Le Mans 24 Hours: Porsche takes 1-2 in free practice

Jani set a 3m22.011s lap in the final 10 minutes of the session in the #2 919 Hybrid to outpace the sister #1 car, which in the hands of Brendon Hartley set a time 0.539s away from Jani’s best.

Each of the three LMP1 manufacturer teams led at various stages during a four-hour session that saw both dry and wet running thanks to scattered showers in the second and third hours.

Toyota’s Anthony Davidson set the initial pace, but soon Mark Webber was at the top of the screens on a 3m35.272s in the #1 Porsche.

Some time later, Loic Duval registered a 3m24.852s lap in the #8 Audi R18 to lead the way at the end of the firs hour, but then after the rain cleared a flurry of fastest laps eventually saw the Porsche 1-2 manifest itself.

Lucas di Grassi briefly outpaced the Porsches with a 3m22.985s lap in the #8 Audi, but the Brazilian then suffered a lurid moment at the first Mulsanne chicane and rattled the kerbs.

This caused the Audi to limp back to the pits, with di Grassi reporting some smoke and vibrations from the front of the R18.

The #8 did not emerge from the pits as repairs were carried out in readiness for qualifying.

The #7 Audi of Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer had a troublesome session, which included an early spin for Treluyer. The three-time winners ended the session in sixth position after struggling with a loose connector on a fuel flow meter.

Toyota eventually placed fourth and fifth, with the #6 car just under of a second ahead of the sister TS 050 Hybrid.

But late drama struck Stephane Sarrazin, as he toured back to the pits with significant front-end damage after an incident at Indianapolis that brought out the third and final red flag - which ended the session prematurely.

Two other red flags interrupted proceedings, the first occurring just before half-distance as Pierre Kaffer’s LMP1 privateer CLM P1/01-AER caught fire between the Mulsanne chicanes before being brought back to the paddock on a flatbed truck.

The second was caused by Bruno Senna in the #43 RGR Sport by Morand Ligier, the Brazilian ending up getting stuck in the gravel at Indianapolis.

KCMG tops LMP2

In the LMP2 class, Tristan Gommendy’s time of 3m40.781s set early in the session put the #33 Eurasia Oreca atop the screens for the majority of the session.

This was soon usurped by one of the class favourites, the #36 Signatech Alpine A410-Nissan driven by reigning class champion Nicolas Lapierre, who peaked with a 3m39.721s.

But in the dying stages, it was the #47 KCMG car of Richard Bradley that stole the top spot on a 3m39.133s to go six tenths clear of his former teammate.

Paul-Loup Chatin took third for the new Panis-Barthez Competition outfit, while Gommendy’s early time stayed good enough for fourth. Thiriet by TDS Racing made it four Oreca cars in the top five.

Ferrari sweeps GTE

Meanwhile, the GTE Pro class saw Ferrari emerge as top dogs after Gianmaria Bruni set a 3m53.833s in the #51 AF Corse 488.

The double Le Mans class winner outpaced the similar Michelotto-designed car entered by Risi Competizione, Bruni’s former WEC partner Toni Vilander setting the time of 3m54.180s.

Third in the LMGTE Pro class was the best Ford GT - the #68 machine driven by Dirk Muller, Joey Hand and Sebastien Bourdais, which was just over a second adrift of the leading Ferrari.

There was trouble however for the #66 Ford in the closing stages as Billy Johnson spun and smote the wall at Mulsanne Corner before crawling back to the pits.

In the GTE Am class, the Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia driven by Rob Bell created a major surprise as it headed the class on a 3m57.543s, some 1.6 seconds ahead of the opposition.

Practice results:

Pos	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Time	Gap
1	2	Romain Dumas   Neel Jani   Marc Lieb	Porsche 919 Hybrid	LMP1	44	3'22.011
2	1	Mark Webber   Timo Bernhard   Brendon Hartley	Porsche 919 Hybrid	LMP1	46	3'22.550	0.539
3	8	Lucas di Grassi   Loic Duval   Oliver Jarvis	Audi R18	LMP1	37	3'22.985	0.974
4	6	Stéphane Sarrazin   Kamui Kobayashi   Mike Conway	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	42	3'23.158	1.147
5	5	Anthony Davidson   Kazuki Nakajima   Sébastien Buemi	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	40	3'24.031	2.020
6	7	Andre Lotterer   Marcel Fassler   Benoit Tréluyer	Audi R18	LMP1	38	3'25.526	3.515
7	12	Nick Heidfeld   Nelson Piquet Jr.   Nicolas Prost	Rebellion R-One	LMP1	43	3'28.036	6.025
8	13	Alexandre Imperatori   Dominik Kraihamer   Matheo Tuscher	Rebellion R-One	LMP1	42	3'28.291	6.280
9	4	Simon Trummer   Oliver Webb   Pierre Kaffer	CLM P1/01	LMP1	15	3'33.232	11.221
10	47	Matthew Howson   Richard Bradley   Tsugio Matsuda	Oreca 05	LMP2	34	3'39.133	17.122
11	36	Nicolas Lapierre   Gustavo Menezes   Stéphane Richelmi	Alpine A460	LMP2	30	3'39.721	17.710
12	23	Paul-Loup Chatin   Fabien Barthez   Timothé Buret	Ligier JS P2	LMP2	42	3'40.308	18.297
13	33	Tristan Gommendy   Pu Junjin   Nick de Bruijn	Oreca 05	LMP2	39	3'40.321	18.310
14	46	Mathias Beche   Pierre Thiriet   Ryo Hirakawa	Oreca 05	LMP2	40	3'40.455	18.444
15	42	Nick Leventis   Danny Watts   Jonny Kane	Gibson 015S	LMP2	30	3'40.976	18.965
16	30	Scott Sharp   Ed Brown   Johannes van Overbeek	Ligier JS P2	LMP2	37	3'41.327	19.316
17	26	Will Stevens   Roman Rusinov   René Rast	Oreca 05	LMP2	48	3'41.410	19.399
18	31	Pipo Derani   Ryan Dalziel   Chris Cumming	Ligier JS P2	LMP2	37	3'42.116	20.105
19	49	Laurens Vanthoor   John Pew   Oswaldo Negri Jr	Ligier JS P2	LMP2	39	3'42.119	20.108
20	35	Nelson Panciatici   Ho-Pin Tung   David Cheng	Alpine A460	LMP2	25	3'42.143	20.132
21	44	Roberto Merhi   Tor Graves   Matthew Rao	Oreca 05	LMP2	32	3'42.866	20.855
22	27	Maurizio Mediani   Nicolas Minassian   Mikhail Aleshin	BR01	LMP2	36	3'43.407	21.396
23	38	Giedo van der Garde   Simon Dolan   Jake Dennis	Gibson 015S	LMP2	41	3'43.455	21.444
24	37	Vitaly Petrov   Viktor Shaytar   Kirill Ladygin	BR01	LMP2	30	3'43.828	21.817
25	43	Bruno Senna   Ricardo Gonzalez   Filipe Albuquerque	Ligier JS P2	LMP2	34	3'44.086	22.075
26	28	Leo Roussel   Inès Taittinger   Remy Striebig	Morgan	LMP2	28	3'44.118	22.107
27	48	Jeroen Bleekemolen   Ben Keating   Marc Goossens	Oreca 03R	LMP2	26	3'45.817	23.806
28	34	Shinji Nakano   Nicolas Leutwiler   James Winslow	Oreca 03R	LMP2	39	3'46.130	24.119
29	22	Erik Maris   Vincent Capillaire   Jonathan Coleman	Ligier JS P2	LMP2	28	3'48.953	26.942
30	40	Tracy Krohn   Nic Jonsson   Joao Barbosa	Ligier JS P2	LMP2	21	3'49.988	27.977
31	51	Gianmaria Bruni   James Calado   Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 488 GTE	LMGTE Pro	33	3'53.833	31.822
32	82	Giancarlo Fisichella   Toni Vilander   Matteo Malucelli	Ferrari 488 GTE	LMGTE Pro	20	3'54.180	32.169
33	68	Sébastien Bourdais   Joey Hand   Dirk Müller	Ford GT	LMGTE Pro	32	3'54.893	32.882
34	66	Stefan Mücke   Olivier Pla   Billy Johnson	Ford GT	LMGTE Pro	30	3'55.081	33.070
35	67	Harry Tincknell   Andy Priaulx   Marino Franchitti	Ford GT	LMGTE Pro	31	3'55.436	33.425
36	71	Sam Bird   Davide Rigon   Andrea Bertolini	Ferrari 488 GTE	LMGTE Pro	32	3'55.502	33.491
37	69	Ryan Briscoe   Scott Dixon   Richard Westbrook	Ford GT	LMGTE Pro	30	3'55.510	33.499
38	92	Frédéric Makowiecki   Earl Bamber   Jörg Bergmeister	Porsche 911 RSR (2016)	LMGTE Pro	28	3'55.661	33.650
39	64	Oliver Gavin   Tommy Milner   Jordan Taylor	Chevrolet Corvette C7R	LMGTE Pro	25	3'56.131	34.120
40	63	Jan Magnussen   Antonio Garcia   Ricky Taylor	Chevrolet Corvette C7R	LMGTE Pro	28	3'56.490	34.479
41	91	Nick Tandy   Patrick Pilet   Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR (2016)	LMGTE Pro	31	3'56.506	34.495
42	95	Marco Sorensen   Nicki Thiim   Darren Turner	Aston Martin Vantage	LMGTE Pro	46	3'56.618	34.607
43	77	Richard Lietz   Michael Christensen   Philipp Eng	Porsche 911 RSR (2016)	LMGTE Pro	26	3'56.996	34.985
44	97	Fernando Rees   Richie Stanaway   Jonathan Adam	Aston Martin Vantage	LMGTE Pro	46	3'57.457	35.446
45	61	Rob Bell   Mok Weng Sun   Keita Sawa	Ferrari F458 Italia	LMGTE Am	40	3'57.543	35.532
46	62	William Sweedler   Townsend Bell   Jeff Segal	Ferrari F458 Italia	LMGTE Am	28	3'59.103	37.092
47	83	François Perrodo   Emmanuel Collard   Rui Aguas	Ferrari F458 Italia	LMGTE Am	33	3'59.294	37.283
48	88	David Heinemeier Hansson  Patrick Long   Khaled Al Qubaisi	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE Am	36	3'59.592	37.581
49	78	Christian Ried   Wolf Henzler   Joel Camathias	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE Am	28	4'00.418	38.407
50	98	Pedro Lamy   Paul Dalla Lana   Mathias Lauda	Aston Martin Vantage V8	LMGTE Am	43	4'00.853	38.842
51	50	Pierre Ragues   Yutaka Yamagishi   Jean-Philippe Belloc	Chevrolet Corvette C7-Z06	LMGTE Am	26	4'01.177	39.166
52	55	Duncan Cameron   Matt Griffin   Aaron Scott	Ferrari F458 Italia	LMGTE Am	39	4'01.200	39.189
53	89	Marc Miller   Cooper MacNeil   Lehman Keen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE Am	34	4'02.191	40.180
54	60	Christina Nielsen   Johnny Laursen   Mikkel Mac	Ferrari F458 Italia	LMGTE Am	34	4'02.432	40.421
55	86	Michael Wainwright   Adam Carroll   Ben Barker	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE Am	24	4'03.783	41.772
56	57	Mark Patterson   Johnny O'Connell  Oliver Bryant	Chevrolet Corvette C7-Z06	LMGTE Am	30	4'04.526	42.515
57	99	Gary Hirsch   Liam Griffin   Andrew Howard	Aston Martin Vantage V8	LMGTE Am	31	4'07.679	45.668