Practice report
WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans
Le Mans 24h: Toyota fastest in first practice ahead of Cadillac
Toyota set the pace in the opening practice session for this week's Le Mans 24 Hours, with Cadillac proving its nearest rival in the Hypercar class.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Jun 8, 2023, 9:07 PM
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The two Toyota GR010 HYBRIDs locked out the top two positions during Wednesday afternoon's three-hour session, with Brendon Hartley setting the pace aboard the #8 car on a 3m27.742s.
That was almost two seconds up on the best time set in Sunday's official test day.
It was the sister #7 Toyota that led the way for most of the session, as Jose Maria Lopez punched in a 3m28.290s early on, going a tenth faster than Loic Duval in the leading Peugeot 9X8.
That was then bettered by Kamui Kobayashi, who lowered the bar to a 3m27.875s when the session was resumed following a red flag prompted by a crash at Tertre Rouge involving the #777 D'station Racing Aston Martin Vantage and the #13 TDS Racing-run Tower Motorsports LMP2.
Casper Stevenson had already suffered an off in the D'station car and was stranded in the middle of the circuit when Steven Thomas slammed into the side of the stricken Aston, leaving both cars badly damaged. The session was resumed after a 35-minute delay.
Hartley made his improvement with 23 minutes left on the clock to make it a Toyota 1-2, 0.133s ahead of Kobayashi, before the session was stopped for a second time with four minutes to go.
That was caused by another crash at Tertre Rouge, this time for the solo Corvette C8.R of Nico Varrone.
Jumping to third late on prior to the stoppage was the best of the Cadillac V-Series.R LMDhs, the #2 Chip Ganassi Racing-run car of Earl Bamber, who managed to get within two tenths of Hartley's benchmark with a 3m27.939s.
Next up were two Porsche 963s, with the #75 car of Felipe Nasr setting the fourth-fastest time ahead of Kevin Estre in the #6 car, both drivers coming within half a second of the pace.
Peugeot's pair of 9X8 LMHs were sixth and seventh, Duval in the #94 car leading the #93 machine in which Mikkel Jensen set the best time prior to suffering a stoppage in the pitlane.
Ferrari, which had topped the test day with its new 499P LMH endured a low-key first practice session with Antonio Fuoco going eighth fastest in the #50 car, four places up on the sister #51 machine of Alessandro Pier Guidi.
Completing the top 10 were the #3 Cadillac of Sebastien Bourdais and the remaining works Porsche, the #5 car of Frederic Makowiecki.
In LMP2, an early lap of 3m34.579s from Pietro Fittipaldi in the #28 JOTA ORECA was enough to top the session by just three hundredths ahead of the #37 Cool Racing entry piloted by Malthe Jakobsen.
Prema's #9 car recovered from an early incident in which it sustained rear wing damage to set the third-fastest time in the hands of Mirko Bortolotti.
Leading the way in GTE AM was the #55 GMB Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GTE of factory driver Marco Sorensen with a best time of 3m55.020s.
Riccardo Pera was second-fastest in the #86 GR Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19, three tenths behind, followed by Valentin Hasse-Clot in another Aston, the #72 TF Sport entry.
The Garage 56-entered Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 NASCAR Cup car was comfortably faster than the entire GTE Am field with a best time of 3m49.475 set by ex-Formula 1 champion Jenson Button.
Early in the session, Robin Frijns survived an off at Tertre Rouge aboard the #31 WRT Oreca, albeit making contact with the guard rail.
Other LMP2 runners to hit trouble included the #35 Alpine LMP2 car, as Oli Caldwell crashed at the first part of the Ford chicane, and the #34 Inter Europol Competition machine, which broke down at the pitlane exit.
Also in the wars was the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE in which Louis Prette suffered a head-on collision with the barriers at the Ford chicane, with that car not reappearing for the rest of the session.
First qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours begins at 1900 local time, while second practice follows at 2200.
Le Mans 24 Hours - First practice results:
Pos. # Drivers Car Class Time Gap 1 8 
Sebastien Buemi
Brendon Hartley
Ryo Hirakawa Toyota GR010 - Hybrid Hypercar 3'27.742 2 7 
Mike Conway
Kamui Kobayashi
Jose Maria Lopez Toyota GR010 - Hybrid Hypercar 3'27.875 0.133 3 2 Earl Bamber
Alex Lynn
Richard Westbrook Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 3'27.939 0.197 4 75 
Mathieu Jaminet
Luiz Felipe Nasr
Nick Tandy Porsche 963 Hypercar 3'28.150 0.408 5 6 Kevin Estre
Andre Lotterer
Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 963 Hypercar 3'28.167 0.425 6 94 Loïc Duval
Gustavo Menezes
Nico Müller Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar 3'28.386 0.644 7 93 Paul di Resta
Mikkel Jensen
Jean-Eric Vergne Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar 3'28.533 0.791 8 50 
Antonio Fuoco
Miguel Molina
Nicklas Nielsen Ferrari 499P Hypercar 3'28.708 0.966 9 3 Sebastien Bourdais
Scott Dixon
Renger van der Zande Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 3'28.799 1.057 10 5 Dane Cameron
Michael Christensen
Frédéric Makowiecki Porsche 963 Hypercar 3'29.375 1.633 11 709 Nathanaël Berthon
Esteban Gutierrez
Franck Mailleux Glickenhaus 007 LMH Hypercar 3'29.617 1.875 12 51 James Calado
Antonio Giovinazzi
Alessandro Pier Guidi Ferrari 499P Hypercar 3'29.845 2.103 13 708 
Ryan Briscoe
Romain Dumas
Olivier Pla Glickenhaus 007 LMH Hypercar 3'29.991 2.249 14 38 
Antonio Felix da Costa
Will Stevens
Ye Yifei Porsche 963 Hypercar 3'30.084 2.342 15 311 Jack Aitken
Pipo Derani
Alexander Sims Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 3'30.300 2.558 16 28 Pietro Fittipaldi
David Heinemeier Hansson
Oliver Rasmussen Oreca 07 LMP2 3'34.579 6.837 17 37 Alexandre Coigny
Malthe Jakobsen
Nicolas Lapierre Oreca 07 LMP2 3'34.611 6.869 18 4 Tom Dillmann
Esteban Guerrieri
Tristan Vautier Vanwall Vandervell 680 Hypercar 3'34.923 7.181 19 63 Mirko Bortolotti
Daniil Kvyat
Doriane Pin Oreca 07 LMP2 3'36.451 8.709 20 36 Julien Canal
Charles Milesi
Matthieu Vaxivière Oreca 07 LMP2 3'36.471 8.729 21 34 Albert Costa
Fabio Scherer
Jakub Smiechowski Oreca 07 LMP2 3'36.796 9.054 22 31 Robin Frijns
Sean Gelael
Ferdinand Habsburg Oreca 07 LMP2 3'36.870 9.128 23 14 Mathias Beche
Ben Hanley
Rodrigo Sales Oreca 07 LMP2 3'36.941 9.199 24 923 Tom Gamble
Dries Vanthoor
Salih Yoluc Oreca 07 LMP2 3'36.993 9.251 25 10 Gabriel Aubry
Ryan Cullen
Matthias Kaiser Oreca 07 LMP2 3'37.223 9.481 26 30 Rene Binder
Neel Jani
Nicolas Pino Oreca 07 LMP2 3'37.305 9.563 27 43 Maxime Martin
Tom van Rompuy
Ugo De Wilde Oreca 07 LMP2 3'37.656 9.914 28 65
Tijmen van der Helm
Manuel Maldonado
Job Van Uitert
Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.047 10.305 29 47 Reshad de Gerus
Vlad Lomko
Simon Pagenaud Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.141 10.399 30 32 Anders Fjordbach
Mark Kvamme
Jan Magnussen Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.229 10.487 31 41 Rui Andrade
Louis Deletraz
Robert Kubica Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.234 10.492 32 39 Giedo van der Garde
Roberto Lacorte
Patrick Pilet Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.463 10.721 33 48 Paul Loup Chatin
Laurents Hörr
Paul Lafargue Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.767 11.025 34 80 Ben Barnicoat
Norman Nato
François Perrodo Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.878 11.136 35 13 René Rast
Ricky Taylor
Steven Thomas Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.898 11.156 36 9 
Juan Manuel Correa
Filip Ugran
Bent Viscaal Oreca 07 LMP2 3'39.266 11.524 37 23 Tom Blomqvist
Oliver Jarvis
Josh Pierson Oreca 07 LMP2 3'39.299 11.557 38 35 Olli Caldwell
André Negrão
Memo Rojas Oreca 07 LMP2 3'40.411 12.669 39 45 James Allen
Colin Braun
George Kurtz Oreca 07 LMP2 3'40.817 13.075 40 22 Filipe Albuquerque
Philip Hanson
Frederick Lubin Oreca 07 LMP2 3'41.249 13.507 41 24 Jenson Button
Jimmie Johnson
Mike Rockenfeller Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 INNOVATIVE CAR 3'49.475 21.733 42 55 Gustav Birch
Jens Reno Møller
Marco Sørensen Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'55.020 27.278 43 86 Ben Barker
Riccardo Pera
Michael Wainwright Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'55.330 27.588 44 72 Valentin Hasse-Clot
Arnold Robin
Maxime Robin Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'55.506 27.764 45 16 Ryan Hardwick
Jan Heylen
Zacharie Robichon Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'55.573 27.831 46 60 Matteo Cressoni
Alessio Picariello
Claudio Schiavoni Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'55.624 27.882 47 98 Ian James
Daniel Mancinelli
Alex Riberas Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'55.632 27.890 48 83 Luis Perez Companc
Alessio Rovera
Lilou Wadoux Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'55.806 28.064 49 85 Sarah Bovy
Rahel Frey
Michelle Gatting Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'55.883 28.141 50 88 Jonas Ried
Harry Tincknell
Don Yount Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'55.972 28.230 51 25 
Ahmad Al Harthy
Michael Dinan
Charlie Eastwood Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'56.038 28.296 52 56 Matteo Cairoli
PJ Hyett
Gunnar Jeannette Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'56.073 28.331 53 66 Neubauer Thomas
Giacomo Petrobelli
Louis Prette Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'56.085 28.343 54 911 Michael Fassbender
Richard Lietz
Martin Rump Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'56.159 28.417 55 74 Kei Cozzolino
Yorikatsu Tsujiko
Naoki Yokomizo Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'56.211 28.469 56 21 Simon Mann
Ulysse De Pauw
Julien Piguet Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'56.283 28.541 57 77 Julien Andlauer
Christian Ried
Mikkel Pedersen Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'56.457 28.715 58 57 Scott Huffaker
Takeshi Kimura
Daniel Serra Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'56.477 28.735 59 54 Francesco Castellacci
Thomas Flohr
Davide Rigon Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'56.548 28.806 60 33 Nicky Catsburg
Ben Keating
Nicolas Varrone Chevrolet Corvette C8.R LMGTE AM 3'56.552 28.810 61 777 Tomonobu Fujii
Satoshi Hoshino
Casper Stevenson Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'56.961 29.219 62 100 Andrew Haryanto
Chandler Hull
Jeffrey Segal Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 4'00.446 32.704
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