In Hypercar, it was a 1-2 for Toyota with Sebastien Buemi being the fastest in the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010-Hybrid (3.28.529) ahead of Mike Conway in the sister car, the #7 (3.28.817).
The #36 Alpine Elf Matmut A480 Gibson shared by André Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre and Mathieu Vaxivière was third (3.30.028).
In LMP2, it was a 1-2 for United Autosport with Alexander Lynn in the #23 Oreca 07 Gibson (3.32.841) leading Nicolas Jamin (3.33.246) in the #32 Oreca 07 Gibson.
The #41 Team WRT Oreca 07 Gibson driven by Robert Kubica was third (3.33.596). That car spun during the session at the Tertre Rouge but it did not suffer any damages. The sister car, the #41 Oreca 07 Gibson driven by Robin Frijns also span, only this time in the first chicane of the Mulsanne straight.
Further down in the ranks, Dennis Anderson span at Arnage in the #20 High Class Racing Oreca 07 Gibson while Antonio Felix Da Costa span the #28 Jota Oreca 07 Gibson at the Dunlop bridge. Both cars were undamaged.
Porsche’s #92 911 RSR-19 was scrutineered and fit to race, the original components from the damaged car transplanted to the spare chassis after Kevin Estre’s uncharacteristic shunt in the final practice session. The French driver was bedding in the car in the warm up session following ‘old-school’ Friday night installation runs at the Le Mans airfield, and indeed ended quickest in the warm up session.
Estre’s 3:49. 956 placed him ahead of team mate Bruni’s #91 Porsche and the Weathertec Porsche of Earl Bamber, both in the 3:50’s. Maxime Martin’s Hub Auto Porsche split the AF Corse pair, Miguel Molina the quicker, all three in the 3:51’s.
Ben Barnicoat went around quickest in Am, the rebuild of the #71 Inception Racing Ferrari looking decent. 3:52. 076 led Harry Tincknell’s #99 Proton Competition Porsche, less than a tenth away, from Matteo Cressoni’s #80 Iron Lynx Ferrari.
No apparent dramas then and positive recoveries to report in this session, which allowed last opportunities for crews to practice driver changes and other routines ahead of this afternoon’s 4:00 pm start.
