The Ferraris hoisted themselves into the lead right at the end of Free Practice 3 of the 24h of Le Mans, staged under a beautiful sun that saw the protagonists of the FIA World Endurance Championship restart work with a view to the race and also in view of the Hyperpole of this evening.
The 180′ session saw some neutralizations from the Slow Zone and yellow flags for accidents right from the start. At WRT hands in hair for Ferdinand Habsburg’s exit at ‘Arnage’ with the Oreca #41, removed from the tow truck, then it was Ian James who stopped along the track with the Aston Martin #98 shortly after.
Finally, excursions in the gravel should also be noted for Rodrigo Sales with the Oreca #14, Tom Gamble on the #923 risking a lot for ‘Tertre Rouge’ and Manuel Maldonado (#65 Panis Racing).
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez
Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt
In the Hypercar Class, the assault on the supremacy puts the Ferraris in the lead: Antonio Fuoco prints the 3’26″579 which puts him ahead of everyone 13′ from the end with the 499P #50, overtaking the Toyotas which had led the operations up until then. imitated shortly after by Alessandro Pier Guidi with the #51 stopping at +0″434 from the Calabrian.
Of the GR010 Hybrids, the only one to put together more consecutive laps was the #8 with Ryo Hirakawa at the wheel, however finishing third a couple of tenths from the #7 of Kamui Kobayashi, who is third 1″ from Fuoco.
Excellent fifth time for Porsche thanks to Jota’s private 963 #38, reached in the final stages by Team Penske’s #75, another car capable of putting together an 11-lap stint.
At Cadillac the #311 of Action Express Racing is seventh, while a technical problem stops the V-Series.R #2 after only 9 laps, with the #3 not going beyond 11th place and 17 laps active .
In Top10 we also have the other two Porsches of Team Penske – #5 and #6 – and the Peugeot #93; the #94 is 12th, but both cars of the Leone have again suffered from problems which prevented them from running continuously.
13th the Glickenhaus #708, 15th the Vanwall of ByKolles, last the other Glickenhaus (#709), all quite late.
#28 Jota Oreca 07 – Gibson of David Heinemeier Hansson, Oliver Rasmussen, Pietro Fittipaldi
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
In the LMP2 Class once again Jota sets the benchmark with the Oreca 07-Gibson #28 at 3’34″071, clearly looking for the time in view of the Hyperpole and trimming a good 3″ on the #14 of Nielsen Racing which confirms its the best of the PRO/AMs, closely followed by the #34 of Inter Europol Competition and the #22 of United Autosports.
Overall top5 for the #45 of Algarve Pro Racing which is second in PRO/AM, capable of keeping behind the #23 of United Autosports and the #30 of the Duqueine Team.
With the eighth fastest time the #39 of Graff Racing is third PRO/AM, the Top10 which is enclosed in half a second between the place of honor and the tenth position is completed by the #63 of Prema Racing.
Behind the LMP2s there is always the Chevrolet Camaro NASCAR prepared by Hendrick Motorsport/Garage56, but this time the ZL1, despite finishing 41st overall, lapped very little (5 laps) due to problems that stopped it for a long time in the pits.
#54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE EVO of Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, Davide Rigon
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Ferrari continues to smile in the LMGTE AM Class too, this time at the hands of the AF Corse 488 #54 who does 3’53″681 with Francesco Castellacci, chased just over a tenth by the Porsches of GR Racing #86 and Iron Lynx # 60, with the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing fourth at half a second.
The #83 AF Corse-Richard Mille Ferrari remains in the Top5, followed by the #21 AF Corse.
The #16 Proton Competition and #56 Project 1-AO Porsches take a second off the lead, the Corvette is ninth and the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferraru completes the Top10.
Clearly each data has a relative value because many have preferred to work from a race pace perspective (but also hiding), especially those who will not take part in the Hyperpole at 20.00.
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