It was a busy day for the 59 cars taking part in the 88th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Track action began with three free practices as well as one qualifying session.
With the sun shining and an almost cloudless blue sky, FP1 started at 10am this morning on the Circuit de la Sarthe. The session was interrupted by one safety car as result of debris and one red flag after the n°89 Team Project 1 Porsche went off.
The top European Le Mans Series competitor, the n°30 Duqueine Team Oreca 07 finished 4th with a lap in 3:31.309 set by Konstantin Tereschenko.
After the three-hour session, the n°26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01 of Roman Rusinov, Jean-Eric Vergne and Mikkel Jensen finished fifth of the 24 cars LMP2 grid and first of the 19 ELMS cars. Mikkel Jensen set a lap of the 13,6 km circuit in 3:29.436.
The qualifying session for the 24 Hours of Le Mans took place right after the FP2. This session was the first stage of the new qualifying process: the first six placed cars of each category will be selected to take part to the hyperpole tomorrow. The hyperpole will be the session that will determine who will start the 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans in pole position in each class.
After the three-hour session, the n°26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01 of Roman Rusinov, Jean-Eric Vergne and Mikkel Jensen finished fifth of the 24 cars LMP2 grid and first of the 19 ELMS cars. Mikkel Jensen set a lap of the 13,6 km circuit in 3:29.436.
The qualifying session for the 24 Hours of Le Mans took place right after the FP2. This session was the first stage of the new qualifying process: the first six placed cars of each category will be selected to take part to the hyperpole tomorrow. The hyperpole will be the session that will determine who will start the 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans in pole position in each class.
Two ELMS cars made it to the hyperpole after the 45 minutes qualifying session. The first one is the n°26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01 that qualified 4th with a lap in 3:27.366 posted by Jean-Eric Vergne. He is followed by Alex Brundle at the wheel of the n°32 United Autosports Oreca 07 who set a time of 3:27.598.
The hyperpole will take place tomorrow from 11:30 and will be preceded by the fourth Free Practice sessions of the weekend.
The day ended with one night session to allow the drivers to get used to the night driving before the race on Saturday. Three ELMS teams were on top of the session. First the n°30 Duqueine Team Oreca with a lap in 3:28.013, followed by the n°32 United Autosports of Will Owen, Alex Brundle and Job Van Uitert. On third was the n°26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01.
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