Track action continued apace during the seventh hour of Test Day with top spot changing hands several times. But not in LM P1, where the best time has been achieved by the #8 Audi R18 of Lucas Di Grassi, Loïc Duval et Oliver Jarvis.  

In LM P2, the Eurasia Motorsport Oreca 05 has taken the lead. Frenchman Tristan Gommendy was at the wheel, “surprised” by his performance, as he was not particularly looking to put in a fast time. 

In LM GTE Pro, one Porsche follows another. #91 with Nick Tandy is topping the provisional standings, ahead of Earl Bamber in the other Porsche 911 fielded by Porsche Motorsport. 

In LM GTE Am, the Larbre Compétition Corvette still leads. 

Highlights

16:10 – #99 Aston Martin Vantage stops at the first Mulsanne Straight chicane.

16:14 – #50 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R with Japan’s Yutaka Yamagishi at the wheel hits the tyre barrier on exiting Tertre Rouge.  The car was leading the LM GTE Am class standings at the time.  

16:18 – Romain Dumas in the #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid puts in the day’s fastest time on the second sector, beating Lucas Di Grassi, without bettering his overall lap time.

16:24 – Kamui Kobayashi in the Toyota TS 050 Hybrid drives straight on at Mulsanne Corner. He sets off again without the need for marshal assistance.

16:27 – Pierre Kaffer clocks 3:33.025 in the CLM P1/01, entered in LM P1. 3:36.690 for Tristan Gommendy who takes the LM P2 lead for Eurasia. He eclipses Nicolas Lapierre, who had set the previous benchmark in his #36 Alpine A460.

16:30 – Nick Tandy moves to the top of the LM GTE Pro standings with a time of 3:55.554 in the #91 Porsche 911. He leads Earl Bamber in the #92 sister car. The two drivers won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015, with Nico Hülkenberg, in a Porsche 919 Hybrid.

16:34 – A damper problem is keeping #7 Audi R18 shared by Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer in its garage. It has completed just one lap since the second session got under way at 14:00. For the time being, it has completed 46 laps, whereas its LM P1 rivals have all clocked more than 70 laps.

16:54 – #7 Audi R18 is off at last! The final hour promises to be intense for the drivers. 

A word from the teams

Tristan Gommendy (#33 Oreca 05-Nissan, Eurasia Motorsport, LM P2): The day is going well. We have a lot of work on because we’re a young team. We’re making good headway and the car is fine. All the changes made since this morning have been the right ones. We’re not looking for performance – we just need to drive. 

Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, head of Audi Motorsport: We worked on the settings during the break. A shock absorber jammed in a very tricky position where we couldn’t remove it without breaking it. We therefore had to change a lot of parts. But it will go out again.