Glickenhaus’s No. 708 007 LMH topped Free Practice 2 on Wednesday evening at La Sarthe with a 3m28.900s from Frenchman Romain Dumas, who was the fastest driver in the field in what the first chance for the teams and drivers to get night laps in ahead of this weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
Dumas’ fastest lap was 0.264 quicker than the first of the Toyotas, the No. 7, which slotted in second after Kamui Kobayashi set a 3m29.164s at the end of the session to better the 3m29.248s from Brendon Hartley in the sister car, which fell to third. It will have come as a relief for the Toyota crew to see the No. 8 car complete 31 laps after missing much of the qualifying session earlier due to a lengthy repair.
The second Glickenhaus and the Alpine ended up fourth and fifth, 2.5 and 3.6 seconds back.
In LMP2 WRT’s No. 31 ORECA set the pace; Rene Rast the fastest driver in the team with a 3m33.119s. The No. 22 United Autosports ORECA came closest with a 3m33.382s set by Filipe Albuquerque, who topped the times early in the two-hour session. Cool Racing’s No. 37 07 Gibson looked set to complete the top three, but the No. 32 Team WRT ORECA snatched third after a late hot lap.
GTE was headlined by the No. 63 Corvette Racing C8.R, Nicky Catsburg’s 3m53.492s the best time in the Pro class. Both C8.Rs featured in the top three, with the No. 64 third, the pair split by the No. 91 Porsche that took second with a 3m53.669s.
Am was topped by a Porsche, the No. 46 Team Project 1 Porsche leading the No. 88 Dempsey Proton example following a 3m55.143 from Mikkel Pedersen. The first of the teams from the other manufacturers was the Northwest AMR Vantage, which ended up third.
Thought it was a relatively quiet session, a handful of cars did hit trouble. The No. 77 Dempsey Proton Porsche and Car Guy Ferrari both suffered punctures and had to limp back to the pits. The No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA stopped on the pit straight after Fabio Scherer caused heavy damage to the front-right suspension of the car on the curbs at the Ford Chicane, and the No. 8 Toyota had a brief off-track excursion with Brendon Hartley at the wheel.
Elsewhere, in pit lane, the No. 93 Proton Porsche was undergoing a full rebuild after Michael Fassbender’s qualifying shunt. The No. 83 AF Corse and No. 45 Algarve Pro Racing ORECAs were, too. Steward Cox from APR confirmed on WEC TV that the No. 45 is being built up from a new chassis after its impact in the first practice session earlier today.
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