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WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans 24 Hours - Free Practice

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Well that's the fun over with for now, join us in a little under two hours and we'll enjoy the adventure of Le Mans qualifying together!

See you then.

Pit Stop
Garage doors now closed at Toyota, never a good sign!
We're just getting a view of the dented Armco on the run to Arnage. Substantial!
Mechanical problem
At Toyota, they are toiling to fix the shunted #6 car.
A picture of serenity in the Porsche garage, less so elsewhere.
Senna gets a pat on the back from teammate Albuquerque. So no hard feelings there.
In other Brazilian news, a shout out to...
Senna's #43 Ligier is brought back to the pits. He's in the cab of the flatbed truck, no doubt preparing his excuses!
Teams now have two hours to regroup before qualifying – and the really serious stuff begins.
GTE Am appears wide open – if you've got a Ferrari.

GTE Pro looks like it's following the pre-ordained script of the repeat of the overall battle of 50 years ago between Ferrari and Ford.

The other manufacturers might have to take a back seat this time...

Crash
Finally got a replay of Sarrazin's accident, he lost it on the exit kerb of the left-hand element of Indianapolis and spun across the track into the Armco on the inside. Looked like pure driver error.
In LMP2, KCMG jumped to the top of the heap at the end of the session – so they're in the mix for a repeat of last year's victory.

What else did we learn? Audi is quick, but mechanical issues have already raised their head.

Toyota is the stalking horse of the factory LMP1 cars, but that shunt right at the end from Sarrazin won't have helped.

Final laptimes:

Pos.No.CarTime/Gap
1 2 Porsche 3m22.011s
2 1 Porsche +0.539s
3 8 Audi +0.974s
4 6 Toyota +1.147s
5 5 Toyota +2.020s
6 7 Audi +3.515s
LMP2 47 Oreca 3m39.133s
GTE Pro 51 Ferrari 3m53.833s
GTE Am 61 Ferrari 3m57.543s
We picked up the remains of his accident from the on-board camera on the sister Toyota.
Sarrazin crashed in a bizarre place, between Indianapolis and Arnage.

So what did we learn from that session?

Porsche has pace to burn, it seems. And Neel Jani doesn't need two eyes open to do it!

Well you can't take your eyes off Le Mans for a moment, can you?
Mechanical problem
The front bodywork is largely destroyed.
Sarrazin drags a very battered-looking car back to the pits.
Crash
And Toyota #6 has been off!
Chequered Flag
The session will not be resumed. So that's that.
Mechanical problem
Fassler is told there is a "problem with a connector to the fuel-flow meter" on Audi #7.
Red Flag
Car #28 off at the Porsche Curves. A third red flag.
Stopwatch
One eye closed or not, Jani moves the #2 Porsche to the top of the times, a 3m22.011s.
Both Porsches and both Toyotas now on track in LMP1. Both Audis stranded in the pits.
Stopwatch
Bell is now over 1.5s clear in the class, on 3m57.937s.
Stopwatch
We have a new GTE Am pacesetter, and it's Rob Bell in the Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458.
Damage appears cosmetic, his left-side mirror is hanging off.
Quote
"The steering wheel is strange" reports Johnson.
Yellow Flag
Yellow flags out at Indianapolis again.
It's always an uncomfortable journey to drag a car back to the pits here, especially though the blind, high-speed Porsche Curves.
He spun at the Mulsanne Chicane by the looks of it, and rotated into the tyrewall on the outside of the corner. He's driving slowly back to the pits.
Billy Johnson was at the wheel.
Crash
Car in the wall! It's the #66 Ford GT.
Sarrazin gets a track limits warning.
Crash
Car #38 spins at Dunlop Chicane.
Here we go then, Sarrazin up to P4 on 3m23.158s in Toyota #6.
So we have the #2 Porsche (with one eye) and both Toyotas on track as the session draws to a close.
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