Antonio Giovinazzi’s pace placed Ferrari AF Corse at the top of the timesheets in the second session of the Le Mans test day.
Antonio Giovinazzi took the lead in the second and final session of the day at Circuit de la Sarthe to finish first overall for the AF Corse Ferrari in Le Mans test day.
Early in the session, the ex-Formula 1 driver set a time benchmark of 3:29.504 in the No. 51 Ferrari 499P, beating Laurens Vanthoor’s No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 by 0.144 seconds.
The No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, piloted by Kamui Kobayashi, finished third on the time sheets for Toyota Gazoo Racing following repairs after Mike Conway’s crash in the final moments of the first session.
Despite a Balance of Performance tweak made prior to the race that increased the weight of four Hypercar manufacturers, including Toyota, Kobayashi still managed to finish in a best time of 3:29.827.
Antonio Fuoco’s No. 50 Ferrari, which set the pace in Session 1, finished fourth in the final session. Felipe Nasr’s No. 75 Porsche, which managed only 15 laps because of a brake-by-wire issue, rounded out the top five.
All three of the factory Porsches were inside the top six, with the No. 5 car followed by the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 and the best of the Cadillac V-Series.Rs, the No. 2 Chip Ganassi Racing entry in eighth.
The two remaining hypercars rounding out the top 10 were the No. 8 Toyota and No. 94 Peugeot, which got through recovery from a possible hybrid-related issue in the first session.
Brazilian-American Pietro Fittipaldi’s No. 28 JOTA Oreca 07 Gibson took the LMP2 lead with a lap time of 3:35.472. It was significantly 0.771 seconds faster than the No. 31 Team WRT car driven by Ferdinand Habsburg, which came in second, as the two Alpine cars made up the top four in class.
The No. 923 Racing Team Turkey Oreca was in first place in the LMP2 Pro-Am class. A 3:53.761 lap time by Mike Rockenfeller let Hendrick Motorsports’ NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1—which is competing as an invitational entry—finished well ahead of the entire GTE-Am field.
It outpaced the No. 66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Thomas Neubauer, who set the GTE-Am pace, by more over two seconds.
A skid into the gravel at the first chicane for Jonas Ried in the No. 88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 was among the numerous events that occurred throughout the three-hour session.
In the No. 25 ORT by TF Aston Martin Vantage GTE, Ahmad Al Harthy experienced an off at the Musanne Corner.
A 37-minute safety car period followed, which was brought on by a crash that involved the No. 48 IDEC Sport Oreca driven by Laurents Horr and the No. 14 Nielsen Racing LMP2 vehicle, which was driven by Rodrigo Sales and left both vehicles in the gravel just past the Dunlop Chicane.
Late in the session, Don Yount also grounded the No. 88 Proton Porsche to create another slow zone, while Sales was also spotted back in the gravel at the first chicane.
The No. 32 Inter Europol Competition Oreca, on the other hand, returned to the paddock on a flatbed trailer after experiencing challenges on the track as well in the final moments of the practice.
