WEC News: Toyota tops red flag filled Le Mans test session

First out of the pitlane once again was the The #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 Hypercar, this time with Dries Vanthoor behind the wheel – with a magnificent sight of 62 Hypercars, LMP2 and LMGT3 cars in one long mouth-watering train was a sight to behold.

Le Mans Hypercar

All the action on the timesheet happened early on, as things heated up immediately, with battle lines drawn within the opening handful of laps. Ferrari and Toyota were chasing each other through the streets of Le Mans yesterday, and this afternoon the two modern day icons of endurance racing went head-to-head from the off. Finishing second in FP1, Brendon Hartley went quickest out of the blocks, knocking off eight tenths off the time set by Robert Kubica this morning to place the #8 Toyota at the top of the time sheet with a 3:26.246.

Interestingly – the performance flex from Hartley not only put him top of the table, it was also under the Hyperpole time from 2024. Watch this space! Meanwhile, in his shadow, keeping a keen eye was British driver James Calado in the #51 Ferrari 499P who shaded the New Zealdander by just 0.531 on the same lap.

Elsewhere, it was to be drama filled. With a little over 20 minutes on the clock, a Full Course Yellow was thrown to provide the marshals a safe window to recover the strickened #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie at Indianapolis corner. With the car making it back to the pits for repairs, the precaution was lifted, and we were under green flag conditions once again.

As teams cycled through their programs, things started to settle down. However, at the halfway point in the session, plumes of white smoke could be seen coming out out of the back of the #20 BMW M Hybrid V8, with Sheldon van der Linde at the wheel. The car came to a stop on track, at the entry to the high-speed Porsche curves. For the safety of all involved, a red flag was thrown, bringing a pause to the proceedings. Despite this, BMW can be pleased with their showing – making strides up the order with a fourth fastest time at their peak in the session. But for now the BMW and WRT mechanics will have a long night ahead of them as they look to diagnose and resolve the issue.

Red flags breed further red flags and with five minutes left on the clock the third and final red flag was called upon to rescue the strickened #63 Iron Lynx Mercedes LMGT3 driven by Brenton Grove. With only a handful of minutes left on the clock – the session was called early.

It was, however to be positive one for the home crowd as as the #36 Alpine Endurance Team abley guided by Mick Schumacher nestled themselves into the top three ahead of the hard-charging #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport machine in the hands of Laurens Vanthoor who pitched his 963 into fourth ahead of this mornings Free Practice toppers AF Corse with the #83 Ferrari 499P

Le Mans LMGT3

It was status quo in the LMGT3 category, with the #87 Lexus once again topping the billing –  destroying the 2024 Hyperpole time by nearly three seconds. The #21 Vista AF Corse and #57 Kessel Racing teams will be buoyant with the pace of their Ferrari 296s with second and third respectively. In fact the pace and advancement of the LMGT3 teams is evident and clear to see, with eight cars already under the marker from last year and we still have several sessions before Hyperpole to come. It’s simmering nicely!

Le Mans Talking Points…

All eyes are on the defending champions Ferrari. The scarlet red cars have won the last two editions of the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, with wins in 2023 and last year in 2024. 2023 Le Mans winner and 2025 FIA WEC championship points leader Antonio Giovinazzi spoke ahead of the Test Day, underlining the importance of the race, overall championship and pressures bestowed upon the Scuderia.

“We are really happy to be back in Le Mans, it’s a very special race, a special track – it’s nice to race here. The last two years have been positive for Ferrari and the #51 in particular. A win in 2023 and a podium last year has given us lots of nice memories and hopefully we can repeat the result this year. It will be very difficult for many reasons. Le Mans is a long race, but we started well in the championship with two victories so the target is to win again, but most importantly score points for the championship – that has to be our focus.”

Second for the #51 and seventh for the #50 gives the team in red the foundations to build upon this coming Wednesday for the official Free Practice 1.

Test Results

03_Classification_Free Practice 2 Test Day

The 62 cars that make up the 24 Hours of Le Mans grid will next hit the track on Wednesday 10th June with Free Practice 1 in the afternoon and Free Practice 2 in the evening – providing drivers the chance to acclimatize to driving these high-performance cars at night. A spectacle we cannot wait for! Join us then for all the action.