Cadillac WTR’s Filipe Albuquerque was fastest in the opening session of the 2026 Le Mans Test Day, held in sunny conditions this morning.
The Portuguese racer set a 3:27.011 aboard the #101 Cadillac V-Series.R, as part of a flurry of fast times towards the end of the session after a late red flag.
Albuquerque’s effort, remarkably, was only 0.001 seconds off the best time in the equivalent session last year, which was set by AF Corse’s Robert Kubica.
Charles Milesi ended up second aboard the #35 Alpine Endurance Team A424, 0.328 seconds behind Albuquerque, with the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA entry of Will Stevens third.
The Briton set a 3:27.843 during the first hour of running, leading the session until going 0.833 seconds slower than the equivalent fastest time in the morning last year.
Roman De Angelis was fourth in the #009 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie, ahead of Nicklas Nielsen’s #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P, and Sebastien Buemi’s #8 Toyota Racing TR010 Hybrid.
The #8 Toyota triggered the only red flag of the session, when an incident involving Buemi’s co-driver Ryo Hirakawa and Jake Hughes’ #25 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA LMP2 occurred at the Dunlop Chicane inside the final 30 minutes.
Hughes, on an out lap, lost control at the exit of Turn 3 and spun into the path of Hirakawa, with the Toyota being briefly launched into the air and sustaining left-side and rear damage, the ORECA ending up beached in the gravel, and neither car able to return to the pits under their own steam.
Toyota confirmed post-session that the damage to the #8 was not critical and the car will run this afternoon. The #25 meanwhile escaped remarkably lightly with a “bit of bodywork and a front toelink”; they too will run in Session 2.
Seventh went to the #7 Toyota, with the pair of BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8s and #007 Aston Martin completing the top 10.
The best of the Genesis GMR-001s was 11th on their Le Mans debut, following a late flyer from the #17 entry of Pipo Derani, with the entire Hypercar field being covered by under three seconds.
It is worth emphasising, though, how little lap times mean at this stage of Le Mans week, especially given a significant chunk of the three-hour session was dedicated to procedural tests such as Full Course Yellows and Safety Cars.
Multiple teams took the opportunity to give their reserve driver some running, with both Toyota’s Esteban Masson and Genesis’ Jamie Chadwick turning their first laps of the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans aboard a Hypercar.
In LMP2, Mathieu Vaxiviere topped the times aboard the Pro/Am-entered #183 AF Corse ORECA 07 – Gibson, with a 1:35.526.
Tom Dillmann was second in the defending-winning #43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA, after setting a 3:35.992 on his final flying lap, with the early session leader, CrowdStrike Racing by APR’s Laurin Heinrich third.
Heinrich’s co-driver in the #4 ORECA, George Kurtz, also turned laps this morning, after missing yesterday’s Scrutineering.
The #14 TDS Racing ORECA, and TDS-run #29 Forestier Racing by Panis entry, completed the top five.
And in LMGT3, Vista AF Corse’s François Heriau was fastest after setting a 3:57.366 aboard the #21 Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo.
The Frenchman ended up only 0.046 seconds ahead of countryman Valentin Hasse-Clot, who set a 3;57.412 aboard the #59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3, with the #87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3 of Jose Maria Lopez third.
Fourth went to the #91 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) LMGT3, ahead of Garage 59’s pair of McLaren LMGT3 Evos.
The #4 ORECA completed the most laps, 39, which was one more than the #17 Genesis and pair of BMW Hypercars.All 62 runners completed at least 24 tours.
The Le Mans Test Day continues with three further hours of running this afternoon, starting at 15:30 CEST.
Image courtesy of Peter ‘Pedro’ May
