Toyota Gazoo Racing’s three LM P1 hybrids cornered the top spots in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Test Day. At the wheel of the #7, Kamui Kobayashi set the fastest lap time of 03:18.132 in the early afternoon and it remained out of reach. Just to put that into perspective, last year’s pole position time was 03:19.733. Kobayashi’s hot lap was the fastest ever recorded on Test Day. The second Toyota, the #8 (Buemi/Davidson/Nakajima) also broke the 03:20.00 barrier and the third was not far behind. So, one thing is certain, the Toyotas are fast.

The #1 and #2 Porsche 919 Hybrids were fourth and fifth, 3.968 and 4.749 behind. Toyota’s main rival had issues with both speed and reliability today. The #2 had an oil leak towards the end of the morning session, which meant an engine replacement. However, although the German marque was not at its best on Test Day, two weeks before race day, it would be foolish to draw any hasty conclusions.

Lagging behind in the morning session, ENSO CLM, the only LM P1 privateer car fared better in the second session and finished the day in seventh place, but behind the fastest LM P2.

The #35 Signatech Alpine (Panciatici/Ragues/Negrao) held on to the top spot for most of the day. Laurens Vanthoor in the #26 Oreca slipped ahead when he bagged 3:29.585 but was rapidly toppled by Panciatici’s 3:29.008. The Frenchman improved that time in the last hour, with 03:28.146. Jackie Chan DC Racing’s #37 Oreca scored a sub 03:30 lap to take second place in LM P2 but Jean-Eric Vergne in CEFC Manor’s #24 bettered him before the end of the day. Popular Formula One driver Rubens Barrichello was ranked 22nd on 3:33.304 for his maiden Le Mans outing. With 12 minutes to go, the second CEFC Manor (#25) leaked oil and caused a red flag which brought the session to a premature end.  

In LM GTE Pro, Porsche and Corvette played cat and mouse and the American won. Oliver Gavin in the #64 took the lead with 20 minutes left on the clock, banking 03:54.701 ahead of the #91 and #92 factory Porsches on 03:54.996 and 03:54.999. Antonio Garcia placed the second Corvette in fourth place ahead of the #95 Aston Martin. The fastest Ferrari (#71 AF Corse) took seventh place in class, while the fastest Ford, the #69, languished in tenth place, on 03:57.536. Again, the Test Day timesheet can be deceptive, the aim of the sessions being to try different set-ups.

In LM GTE Am, Pedro Lamy waited until the last half-hour to top the class, clocking 03:58.250 with the #98 Aston Martin. Until then, the #50 Corvette, the #77 Porsche of Dempsey-Proton Racing and Scuderia Corsa’s #62 Ferrari thought they had the top three stitched up. In the end, the Corvette took second and the Porsche third, followed by the Ferrari - only three tenths of a second behind the Aston Martin... Be ready for some tough battles in each class in two weeks’ time!

Photo: Kamui Kobayashi clocked the fastest lap on Test Day.