LM24 FP2: Buemi fastest for Toyota at night; WeatherTech Porsche top in LMGTE Pro
The first night running at the 89th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was completed on Wednesday evening with the No.8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid Hypercar driven by Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley leading the way.
It was Buemi who set the fastest lap on 3m29.351s as Toyota Gazoo Racing continued to set the outright pace overall and in the Hypercar category.
The WeatherTech Porsche headed the LMGTE Pro category as Laurens Vanthoor posted a late session time to beat the No.91 Porsche GT Team entry.
JOTA headed LMP2 with its No.38 car, while the No.88 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 once again topped the LMGTE Am category.
Hypercar
• Sebastien Buemi sets fastest night-time of 3m29.351ss in No.8 Toyota GR010-Hybrid Hypercar
• Swiss driver outpaces No.7 Toyota Gazoo entry by 0.459s as Kamui Kobayashi sets second fastest lap of 3m29.738s
• No.708 Glickenhaus Racing entry Olivier Pla, Pipo Derani and Franck Mailleux place third after late lap of 3m30.112s by Pla
• Alpine Elf Matmut have difficult session after addressing balance issues throughout the two hours
• But 3m30.744s lap completed by Nicolas Lapierre is still good enough for third position
• No.709 Glickenhaus of Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook and Roman Dumas is fifth as American entered Hypercar manufacturer makes Le Mans debut this weekend
And suddenly, Le Mans magic happens.#WEC #LeMans24 @24hoursoflemans @SignatechAlpine pic.twitter.com/OkVu4YXuVK
— WEC (@FIAWEC) August 18, 2021
LMGTE Pro
• WeatherTech Racing Porsche leads the chasing pack as Laurens Vanthoor’s 3m49.018s lap enjoys 0.9s gap over opposition
• Frederic Makowiecki second fastest in LMGTE Pro as he takes the No.91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 to a peak lap of 3m49.938s
• No.52 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Daniel Serra places third just 0.055s in arrears to Makowiecki’s best time
• But Serra then stops on track after suffering right front puncture at midway point of the session which results in red flag
• WEC LMGTE Pro points leading No.92 Porsche lies fourth ahead of No.51 AF Corse Ferrari and No.63 Corvette
LMP2
• JOTA on top again in LMP2 as Anthony Davidson’s early session best of 3m32.390s remains unbeaten
• Realteam Racing show strong show of pace as Norman Nato sets second fastest time on a 3m32.608s
• The No.70 Oreca-Gibson is also the fastest Pro/Am entered car in LMP2
• United Autosports USA take third with Filipe Albuquerque’s 3m33.076s just 0.022s ahead of No.26 G-Drive Racing Aurus-Gibson
• DragonSpeed place fifth after Ben Hanley sets 3m33.416s lap in final 10-minutes of two-hour session
• But Hanley then immediately parks car in Indianapolis gravel trap
• Team WRT place sixth and seventh in LMP2 as No.41 car just shades No.31 by 0.00.12s
LMGTE Am
• No.88 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche’s Julien Andlauer again rules the roost in LMGT Am as he sets a 3m 51.452s best to lead LMGTE Am class
• Rinaldi Racing push to the sharp end of the class as Jeroen Bleekemolen sets fastest lap of their week so far on 3m51.959s
• Riccardo Pera places third in the No.56 Team Project 1 Porsche ahead of No.18 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 RSR
