buemi toyota le mans

Le Mans Night Practice: Buemi fastest for Toyota

Press Office 2 min read

buemi toyota le mans

The first night running at the 89th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans ended Wednesday with the No.8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid Hypercar driven by Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley leading the way.

After topping FP1 with the No.7 Toyota Gazoo Racing, it was Buemi who set the fastest lap on 3:29.351s as their N0.8 car continued to set the outright pace overall and in the Hypercar category.

The WeatherTech Porsche headed the LMGTE Pro category as Laurens Vanthoor posted a late session time to beat the No.91 Porsche GT Team entry.

JOTA headed LMP2 with its No.38 car, while the No.88 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 once again topped the LMGTE Am category.



Hypercar  

  • Sebastien Buemi set the fastest night-time of 3:29.351ss in No.8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid Hypercar
  • Swiss driver outpaces No.7 Toyota Gazoo entry by 0.459s as Kamui Kobayashi was second fastest with a lap time of 3:29.738s
  • No.708 Glickenhaus Racing entry Olivier Pla, Pipo Derani and Franck Mailleux place third after late lap of 3:30.112s by Pla
  • Alpine Elf Matmut have a difficult session after addressing balance issues throughout the two hours
  • But 3:30.744s lap completed by Nicolas Lapierre is still good enough for third position
  • No.709 Glickenhaus of Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook and Roman Dumas end fifth as American entered Hypercar manufacturer makes Le Mans debut this weekend

LMGTE Pro

  • WeatherTech Racing Porsche led the chasing pack as Laurens Vanthoor’s 3:49.018s lap enjoyed a handy 0.9s gap over opposition
  • Frederic Makowiecki was second fastest in LMGTE Pro delivering a peak lap in the No.91 Porsche 911 RSR-of 3m49.938s
  • No.52 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Daniel Serra placed third just 0.055s in arrears to Makowiecki’s best time, before Serra stopped on track after suffering a right-front puncture at midway point of the session which resulted in red flag
  • WEC LMGTE Pro points leading No.92 Porsche ended fourth ahead of No.51 AF Corse Ferrari and No.63 Corvette

LMP2

  • JOTA was on top again in LMP2 as Anthony Davidson’s early session best of 3m32.390s remained unbeaten
  • Realteam Racing show strong show of pace as Norman Nato set the second-fastest time on a 3m32.608s
  • The No.70 Oreca-Gibson was also the fastest Pro/Am entered car in LMP2
  • United Autosports USA finish third on the timing screens with Filipe Albuquerque’s 3m33.076s just 0.022s ahead of No.26 G-Drive Racing Aurus-Gibson
  • DragonSpeed placed fifth after Ben Hanley went round in 3m33.416s lap during the final 10-minutes of the two-hour session. But Hanley then immediately parked car in Indianapolis gravel trap
  • Team WRT are sixth and seventh in LMP2 with No.41 car just shadig No.31 by 0.00.12s

LMGTE Am

  • No.88 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche’s Julien Andlauer again ruled the roost in LMGT Am with a best time of 3m 51.452s best to lead LMGTE Am class
  • Rinaldi Racing push to the sharp end of the class as Jeroen Bleekemolen delivers the fastest lap of their week so far on 3m51.959s
  • Riccardo Pera ended third in the No.56 Team Project 1 Porsche ahead of No.18 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 RSR