AF Corse tops first Le Mans test

AF Corse laid down the first marker on the Le Mans 24 Hours Test Day at the Circuit de la Sarthe. Robert Kubica in the No. 83 Ferrari 499P set a 3m 27.010s midway through the running to go top of the times by a second.

Toyota's No. 8 GR010 ended up second in the times with a 3m 28.000s from Brendon Hartley at the end of the session, while the No. 38 JOTA Cadillac slotted in third in the Hypercar class.

Antonio Giovinazzi put the No. 51 Ferrari 499P fourth with a late 3m 28.843s. That pushed the Whelen Cadillac to fifth, while the No. 6 Penske Porsche, which sat atop the times early on, would take sixth. Making it five manufacturers in the top seven was BMW Team WRT's No. 20 M Hybrid V8, with a time two seconds off.

Notably, the Whelen Cadillac was driven for two hours by Jack Aitken, who has since dashed off to Zandvoort to take part in the second DTM race of the weekend.

“It was similar to last year, the track was in surprisingly good condition because they’ve had support events running, and it’s already got a bit of rubber on it," he said.

"Straight away, the car was working well. We have a known baseline from our previous years running here and have not strayed too far from that on this first day. We know we have a strong car, so it was nice to jump straight in and look at the details rather than anything too big picture. I’m looking forward to returning this week to get more time in the car.”

All 21 cars in the top class completed plenty of laps, with all but one of them - the No. 99 Proton Competition Porsche – reeling off 30 or more. That included the two Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyries, which ended up 11th (No. 009) and 15th (No. 007), 2.4 and 2.8 seconds off, respectively, on their first laps of the circuit.

The times in Hypercar improved throughout the first of two three-hour sessions, but there’s still plenty of speed to be found later today and through next week. Parts of the circuit have been resurfaced, and the fastest time last year during the Test Day was a 3m 26.9s.

In LMP2, RLR's No. 16 P2 Pro/Am ORECA led the way with a 3m 36.593s from Patrick Pilet. The best time from LMP2 was the CLX Pure Rxcing machine, with a 3m 36.853s. The top 16 in the 17-car LMP2 field were separated by just three seconds.

LMGT3 saw the AKKODIS ASP Lexus RC F GT3s finish up fastest and third fastest, with the No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari separating the two cars.

The No. 87 Lexus set the benchmark time as part of a 35-lap run, with a time of 3m 57.109s, achieved by Jose Maria Lopez.

The No. 57 Kessel and No. 150 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferraris took fourth and fifth.

There were two incidents of note in the session. The first was an off at the Porsche Curves from Luca Ghiotto.

The Italian damaged the front and rear of the No. 34 Inter Europol ORECA in the opening hour after just seven tours of the circuit and required intervention from the circuit safety team. That incident prompted a safety car test, which was planned for the first caution period.

Second was an engine failure for the No. 45 Crowdstrike liveried Algarve Pro Racing ORECA, which limited the car to just eight laps.

The failure occurred after an installation lap and a visit to the weigh bridge. Upon pulling away, the car suffered a massive internal failure on the unit, which was well used but within its allocated hours.

“It’s the first time I can remember an engine failure at this circuit,” team boss Sam Cox told RACER.

Remarkably, the team completed a full engine change in roughly two hours and rejoined the session before the end.

The next session is set to get underway at 15:30 local time, 9:30 AM ET.