive Racing ORECA/Gibson 3m32.398s 14.090s
16 LMP2 R.Barrichello, J.Lammers, F.van Eerd Racing Team Nederland Dallara/Gibson 3m33.812s 15.504s
17 LMP2 A.Belicchi, R.Lacorte, G.Sernagiotto Cetilar Villorba Corse Dallara/Gibson 3m34.887s 16.579s
18 LMP2 J.Nicolet, P.Nicolet, E.Maris Eurasia Motorsport Ligier/Gibson 3m35.627s 17.319s
19 LMP2 V.Capillaire, M.McMurry, M.Patterson Algarve Pro Racing Ligier/Gibson 3m35.654s 17.346s
20 LMP2 P.Lafargue, P.Lafargue, D.Zollinger Idec Sport Racing Ligier/Gibson 3m40.981s 22.673s
21 LMP2 N.Berthon, T.Buret, F.Barthez Panis Barthez Competition Ligier/Gibson 3m42.139s 23.831s
22 LMP2 J.Bleekemolen, R.Taylor, B.Keating Keating Motorsports Riley/Gibson 3m49.663s 31.355s
23 GTE Pro R.Briscoe, S.Dixon, R.Westbrook Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA Ford 3m51.789s 33.481s
24 GTE Pro M.Christensen, D.Werner, K.Estre Porsche GT Team Porsche 3m52.526s 34.218s
25 GTE Pro J.Hand, T.Kanaan, D.Muller Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA Ford 3m52.668s 34.360s
26 GTE Pro A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell, P.Derani Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford 3m53.362s 35.054s
27 GTE Pro O.Pla, S.Mucke, B.Johnson Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford 3m53.475s 35.167s
28 GTE Pro T.Vilander, G.Fisichella, P.Kaffer Risi Competizione Ferrari 3m53.633s 35.325s
29 GTE Pro D.Rigon, S.Bird, M.Molina AF Corse Ferrari 3m53.688s 35.380s
30 GTE Pro A.P.Guidi, J.Calado, M.Rugolo AF Corse Ferrari 3m53.693s 35.385s
31 GTE Pro R.Lietz, F.Makowiecki, P.Pilet Porsche GT Team Porsche 3m53.754s 35.446s
32 GTE Pro J.Magnussen, A.Garcia, J.Taylor Corvette Racing - GM Chevrolet 3m54.277s 35.969s
33 GTE Pro O.Gavin, T.Milner, M.Fassler Corvette Racing - GM Chevrolet 3m54.424s 36.116s
34 GTE Pro D.Turner, J.Adam, D.Serra Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 3m54.524s 36.216s
35 GTE Am A.Bertolini, N.Jonsson, T.Krohn DH Racing Ferrari 3m55.575s 37.267s
36 GTE Am B.Barker, N.Foster, M.Wainwright Gulf Racing Porsche 3m56.532s 38.224s
37 GTE Am K.Bachler, S.Lemeret, K.Al Qubaisi Proton Competition Porsche 3m56.608s 38.300s
38 GTE Am A.Balzan, C.Nielsen, B.Curtis Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 3m56.833s 38.525s
39 GTE Am A.Parente, H.Katoh, R.Wee Clearwater Racing Ferrari 3m57.313s 39.005s
40 GTE Am M.Cioci, A.Scott, D.Cameron Spirit of Race Ferrari 3m58.641s 40.333s
41 GTE Am O.Beretta, F.Castellacci, T.Flohr Spirit of Race Ferrari 3m58.781s 40.473s
42 GTE Am T.Bell, B.Sweedler, C.MacNeil Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 3m59.344s 41.036s
43 GTE Am R.Bell, E.Hankey, S.Yoluc TF Sport Aston Martin 4m00.046s 41.738s
44 GTE Am F.Rees, R.Brandela, C.Philippon Larbre Competition Chevrolet 4m00.447s 42.139s
45 GTE Am M.Griffin, K.Sawa, Mok W.S. Clearwater Racing Ferrari 4m01.016s 42.708s
46 GTE Am P.Long, A.Al Faisal, M.Hedlund Proton Competition Porsche 4m01.811s 43.503s
47 GTE Am M.Cairoli, M.Dienst, C.Ried Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 4m02.040s 43.732s
48 GTE Am W.Stevens, D.Vanthoor, R.Smith JMW Motorsport Ferrari 4m08.423s 50.115s
49 LMP1 O.Webb, M.Bonanomi, D.Kraihamer ByKOLLES Racing Team ENSO CLM/NISMO 4m09.884s 51.576s
50 LMP2 J-E.Vergne, J.Hirschi, T.Graves CEFC Manor TRS Racing ORECA/Gibson - -
51 LMP2 V.Petrov, S.Trummer, R.Gonzalez CEFC Manor TRS Racing ORECA/Gibson - -
52 LMP2 N.Moore, K.Chandhok, P.Hanson Tockwith Motorsports Ligier/Gibson - -
53 LMP2 T.Gommendy, A.Brundle, D.Cheng Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson - -
54 LMP2 H-Pin Tung, O.Jarvis, T.Laurent Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson - -
55 LMP2 E.Trouillet, E.Guibbert, J.Winslow Graff ORECA/Gibson - -
56 LMP2 R.Bradley, J.Allen, F.Matelli Graff ORECA/Gibson - -
57 LMP2 K.Calko, R.Breukers, M.Konopka ARC Bratislava Ligier/Gibson - -
58 GTE Pro N.Thiim, M.Sorensen, R.Stanaway Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin - -
59 GTE Am P.Lamy, M.Lauda, P.D.Lana Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin - -
60 GTE Am R.Gunn, O.Bryant, A.Howard Beechdean AMR Aston Martin - -


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