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WEC - Toyota Fastest in FP1 at Le Mans, but Only Just!

18.08.21

The #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010-Hybrid was the quickest in the first three-hour practice session ahead of this weekend’s 89th 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Jose Maria Lopez posting a 3m29.309 lap time, beating the #36 Alpine Elf Matmut A480-Gibson into second place by just 0.086s and another 0.001s ahead of the #8 Toyota.

The two Glickenhaus 007 LMHs were 6th and 7th overall, with the #709 car ahead of its sister car by 0.109s and less than a second behind the leading Toyota on its debut at La Sarthe.

The session was interrupted by two red flags for barrier repairs after cars went off, but the session soon resumed after the marshals quickly repaired the damage to get the cars back on track.

The fastest of the eight LMGTE Pro competitors was the #52 AF Corse Ferrari with Daniel Serra setting the best time of 3m50.123s in the closing minutes of the session.  Nick Tandy was just 0.040s behind the Brazilian in the #64 Corvette Racing C8.R, with the #91 Porsche GT Team 911 RSR-19 of Gimmi Bruni in third spot with a 3m50.488 lap right at the end of the session.

The #22 United Autosports USA Oreca-Gibson was the best of the large LMP2 field, with reigning WEC LMP2 Champion Phil Hanson setting a 3m29.441s lap to claim 4th overall, just 0.132s behind the #7 Toyota.  

The 2021 Formula E FIA World Champion Nyck de Vries was able to put the #26 G-Drive Racing Aurus 01-Gibson in 5thoverall with a 3m30.094, 0.6 seconds behind the United Autosports Oreca and ahead of the two Glickenhaus LMH entries. 

The #56 Team Project 1 Porsche driven by Matteo Cairoli set the fastest lap in LMGTE Am with a 3m50.193s lap, which put the car third in the LMGTE standings ahead of six LMGTE Pro cars.  Cairoli’s lap was 1.133 seconds ahead of the #86 GR Racing Porsche, with Ben Barker setting the best time in that car.  The #88 Dempsey Proton Racing car made it a Porsche 1-2-3 clean sweep, with Julien Andlauer setting a 3m51.519s best lap.  

Takuma Aoki completes a 3m34.510s lap in the SRT41 special entry he will share with Nigel Bailly and Francois Heriau.