Toyota Gazoo Racing and Rebellion Racing finished the session in the first four places, the Japanese marque in first and third, on a day that double Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso got his first run at the legendary Le Mans circuit.
McLaren F1 driver Alonso got his first 24 Hours of Le Mans off to a great start by setting the fastest lap of the day at the official test day ahead of the race on the 16-17 June, round 2 of the WEC Super Season.
The Spaniard set a best lap time of 3:19.066 around the 13.6km Circuit des 24 Heures in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, finishing the day 0.6 of a second ahead of the nearest LMP1 rival. He was also quickest in the morning session.
The two Toyotas were split by the #3 Rebellion Racing R13-Gibson which finished second quickest, with Mathias Beche setting a 3:19.680, 0.328s ahead of the #7 Toyota of former F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi.
Alonso did stints in both cars during the course of the day, sharing the cockpit with former Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Buemi, ex-Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima and Jose Mario Lopez.
Other former F1 drivers in LMP1 and LMP2 action on the day included:
- Bruno Senna, fourth fastest in the #1 Rebellion;
- Jenson Button made his debut for SMP Racing alongside Vitaly Petrov and ended the day fifth fastest;
- Pastor Maldonado's #31 Dragonspeed Oreca team was fastest in the LMP2 category.
Alonso said in a tweet:"First laps at Le Mans! Mega circuit! Learning and enjoying every lap. First laps at Le Mans Circuit this morning. What a place and what a car!"
The LMGTE Pro category was hard fought with Ford leading the way at the end of the morning session. However, it was Porsche who came out on top at the end of the day with Patrick Pilet posting a 3:52.551 just before the session prematurely due to a red flag less than two minutes before the chequered flag was due to be waved.
The pink #93 Porsche 911 RSR of Pilet was just 0.096s ahead of the sister car, the #91 911 of Gianmaria Bruni, which was the quickest of the cars racing in the WEC and fighting for the FIA world title. The four Ford GTs filled the next four slots on the timesheets with the #67 Ford GT third quickest with Andy Priaulx setting a 3:53.008 lap.
In LMP2 it was the #31 DragonSpeed ORECA which topped the timesheets with Nathanael Berthon who set the 3:55.970 lap to put the American team ahead of the 19 other class rivals on the grid. The second placed car, the #48 IDEC Sport ORECA of Paul Loup Chatin, was just 0.024s behind, with the #26 G-Drive Racing entry in third.
The LMGTE Am category was also headed by a Porsche, with the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing 911 RSR posting a 3:55.970 lap with Julien Andlauer at the wheel, 0.299s ahead of the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE of Giancarlo Fisichella.
The two test sessions were interrupted by the red flag several times. Some cars were damaged and the safety barriers had to be repaired. Fortunately, none of the drivers were injured.
The teams now have one week before the 86th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans gets underway with Scrutineering in the centre of Le Mans on Sunday 10th and Monday 11 June. Track action begins on Wednesday 13 June with the race beginning at 15h00 on Saturday 16 June.
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