24 Hours of Le Mans: Free Practice 3: Toyota regains control
Toyota number 7 was the fastest in this third free practice session and drove faster than in qualifying. The three hours of driving were disrupted by two accidents that caused a red flag and a long slow zone.
The third free practice session started off with a bang. From the first few minutes, the Toyota drivers set the tone, especially Brendon Hartley in car number 7 with a time of 3’27”115. This lap time is already faster than the qualifying session that took place on Wednesday evening.
A few moments later, it’s number 8 and Kamui Kobayashi who took the lead with a reference time of 3’26”796. The Alpine, which is still slightly behind, achieved its best time of the week thanks to Matthieu Vaxivière in 3’29”259.
Discreet during the first hour of the race, the Glickenhaus cars found their pace, especially the 709, which climbed to third position with a time of 3’28”073. With 1 hour and 20 minutes left in the session, the 708 embarked on a fast lap and took third place from its sister car with a time of 3’27”466, achieved by Olivier Pla. These times remained the same for the rest of the session.
In LMP2, the number 13 of TDS Racing x Vaillante violently went off track, following a contact with the WRT number 31 at the entrance of the S Porsche, causing a red flag, 1 hour and 15 minutes before the end of the session.
The Graff Racing’s #39 also went off track and hit the safety barrier after skidding on the gravel at the exit of the Indianapolis turn. This time, the red flag was not displayed, but a slow zone was implemented.
At the very end of the session, the Inception Racing’s Ferrari 59 went for a spin into the gravel trap and hit the tire wall at the junction, causing a final yellow flag.
