Earl Bamber headed a Cadillac 1-2-4 in the this afternoon’s opening Free Practice session at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, aboard the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA-run #38 V-Series.R.
Bamber set a 3:23.786 inside the final 30 minutes of the three-hour affair, having taken the top spot one lap prior with a 3:24.773.
This gave the Kiwi a 1.562-second advantage over the #101 Cadillac WTR entry of Jordan Taylor, which had led FP1 for over two hours.
It wasn’t a perfect session for the #38 Cadillac, however, with it undergoing significant work in the garage as the chequered flag waved. Jack Aitken had been sent out on track on a set of new soft tyres to make one last push, but limped back to the pits slowly.
René Rast was third fastest aboard the #20 BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8, ahead of the #12 JOTA Cadillac of Will Stevens and Ferdinand Habsburg’s #35 Alpine Endurance Team A424.
Sixth went to the #8 Toyota Racing TR010 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley, which notably spent the majority of FP1 running on soft tyres, with the medium Michelin the preferred compound for the rest of the Hypercar runners.
Seventh was the #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P, ahead of the #009 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie, #17 Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001 and #007 Aston Martin.
Behind the leading runners, Hypercar was once again incredibly close, with under one second covering sixth through 18th.
Multiple Hypercar runners ran into trouble in the closing minutes, leaving their teams with repairs to do before qualifying this evening.
First, the defending winner, the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Ye Yifei, went off at Mulsanne Corner. Ye struggled to slow the car under braking, before pitching sideways and making side-on contact with the tyre barrier.
FP1 already hadn’t gone to plan for the #83 Ferrari, with Ye’s co-driver Robert Kubica one of several drivers to earn five-minute stop-go penalties for repeated track limit offences.
Shortly after Ye’s incident, Frederic Makowiecki ran wide on the exit of the Esses aboard the #36 Alpine and clattered the barrier. After crabbing down most of the Mulsanne, the Frenchman pulled off, meaning his team will also need to recover the car before repairs can began.
In LMP2, a late-flyer from Duqueine Team’s Doriane Pin bested long-time leader IDEC Sport, with the Frenchwoman setting a 3:35.248 behind the wheel of the #30 ORECA 07-Gibson LMP2.
Kévin Estre then subsequently slotted into second place in the LMP2 Pro/Am-entered #14 TDS Racing ORECA, 0.710 seconds back, with IDEC’s #28 ORECA third in the hands of Genesis-backed rookie Valerio Rinicella.
Fourth went to the #99 AO by TF ORECA of Dane Cameron, ahead of the #22 United Autosports and #183 AF Corse entries.
And in LMGT3, Jack Hawksworth held on to the top spot, after setting a 3:55.737 inside the opening 30 minutes aboard the #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3.
Augusto Farfus was second aboard the #32 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo, 0.100 seconds back, with Dan Harper improving late on in the #69 BMW to move up to third, just 0.001 seconds behind his teammate.
Julian Hanses’ #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 came next, ahead of the #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R and #87 Lexus.
The most laps, as was the case on the Test Day, were completed by the #15 BMW, whilst the least were done by the #9 #9 Proton Competition ORECA LMP2, aboard which Harry King ran wide at the exit of the Esses early on and brushed the barriers. It initially looked as if he had gotten away with it, however, a sheared rear upright had punched up through the bodywork, causing enough damage to end the car’s session.
Meanwhile, the #37 CLX Motorsport and #4 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECAs, driven by Theodor Jensen and George Kurtz respectively, had separate offs earlier round the Esses, with both of them triggering Slow Zones as they were retrieved from the gravel.
And the #10 Garage 59 McLaren picked up rear-right damage with Antares Au behind the wheel, with Au reporting contact with a LMP2 car over the radio.
The next track action for the competitors of this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans is qualifying at 18:45 CEST, which will determine which cars progress to tomorrow’s Hyperpole.
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