Le Mans 24 Hours warm-up: Kobayashi's Toyota fastest by a second
Kamui Kobayashi put the #7 Toyota on top in the Le Mans 24 Hours warm-up by a second over the sister car
A late improvement from Kobayashi produced a 3m19.647s that was 1.042s faster than the #8.
Until then, the Kobayashi/Jose Maria Lopez/Mike Conway car had been just 0.007s quicker than Sebastien Buemi's best effort in the second TS050.
New Toyota reserve Thomas Laurent, who was confirmed as a Signatech-Alpine LMP2 race driver for 2019/20 on Friday, placed the #3 Rebellion Racing machine third.
Laurent had a slight off at one of the Mulsanne chicanes midway through the session before setting his best time of 3m21.868s, which was just over two seconds off the leading Toyota's best lap.
The two SMP Racing BRE-AER BR1s took fourth and fifth, with the #17 entry beating the sister car courtesy of Stephane Sarrazin's 3m21.869s lap time.
Vitaly Petrov gave the #1 SMP machine its best time of 3m22.813s.
The #10 DragonSpeed BRE-Gibson BR1 was sixth ahead of the #1 Rebellion, with both cars setting their best laps in the final moments of the session.
Ben Hanley gave DragonSpeed the edge in that battle with his 3m23.735s and lapped almost three seconds clear of Bruno Senna's Rebellion benchmark.
Rebellion was conducting its running after both cars had made engine changes following qualifying.
There was one notable LMP1 mistake during the warm-up, which came when Tom Dillmann locked-up under braking for the Dunlop chicane, crossing the gravel and the run-off on the outside of the corner before rejoining.
His ByKolles ENSO CLM-Gibson P1/01 would finish ninth overall, behind the leading LMP2 car, due to its 3m28.935s lap.
LMP2 - Vergne on top
Jean-Eric Vergne set the fastest LMP2 time early in the session in the #26 G-Drive Racing ORECA, 1.4s clear of TDS Racing stablemate and polesitter Loic Duval.
Vergne, who qualified fifth, managed a best time of 3m28.763s, 2.5s slower than his qualifying lap from Thursday night.
Nicolas Lapierre took third late in the session in the #36 Signatech Alpine to complete an all-ORECA top three, bumping Nigel Moore's Inter Europol Competition Ligier down to fourth.
Two cars did not set a representative time, with IDEC Sport and RLR M Sport both electing to save machinery for the race.
GTE - Porsche quickest
Porsches were fastest in both GTE classes, with Kevin Estre putting the works #92 car on top in the Pro division by a little more than a second.
Estre's fastest time, a 3m50.095s, was just over two seconds shy of the fastest GTE Pro qualifying time, and 1.001s off the time that put the #92 car seventh on the grid.
Harry Tincknell leapt the #67 Ford GT he shares with Andy Priaulx and Jonathan Bomarito up to second with a 3m51.133s lap with 10 minutes to go, and had been fastest of all through the first split on his next lap before a full-course yellow was issued.
The #71 and #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTEs had occupied third and fourth in the closing stages of the session, but were split late on by the #68 Ford GT thanks to Dirk Muller's 3m51.637s lap.
Darren Turner put the class polesitting #95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE sixth, ahead of the lead BMW of Antonio Felix da Costa, who was 1.797s off the pace in his #82 M8 GTE.
The #63 and #64 Corvettes were 15th and 16th respectively in the Pro order, ahead only of the #94 Porsche.
Ben Barker put the Gulf Racing Porsche on top in GTE Am, his 3m54.071s leaving the #86 car 1.270s clear of the similar Team Project 1 911 RSR.
Warm-up times
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 3m19.647s | - | 12 |
2 | LMP1 | S.Buemi, K.Nakajima, F.Alonso | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 3m20.689s | 1.042s | 9 |
3 | LMP1 | T.Laurent, N.Berthon, G.Menezes | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/Gibson | 3m21.868s | 2.221s | 11 |
4 | LMP1 | S.Sarrazin, E.Orudzhev, S.Sirotkin | SMP Racing | BR Engineering/AER | 3m21.869s | 2.222s | 7 |
5 | LMP1 | V.Petrov, M.Aleshin, S.Vandoorne | SMP Racing | BR Engineering/AER | 3m22.813s | 3.166s | 7 |
6 | LMP1 | H.Hedman, B.Hanley, R.van der Zande | DragonSpeed | BR Engineering/Gibson | 3m23.735s | 4.088s | 10 |
7 | LMP1 | N.Jani, A.Lotterer, B.Senna | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/Gibson | 3m26.324s | 6.677s | 10 |
8 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, J.van Uitert, J-E.Vergne | G-Drive Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 3m28.763s | 9.116s | 7 |
9 | LMP1 | T.Dillmann, O.Webb, P.Ruberti | ByKOLLES Racing Team | ENSO CLM/Nissan | 3m28.935s | 9.288s | 10 |
10 | LMP2 | F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, L.Duval | TDS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 3m30.201s | 10.554s | 10 |
11 | LMP2 | N.Lapierre, A.Negrao, P.Thiriet | Signatech Alpine Matmut | Alpine/Gibson | 3m31.080s | 11.433s | 10 |
12 | LMP2 | J.Smiechowski, J.Winslow, N.Moore | Inter Europol Competition | Ligier/Gibson | 3m31.311s | 11.664s | 3 |
13 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, P.Maldonado, A.Davidson | DragonSpeed | ORECA/Gibson | 3m31.328s | 11.681s | 7 |
14 | LMP2 | H-Pin Tung, S.Richelmi, G.Aubry | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 3m31.506s | 11.859s | 10 |
15 | LMP2 | N.Jamin, P.Ragues, R.Dumas | Duqueine Engineering | ORECA/Gibson | 3m31.842s | 12.195s | 9 |
16 | LMP2 | R.Binder, J.Canal, W.Stevens | Panis Barthez Competition | Ligier/Gibson | 3m31.916s | 12.269s | 8 |
17 | LMP2 | D.H.Hansson, J.King, R.Taylor | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 3m31.996s | 12.349s | 10 |
18 | LMP2 | A.Fjordbach, D.Andersen, M.Beche | High Class Racing | Ligier/Gibson | 3m32.050s | 12.403s | 11 |
19 | LMP2 | F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, N.de Vries | Racing Team Nederland | Dallara/Gibson | 3m32.832s | 13.185s | 11 |
20 | LMP2 | T.Gommendy, V.Capillaire, J.Hirschi | Graff | ORECA/Gibson | 3m32.874s | 13.227s | 10 |
21 | LMP2 | R.Cullen, A.Brundle, W.Owen | United Autosports | Ligier/Gibson | 3m34.931s | 15.284s | 9 |
22 | LMP2 | R.Lacorte, G.Sernagiotto, A.Belicchi | Cetilar Villorba Corse | Dallara/Gibson | 3m35.283s | 15.636s | 9 |
23 | LMP2 | P.Hanson, F.Albuquerque, P.Di Resta | United Autosports | Ligier/Gibson | 3m36.697s | 17.050s | 6 |
24 | LMP2 | M.Konopka, H.Enqvist, K.Tereschenko | ARC Bratislava | Ligier/Gibson | 3m36.930s | 17.283s | 11 |
25 | LMP2 | D.Zollinger, A.Pizzitola, J.Falb | Algarve Pro Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 3m38.008s | 18.361s | 9 |
26 | GTE Pro | M.Christensen, K.Estre, L.Vanthoor | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 3m50.095s | 30.448s | 10 |
27 | GTE Pro | A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell, J.Bomarito | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 3m51.133s | 31.486s | 8 |
28 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, S.Bird, M.Molina | AF Corse | Ferrari | 3m51.366s | 31.719s | 11 |
29 | GTE Pro | J.Hand, D.Muller, S.Bourdais | Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA | Ford | 3m51.637s | 31.990s | 9 |
30 | GTE Pro | A.P.Guidi, J.Calado, D.Serra | AF Corse | Ferrari | 3m51.638s | 31.991s | 9 |
31 | GTE Pro | N.Thiim, M.Sorensen, D.Turner | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 3m51.854s | 32.207s | 4 |
32 | GTE Pro | A.Farfus, A.F.da Costa, J.Krohn | BMW Team MTEK | BMW | 3m51.892s | 32.245s | 11 |
33 | GTE Pro | R.Lietz, G.Bruni, F.Makowiecki | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 3m51.960s | 32.313s | 11 |
34 | GTE Pro | R.Briscoe, R.Westbrook, S.Dixon | Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA | Ford | 3m52.173s | 32.526s | 9 |
35 | GTE Pro | N.Catsburg, M.Tomczyk, P.Eng | BMW Team MTEK | BMW | 3m52.446s | 32.799s | 11 |
36 | GTE Pro | M.Martin, A.Lynn, J.Adam | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 3m52.618s | 32.971s | 8 |
37 | GTE Pro | P.Pilet, E.Bamber, N.Tandy | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 3m52.743s | 33.096s | 10 |
38 | GTE Pro | P.Derani, O.Jarvis, J.Gounon | Risi Competizione | Ferrari | 3m52.865s | 33.218s | 11 |
39 | GTE Pro | S.Mucke, O.Pla, B.Johnson | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 3m53.094s | 33.447s | 11 |
40 | GTE Pro | J.Magnussen, A.Garcia, M.Rockenfeller | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet | 3m53.588s | 33.941s | 10 |
41 | GTE Pro | O.Gavin, T.Milner, M.Fassler | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet | 3m53.826s | 34.179s | 10 |
42 | GTE Pro | S.Muller, M.Jaminet, D.Olsen | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 3m53.989s | 34.342s | 11 |
43 | GTE Am | M.Wainwright, B.Barker, T.Preining | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 3m54.071s | 34.424s | 8 |
44 | GTE Am | J.Bergmeister, P.Lindsey, E.Perfetti | Team Project 1 | Porsche | 3m55.341s | 35.694s | 8 |
45 | GTE Am | C.Schiavoni, S.Pianezzola, A.Piccini | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | 3m55.516s | 35.869s | 10 |
46 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 3m56.458s | 36.811s | 6 |
47 | GTE Am | T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, G.Fisichella | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 3m57.163s | 37.516s | 10 |
48 | GTE Am | T.Kimura, K.Cozzolino, C.Ledogar | CarGuy Racing | Ferrari | 3m57.673s | 38.026s | 9 |
49 | GTE Am | L.P.-Companc, M.Griffin, M.Cressoni | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari | 3m57.764s | 38.117s | 11 |
50 | GTE Am | M.Gostner, R.Frey, M.Gatting | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | 3m57.952s | 38.305s | 11 |
51 | GTE Am | C.MacNeil, T.Vilander, R.Smith | WeatherTech Racing | Ferrari | 3m58.908s | 39.261s | 10 |
52 | GTE Am | J.Segal, R.Baptista, W.Lu | JMW Motorsport | Ferrari | 3m58.931s | 39.284s | 3 |
53 | GTE Am | M.Ishikawa, O.Beretta, E.Cheever | MR Racing | Ferrari | 3m59.193s | 39.546s | 10 |
54 | GTE Am | L.Prette Jr., P.Prette, V.Abril | Proton Competition | Porsche | 3m59.978s | 40.331s | 3 |
55 | GTE Am | M.Campbell, C.Ried, J.Andlauer | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 4m02.643s | 42.996s | 8 |
56 | LMP2 | E.Creed, R.Ricci, N.Boulle | Larbre Competition | Ligier/Gibson | 5m30.023s | 2m10.376s | 5 |
57 | LMP2 | J.Farano, A.Maini, N.Nato | RLR M Sport/Tower Events | ORECA/Gibson | - | - | 1 |
58 | LMP2 | P.Lafargue, P-L.Chatin, M.Rojas | Idec Sport Racing | ORECA/Gibson | - | - | 7 |
59 | GTE Am | B.Keating, J.Bleekemolen, F.Fraga | Keating Motorsports | Ford | - | - | 8 |
60 | GTE Am | S.Hoshino, G.Roda, M.Cairoli | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | - | - | 0 |
61 | GTE Am | S.Yoluc, E.Hankey, C.Eastwood | TF Sport | Aston Martin | - | - | 2 |
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments