Practice report
WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans
Le Mans 24h: Porsche beats Ferrari in opening night practice
Porsche pipped Ferrari in second free practice for the Le Mans 24 Hours to end the Italian manufacturer’s stranglehold on the top spot in the times.
Gary Watkins
Edited: Jun 8, 2023, 9:02 PM
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Laurens Vanthoor went quickest with just over 30 minutes of the two-hour night session remaining on Wednesday aboard his Porsche 963 LMDh to beat Ferrari driver James Calado’s mark by three tenths.
Vanthoor posted a 3m29.157s to go quickest aboard the only one of the three Porsche Penske Motorsport entries not to make it through to the Hypercar qualifying session for the double-points round of the World Endurance Championship.
That put him just seven hundredths up on Calado before he made a further improvement to get down to 3m28.878s.
Calado had been quickest with a 3m29.225s set at the start of the session.
Porsche backed up its upturn in form in the WEC by taking third position courtesy of a 3m29.307s from Dane Cameron.
Cadillac took fourth position, Earl Bamber posting a 3m29.545s to end up seven tenths off the pace aboard the Ganassi team’s full-season WEC entry with the V-Series.R LMDh.
Kamui Kobayashi jumped to fifth place in the best of the Toyota GR010 HYBRIDs right at the end of the session with a 3m29.624s.
The Jota Porsche customer team managed a series of quick times after failing to complete a flying lap in first qualifying.
Will Stevens made a late improvement on Antonio Felix da Costa’s previous best with a 3m29.784s to propel the car from eighth to sixth.
The Action Express Racing Cadillac team ended up seventh fastest after failing to make it through to Hyperpole, Jack Aitken getting down to a 3m29.846s.
Ferrari’s second 499P was eighth courtesy of a 3m30.086s from Nicklas Nielsen.
The top 10 in the Hypercar class was rounded out by Olivier Pla in the best of the Glickenhaus-Pipo 007 LMHs and Renger van der Zande in the second Ganassi-run Cadillac Racing entry.
Mirko Bortolotti jumped to the top of the order in LMP2 with just minutes left on the clock in his Prema ORECA-Gibson 07.
He posted a 3m36.863s, two tenths up on United Autosports driver Filipe Albuquerque, another late improver with a 3m37.079s.
Albuquerque beat Jota ORECA driver Pietro Fittipaldi, who had been fastest in class for much of the session, into third place.
#24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 of Jimmie Johnson, Mike Rockenfeller, Jenson Button
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
The NASCAR Garage 56 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 lapped in 3m51.904s in this session, as its drivers ensured its lights system was in full working order.
Kessel Ferrari driver Kei Cozzolino jumped to the top of the order in GTE Am as the chequered flag was shown on the stroke of midnight.
His 3m53.796s aboard the CarGuy-backed Ferrari 488 GTE Evo beat Iron Lynx Porsche driver Alessio Picariello into second by three tenths.
The WEC cars will return to the track for three hours of free practice at 15:00 local time on Thursday, with the half-hour Hyperpole session starting at 20:00.
Le Mans 24 Hours - Free Practice 2 results:
Pos. # Drivers Car Class Time Gap 1 6 
Kevin Estre
Andre Lotterer
Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 963 Hypercar 3'28.878 2 51 
James Calado
Antonio Giovinazzi
Alessandro Pier Guidi Ferrari 499P Hypercar 3'29.225 0.347 3 5 
Dane Cameron
Michael Christensen
Frédéric Makowiecki Porsche 963 Hypercar 3'29.307 0.429 4 2 
Earl Bamber
Alex Lynn
Richard Westbrook Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 3'29.545 0.667 5 7 Mike Conway
Kamui Kobayashi
Jose Maria Lopez Toyota GR010 - Hybrid Hypercar 3'29.624 0.746 6 38 
Antonio Felix da Costa
Will Stevens
Ye Yifei Porsche 963 Hypercar 3'29.784 0.906 7 311 Jack Aitken
Pipo Derani
Alexander Sims Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 3'29.846 0.968 8 50 Antonio Fuoco
Miguel Molina
Nicklas Nielsen Ferrari 499P Hypercar 3'30.086 1.208 9 708 
Ryan Briscoe
Romain Dumas
Olivier Pla Glickenhaus 007 LMH Hypercar 3'30.172 1.294 10 3 Sebastien Bourdais
Scott Dixon
Renger van der Zande Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar 3'30.238 1.360 11 8 
Sebastien Buemi
Brendon Hartley
Ryo Hirakawa Toyota GR010 - Hybrid Hypercar 3'30.500 1.622 12 75 Mathieu Jaminet
Felipe Nasr
Nick Tandy Porsche 963 Hypercar 3'30.740 1.862 13 94 Loïc Duval
Gustavo Menezes
Nico Müller Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar 3'30.800 1.922 14 93 Paul di Resta
Mikkel Jensen
Jean-Eric Vergne Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar 3'30.823 1.945 15 709 Nathanaël Berthon
Esteban Gutierrez
Franck Mailleux Glickenhaus 007 LMH Hypercar 3'31.196 2.318 16 4 Tom Dillmann
Esteban Guerrieri
Tristan Vautier Vanwall Vandervell 680 Hypercar 3'35.147 6.269 17 63 Mirko Bortolotti
Daniil Kvyat
Doriane Pin Oreca 07 LMP2 3'36.863 7.985 18 22 Filipe Albuquerque
Philip Hanson
Frederick Lubin Oreca 07 LMP2 3'37.079 8.201 19 28 Pietro Fittipaldi
David Heinemeier Hansson
Oliver Rasmussen Oreca 07 LMP2 3'37.855 8.977 20 23 Tom Blomqvist
Oliver Jarvis
Josh Pierson Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.153 9.275 21 43 Maxime Martin
Tom van Rompuy
Ugo De Wilde Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.275 9.397 22 14 Mathias Beche
Ben Hanley
Rodrigo Sales Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.330 9.452 23 34 Albert Costa
Fabio Scherer
Jakub Smiechowski Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.399 9.521 24 9 
Juan Manuel Correa
Filip Ugran
Bent Viscaal Oreca 07 LMP2 3'38.890 10.012 25 923 Tom Gamble
Dries Vanthoor
Salih Yoluc Oreca 07 LMP2 3'39.036 10.158 26 36 Julien Canal
Charles Milesi
Matthieu Vaxivière Oreca 07 LMP2 3'39.450 10.572 27 37 Alexandre Coigny
Malthe Jakobsen
Nicolas Lapierre Oreca 07 LMP2 3'39.507 10.629 28 65 Tijmen van der Helm
Manuel Maldonado
Job Van Uitert Oreca 07 LMP2 3'39.797 10.919 29 31 Robin Frijns
Sean Gelael
Ferdinand Habsburg Oreca 07 LMP2 3'39.818 10.940 30 45 James Allen
Colin Braun
George Kurtz Oreca 07 LMP2 3'40.185 11.307 31 47 Reshad de Gerus
Vlad Lomko
Simon Pagenaud Oreca 07 LMP2 3'40.221 11.343 32 30 Rene Binder
Neel Jani
Nicolas Pino Oreca 07 LMP2 3'40.272 11.394 33 39 Giedo van der Garde
Roberto Lacorte
Patrick Pilet Oreca 07 LMP2 3'40.361 11.483 34 35 Olli Caldwell
André Negrão
Memo Rojas Oreca 07 LMP2 3'41.018 12.140 35 41 Rui Andrade
Louis Deletraz
Robert Kubica Oreca 07 LMP2 3'41.074 12.196 36 48 Paul Loup Chatin
Laurents Hörr
Paul Lafargue Oreca 07 LMP2 3'41.301 12.423 37 10 Gabriel Aubry
Ryan Cullen
Matthias Kaiser Oreca 07 LMP2 3'41.678 12.800 38 32 Anders Fjordbach
Mark Kvamme
Jan Magnussen Oreca 07 LMP2 3'42.133 13.255 39 80 Ben Barnicoat
Norman Nato
François Perrodo Oreca 07 LMP2 3'43.191 14.313 40 24 Jenson Button
Jimmie Johnson
Mike Rockenfeller Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 INNOVATIVE CAR 3'51.904 23.026 41 74 Kei Cozzolino
Yorikatsu Tsujiko
Naoki Yokomizo Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'53.796 24.918 42 60 Matteo Cressoni
Alessio Picariello
Claudio Schiavoni Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'54.080 25.202 43 56 Matteo Cairoli
PJ Hyett
Gunnar Jeannette Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'54.172 25.294 44 54 Francesco Castellacci
Thomas Flohr
Davide Rigon Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'54.585 25.707 45 77 Julien Andlauer
Christian Ried
Mikkel Pedersen Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'54.639 25.761 46 85 Sarah Bovy
Rahel Frey
Michelle Gatting Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'54.753 25.875 47 33 Nicky Catsburg
Ben Keating
Nicolas Varrone Chevrolet Corvette C8.R LMGTE AM 3'54.764 25.886 48 57 Scott Huffaker
Takeshi Kimura
Daniel Serra Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'54.792 25.914 49 83 Luis Perez Companc
Alessio Rovera
Lilou Wadoux Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'54.896 26.018 50 88 Jonas Ried
Harry Tincknell
Don Yount Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'55.075 26.197 51 911 Michael Fassbender
Richard Lietz
Martin Rump Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'55.191 26.313 52 100 Andrew Haryanto
Chandler Hull
Jeffrey Segal Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'55.241 26.363 53 98 Ian James
Daniel Mancinelli
Alex Riberas Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'55.831 26.953 54 25 
Ahmad Al Harthy
Michael Dinan
Charlie Eastwood Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'56.219 27.341 55 86 Ben Barker
Riccardo Pera
Michael Wainwright Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'56.371 27.493 56 21 Simon Mann
Ulysse De Pauw
Julien Piguet Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'56.616 27.738 57 72 Valentin Hasse-Clot
Arnold Robin
Maxime Robin Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'56.753 27.875 58 55 Gustav Birch
Jens Reno Møller
Marco Sørensen Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 3'57.220 28.342 59 16 Ryan Hardwick
Jan Heylen
Zacharie Robichon Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 3'57.803 28.925 60 66 Neubauer Thomas
Giacomo Petrobelli
Louis Prette Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 3'58.307 29.429
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