There are no trophies for performances at the Le Mans test day. Nothing can be won here, but that didn’t prevent some intriguing battles happening on the track yesterday. No team wanted to give ground to another, throughout the classes. The Le Mans test day may be a prologue to the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2 weeks time, but perhaps more than in previous years, it became an important marker for the all the teams in the race for the title.
Line -up -500
The Morning Session
The Le Mans test day is split in to 2 sessions; morning and afternoon. Whilst for many of the inexperienced drivers and teams the first session was all about getting the required laps for new drivers and new cars, as per the ACO rules, it was apparent that the LMP1 prototypes were quick and getting quicker. Initially due to a large portion of the circuit being used as public roads just the day before, the circuit was dirty and the cars were finding their feet on their standard installation laps.
It didn’t take long, however, for the times to start dropping and then things began to get competitive. Initially it was Toyota that set the marker at the front. First in the hands of Anthony Davidson and latterly Sebastien Buemi, the No. 8 Toyota was lapping in 3:25.881; a more than impressive time for the Toyota’s first laps at Le Mans.
Toyota -7-500
As lunch approached, and the Toyota team looked forward to their baguettes, Audi decided to burst their balloon. With just seconds of the morning session remaining Marco Bonanomi went 2 seconds quicker in the No. 3 Audi.
It wasn’t just Audi that put their foot down either, as Porsche, up until now happy to run behind their competition, suddenly jumped up to third fastest, just behind the Toyota, with Brendan Hartley bringing the No. 20 Porsche round in 3:26.179. Audi – Toyota – Porsche in that order were the fastest in the session.
Audi -3-500
It was perhaps a disappointing session for both the R-Ones of Rebellion Racing. The only privateers in the LMP1 class were nearly 9 seconds behind their factory counterparts.
In the LMP2 class the fastest time was set by the No.36 Signatech Alpine car. There were also good times set by both Jota Sport and Murphy Prototypes. The 2 Ligiers (No. 33 and No.46) both had issues that caused them to stop out on the track. As both are actually powered by different engines, the two incidents weren’t thought to be connected, and both cars were ready for the afternoon session.
LMP2-500
It was clear from the morning session that the GTE battle in both Pro and Am classes is going to be close. The Ferraris of AF Corse and RAM Racing set the early pace. The Corvettes (making their debut on European soil) and Porsches were not far behind with not much time between them. Perhaps most notable by their lack of performance were Aston Martin Racing. The team were very disappointed to be heading in to lunch a full 4 seconds off the pace.
Ferraris also dominated the early running in GTE Am with the AF Corse cars looking strong. Their nearest challenger was the Porsche of Patrick Dempsey which continued to pick up speed throughout the session.
The Afternoon Session
The battles in LMP1 continued in to the afternoon. Toyota were soon up on the pace, but the Audis were always threatening to go faster. It is difficult to know whether all the teams were pushing equally hard and what strategies they were running. But It was still important for all the teams to show that they will be quick enough come the 14th June.
Toyota -8-500
Ultimately it was the Toyotas that prevailed in the afternoon session setting the quickest time at 3:23.014 with Anthony Davidson behind the wheel of the No. 8 car. The N.07 car was also able to set a fast 3:23.156 quicker than the Audis & the Porsches who were all around the mid 3:24 mark.
Porsche -20-500
The 2 Rebelliong Racing cars remained 7 seconds behind the factory prototypes and may require some assistance from the ACO before the race to be more competitive.
G-Drive -500
Whilst Murphy Prototypes and Signatech Alpine continued their fine form from the morning session, it was the No.26 car of G-Drive Racing that was quickest in the LMP2 class. A fastest lap of 3:37.795 was enough to be top of the field, however a further 6 cars were all within 2 tenths of a second of the Morgan – Nissan powered car, showing that the LMP2 class remains difficult to predict.
Porsche finally managed to break the strangle hold of Ferrari in the GTE Pro class with Fred Makowiecki setting a 3:57.260 in the No.92 car. It was perhaps more significant, however, that 8 Ferraris (including some GTE Am cars) filled the next 9 spots on the timesheet. Only a single Corvette broke the Ferrari dominance and will hope for better come race day.
Ferrari -GTE-Pro -500
Once again all the Aston Martin Racing cars were unable to feature at the top of the time sheets in either GTE Pro or GTE Am. They will have been hoping for better and may need to see an attritional race in 2 weeks time to achieve a podium in either class.
Finally from garage 56, the Nissan Zeod RC managed to get itself on times in between the 2 prototype classes and the 2 GTE classes. They didn’t achieve a huge number of laps, and it appears that a slightly different car will actually take to the track on race day, making their performance at test day only a vague marker in the sand.
The Le Mans test day proved to more than just a test for most cars. The sunshine helped enable all the cars & drivers complete the laps required for the ACO, and the battles at the front of each class were close enough to increase the anticipation for the Le Mans 24 Hours 2014 in less than 2 weeks time.
Written by Richard Webb (Travel Destinations)
Photographs by Dailysportscar
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