The gorgeous weather held throughout the 5 hour afternoon session to complete the 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours Test Day with the top times improving in all but GTE Pro where the difference would be measured only in hundredths.
The Toyotas topped the times almost until the end of the session with the tell-tale signs of the nominal ‘ideal’ app from their best combined sectors pointing to laps in the 3:28s for the GR010s and with he Alpines knocking on the door of that pace too.
That was until Olivier Pla made a move in the last five minutes of the session putting in a pair of laps in the low 1:29s, the best a 1:29.155 to top the times for the day – The first time in the modern era that an American flagged car, and/ or a car built in Italy, has topped the Test Day order
The #708 Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus 007 Hypercar created a little piece of motorsport history at Le Mans today with French driver Olivier Pla setting the fastest time of the day in the final 5 minutes of 8 hours of running ahead of next weekend’s 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans.
That means that James Glickenhaus and his team go into race week with their heads held high, their brand new turbo V8 powered car beating the best efforts of the Toyota and Alpine teams.
In the Hypercar category, the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR10 Hybrid was quick right out of the gates with Kazuki Nakajima snatching a fast lap in 3.30.050. Later on in the afternoon, his team mate Brendon Hartley improved (3.29.643) while the sister car also lapped below the 3.30 landmark (Jose Maria Lopez in the #7 – 3.29.717). With 90 minutes left in the session, the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR10 Hybrid driven by Mike Conway regained the lead (3.29.340) and kept it until the final moments of the session when Olivier Pla in the #708 Glickenhaus Racing 007 LMH snatched a stunning 3.29.115. The #36 Alpine Elf Matmut A480 Gibson shared by André Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre and Mathieu Vaxivière ended in fourth position (3.30.111), a full second behind the fastest Glickenhaus and half a second behind the slowest of the Toyotas (the #8 – 3.29.622).
Meanwhile, in LMP2, the first significant lap time of the afternoon was set by Charles Milesi in the #31 Team WRT Oreca 07 (3.32.823). Milesi stayed at the top of the LMP2 time sheets until the final hour of the session at which point the lead changed several times between five cars. In the end, Chatin was fastest in the #48 IDEC Sport Oreca 07 Gibson (3.31.105) ahead of Will Stevens in the #65 Panis Racing Oreca 07 Gibson (3.31.120) and Louis Deletraz in the #41 Team WRT Oreca 07 Gibson (3.31.448). The United Autosport #22 shared by Phil Hanson, Fabio Sherer and Filipe Albuquerque ended in fifth position (3.31.567) after going through rear wing repairs in the pits.
The #17 IDEC Sport Oreca 07 did not compete in this session, that car was undergoing a change of tub as the session ended this evening after damage in the morning session.
In the GTE Pro class, it was a relatively quiet afternoon where teams focused on getting extensive track time rather than aiming for fast lap times. The session was led most of the afternoon by Earl Bamber in the #79 Weathertech Racing Porsche 911 RSR -19 (3.52.938) ahead of the #91 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR – 19 shared by Gianmaria Bruni, Richard Lietz and Fred Makowiecki (3.52.948) and the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo driven by Alessandro Pierguidi, James Colado and Come Ledogar (3.53.080). This was the only class not to see an improvement on the top class time from the morning, Bamber calling just thousandths short of the factory Porsche time from the first session.
It is nonetheless worth noting that the #91 Porsche GT Team 911 RSR triggered a full course yellow towards the end of the session as Gianmaria Bruni spun his car at the entrance of the Dunlop chicane, hit a tyre wall yet managed to return to his pits for repairs.
The #63 Corvette Racing C8R only took the track in the final hour of the session after its engine was changed at the end of the morning session.
Meanwhile, in the GTE Am category, Alessio Picariello raised the bar in the #18 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 RSR -19 during the second hour of practice with a fast lap of 3.55.011. Some two hours later, Pierre Ehret in the #388 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo took over the lead with a sub 3’55 lap time (3.54.903).
Harry Tincknell in the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR -19 soon followed with a fast 3.54.472. He kept the lead of the class until the checkered flag ahead of the #56 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR shared by Egidio Perfetti, Matteo Cairoli and Riccardo Pera (3.54.502) and the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE Evo driven by Thomas Neubauer, Rodrigo Sales and Jody Fannin (3.54.530)
Again, there were many incidents in this class: during the second hour of practice, Roberto Lacorte in the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488 GTE stopped on track before the Mulsanne corner, this triggered a full course yellow episode. A second full course yellow episode also occurred with 90 minutes left in the session as the #57 Kessel Ferrari driven by Scott Andrews went off track at the Porsche curves.
Next during this 24 Hours of Le Mans week, 2021 is the first free practice session set on Wednesday, August 18 at 2pm local time.
