The 60 cars due to take the start of the 84^th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Round 3 of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship, have concluded eight hours of practice on the 13.6km Circuit des 24 Heures track.  The afternoon session finished early with the red flag being shown 28 minutes before the end to extract the Krohn Racing LMP2 class Ligier from the gravel, with another LMP2 competitor impacting the barriers hard which required repairs that would have taken longer than the time available. 

Audi Sport’s Lucas Di Grassi set the fastest time of the day just before the half way mark of the afternoon session.  The No.8 R18 lapped the track in a time of 3:21.375.  The gaps between the Porsches and No.7 Audi were very tight behind the WEC 6 Hours of Spa winner, with the two Toyota TS050 HYBRIDS – running with their Le Mans aero kits for the first time – in close contention.

Rebellion Racing’s No.13 R-One AER continued to lead its team mate and ByKolles Racing, the latter giving Pierre Kaffer plenty of seat time as he makes his return to the WEC for the first time this season.

It remains extremely close between all the LMP2 competitors, with Signatech Alpine, the No.26 G-Drive Racing and the second G-Drive entry (No.38) in close succession behind ELMS entrant Eurasia Motorsport.  Manor and KCMG both put in strong performances – the first on its debut at Le Mans and the second on its return to the LMP2 category.

After technical issues kept both the AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTEs (No.51 and 71 in LMGTE Pro) in the garage for long periods this morning, the two were running more smoothly in the afternoon session.  2014 FIA GTE World Drivers Champion Gimmi Bruni’s No.51 was the fastest of the WEC entrants, 5^th in the category with only one second separating the top ten in class.

Chevrolet Corvettes topped the time sheets in LMGTE Pro and Am, with WEC entrant Larbre Competition stopping the clocks at 3:57.999 to set the fastest time of the day in the Am class.  The No.50 Corvette C7 ZO6 was circulating in the hands of Yutaka Yamagishi, Pierre Ragues and – for this test day, in place of the injured Paolo Ruberti, Nicky Catsburg and Jean-Philippe Belloc.

The testing is now over, and the next rendez vous for all teams will be at the technical and administrative scrutineering checks which are held in Place de la Republique in the centre of Le Mans on Sunday 12 and Monday 13 June ahead of the race on the 18/19 June.