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Porsche Tops First Le Mans Practice
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Porsche's Neel Jani set the bar with a lap of 3m22.011s to pace the 60-car field during Wednesday's opening practice session. The Swiss driver was one of many to lead the four-hour outing as intermittent rain affected the outright pace for most of the session, but with the final hour mostly dry, Jani's No. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid was able to displace the Audis and Toyotas. The sister 919 was second (3m22.550s) and Audi held third (3m22.985s).
The session ended under a red flag for the No. 28 Pegasus Racing P2 entry that found the barriers near the Indianapolis corner, and the problem was compounded when the No. 6 Toyota TS050 driven by Stephane Sarrazin also clouted the barrier, damaging the bodywork on the front of his LMP1 Hybrid machine. Prior to his crash, Sarrazin posted the fourth-fastest time (3m23.158s).
In LMP2, KCMG, which won the class last year, led the 22-car field with a 3m39.133s. The team's ORECA 05-Nissan was well clear of the Alpine-badged ORECA 05-Nissan entered by the Signatech team (3m39.721s). Third went to the Ligier JS P2-Nissan entered by Panis Barthez Competition (3m40.308s).
The hard-fought battle among manufacturers in GTE-Pro ended as most outside of the Ferrari camp predicted. The twin-turbo V8 488s from AF Corse (3m53.833s) and Risi Competizione (3m54.180s) were in a class of their own as the closest car, a Ford GT, was more than a second behind (3m54.893s). The best Porsche and Corvette could manage was eighth and ninth, respectively.
Ferrari's older model was also the class of its category as Clearwater Racing's chrome F458 topped GTE-Am by an even wider margin. Its 3m57.543s-lap led Scuderia Corsa's 458 (3m59.103s) and AF Corse's 458 (3m59.294s).
The only major incident of the session belonged to the Bykolles Racing Team. Driver Pierre Kaffer climbed from the CLM P1/01 LMP1 with the rear fully alight. Speaking after returning to the garage, the German felt confident the car could be repaired in time to race.
The session ended under a red flag for the No. 28 Pegasus Racing P2 entry that found the barriers near the Indianapolis corner, and the problem was compounded when the No. 6 Toyota TS050 driven by Stephane Sarrazin also clouted the barrier, damaging the bodywork on the front of his LMP1 Hybrid machine. Prior to his crash, Sarrazin posted the fourth-fastest time (3m23.158s).
In LMP2, KCMG, which won the class last year, led the 22-car field with a 3m39.133s. The team's ORECA 05-Nissan was well clear of the Alpine-badged ORECA 05-Nissan entered by the Signatech team (3m39.721s). Third went to the Ligier JS P2-Nissan entered by Panis Barthez Competition (3m40.308s).
The hard-fought battle among manufacturers in GTE-Pro ended as most outside of the Ferrari camp predicted. The twin-turbo V8 488s from AF Corse (3m53.833s) and Risi Competizione (3m54.180s) were in a class of their own as the closest car, a Ford GT, was more than a second behind (3m54.893s). The best Porsche and Corvette could manage was eighth and ninth, respectively.
Ferrari's older model was also the class of its category as Clearwater Racing's chrome F458 topped GTE-Am by an even wider margin. Its 3m57.543s-lap led Scuderia Corsa's 458 (3m59.103s) and AF Corse's 458 (3m59.294s).
The only major incident of the session belonged to the Bykolles Racing Team. Driver Pierre Kaffer climbed from the CLM P1/01 LMP1 with the rear fully alight. Speaking after returning to the garage, the German felt confident the car could be repaired in time to race.
