After the first three hours on Sunday morning, the 62 competitors in the 24 Hours of Le Mans had the opportunity to enjoy the same amount of track time in the afternoon. As expected, this second session, held with temperatures around 30°C, allowed us to further lower the lap times and, in particular, to beat the record set in last year’s practice day.
In the first half hour there was a sort of run-up to time, with the #6 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor in the lead. Over the course of the day, five different brands occupied the top of the timesheets at one time or another.
Cadillac and Toyota also tested their speed in one lap, but it was once again Ferrari who had the upper hand at the end of the first hour, with Antonio Giovinazzi setting a time of 3’29″504 in the 499P #51.
Toyota was able to see the #7 GR010 Hybrid back in action, which reassured the Japanese clan after Mike Conway went off the track at the end of the morning. Instead, we had to wait two hours to see the Peugeot #93 come out of its garage, after having an electrical problem on the Hunaudières straight during the first session.
In the middle of the session, the safety car was called following a contact between the #48 Idec Sport Oreca and the #14 Nielsen Racing. Logically, the race directors took the opportunity to apply the new safety car procedure for the second time, this time neutralizing the session for a good half hour.
The Porsches are currently in the game with Ferrari and Toyota.
With about 45′ to go the green light and the #75 Porsche was back on track, having had a very uneventful start to the afternoon with only a few laps completed before it returned.
The final part of the practice session was disturbed by a series of small mistakes and gravel exits, with several Slow Zones decreed. Improvements were therefore rare and at the top of the time table the hierarchy did not change. Except that Felipe Nasr has joined the club of Hypercar drivers who have broken the symbolic barrier of 3’30”.
At the end of this day of testing, which must be interpreted with all the necessary precautions, we find three manufacturers grouped a few tenths apart in the lead, with Ferrari still in the lead.
P # Auto Lap Time 1
51 Ferrari AF Corse 3:29.504 34 2
6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 3:29.648 35 3 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing 3:29.827 39 4 50 Ferrari AF Corse 3:29.856 39 5
75
Porsche Penske Motorsport
3:29.905
15
6
5
Porsche Penske Motorsport
3:30.281
33
7
93 Peugeot TotalEnergies 3:30.427 16 8
2
Cadillac Racing
3:30.673
31
9
8 Toyota Gazoo Racing 3:31.009 34 10
94 Peugeot TotalEnergies 3:31.093 39 11
38 Hertz Team JOTA 3:31.290 32 12
4
Floyd Vanwall Racing Team
3:31.453
38
13
708
Glickenhaus Racing
3:31.711
29
14
3
Cadillac Racing
3:31.821
35
15
709
Glickenhaus Racing
3:31.878
37
16
311
Action Express Racing
3:33.795
36
