WEC

Richard Mille Racing Team are making the step up to the FIA World Endurance Championship in2021, with the all-female team once again comprising of Tatiana Calderón, Sophia Flörsch and Beitske Visser. The team competed in last year’s European Le Mans Series Championship, finishing 10th in class with 20 points. They also competed in last year’s Le Mans 24 Hours, where they finished 9th in class. Calderón is most well known as test driver for Formula 1 team Alfa Romeo Racing, as well as competing in the Japanese Super Formula championship and Formula 2 in 2019. Flörsch most recently competed in Formula 3 for Van Amersfoot Racing in 2020. While Beitske Visser finished second in the inaugural W Series championship in 2019, before joining Richard Mille Racing Team in 2020. The team will be run by Signatech, with an ORECA 07. The car will be numbered #1, which has previously been reserved for top class LMP1 teams. Signatech is also running the Alpine Endurance Team, which for 2021 is expected to enter the top class with a grandfathered ex-Rebellion R13 LMP1 car, renamed the Alpine A470. ‘We are really pleased to continue the Richard Mille Racing Team adventure! It’s an extremely motivating project as it transcends the sporting dimension by generating a lot of emotion and enthusiasm,” said Philippe Sinault, director of Signatech Automobiles. “We are taking a step forward in joining the FIA World Endurance Championship, but we are confident, given the skills and the learning curve of our three drivers.” “There will be some new things to figure out, notably with a new package and an operating balance different from last year’s, given the rule changes in LMP2, but we have great ambitions. We’ve all seen that a great dynamic is developing within the team and that motivates us all the more to go for the best possible results.”

Toyota has admitted it is “behind target” with test mileage for its new Le Mans Hypercar after a planned test this week was called off due to snow.The Japanese manufacturer officially revealed the GR010 Hybrid that will contest the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship season in full livery on Friday, having released the first proper shots of the car earlier in the week. Its unveil was supposed to follow immediately after a three-day test for the new contender this week at the Aragon circuit in Spain, but this had to be abandoned due to the heavy snow that has hit the country in recent days. Toyota first ran the GR010 in a shakedown at Paul Ricard in October last year, before moving on to Portimao for the car’s second and most recent test in late December. Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe technical director Pascal Vasselon revealed that the car has completed more than 6000km so far in those two outings, but added that the cancellation of the Aragon test has put the Cologne-based outfit “behind target”. Team director Rob Leupen said that the team will conduct more running at its next planned test at Aragon in February to make up for this week’s cancellation. “We’re going to extend our next test, which will be in February also here in Aragon,” clarified Leupen. “The biggest issue is we are missing mileage. “Every test is important to get mileage on the car, and on the team in the sense of the mechanics and the engineers understanding the car better and better. That’s why we are looking for additional time. “It will get very tight to catch up everything we have missed. But this normally we should be able to do, and we are falling back on a lot of experience from the LMP1 era.”

Former Haas F1 driver Kevin Magnussen is yet to officially confirm what series he’ll be racing in next season. The 28-year-old Dane who lost his seat at the Haas F1 Team following the American racing outfit’s decision to sign Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin for 2021, is reportedly set to join Peugeot’s World Endurance Championship (WEC) driver squad. French motorsport magazine Auto Hebdo has reported that Magnussen will join Peugeot as they make their return to sportscar racing in 2022. Specifically, Magnussen will race with Peugeot in the World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar category. Its driver squad will consist of six drivers, with Mikkel Jensen, a fellow Dane, and ex-F1 racer Jean-Eric Vergne, also being strongly linked to Peugeot’s new WEC programme.

Toyota has released the first pictures of its new Le Mans Hypercar and a name for its latest FIA World Endurance Championship challenger. The Japanese manufacturer has released shots of the car, the GR010 Hybrid, in camouflage ahead of its official unveiling on Friday when the car will be shown in its 2021 livery. GR stands for Gazoo Racing, Toyota’s new sporty sub-brand, while the three-digit numbering system of the marque’s Le Mans-spec machinery stretching back to the TS010 3.5-litre Group C car of 1991-1993 has been retained and reset. The photographs from the car’s maiden test at Paul Ricard in October show a car with a clear resemblance to the TS050 Hybrid that claimed the 2018/19 and 2019/20 WEC drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles, as well as three consecutive Le Mans 24 Hours victories in 2018-20. But Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe technical director Pascal Vasselon stressed that few components have been retained from its predecessor. “Except the generic parts like switches, sensors and such, there are hardly any carry-over parts between the two cars because the regulation philosophy is very different,” he said. “It is a completely new car.” Vasselon explained that in terms of the concept of the design “the major difference is the architecture of the hybrid system”. The new LMH regulations allow for a single energy-retrieval unit on the front axle rather than the twin systems of the TS040 and then the TS050. “We implemented a system with two kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS), one on the front and one on the rear [of the previous cars], with a brake-by-wire system front and rear,” said Vasselon. “This is not allowed anymore; the hybrid system option in the regulations imposes only one KERS and one brake-by-wire braking, both at the front. “This creates many differences and challenges: for example, we don’t have the rear MGU [motor generator unit] anymore, which means we now need a starter motor and the rear brake system is now fully hydraulic like on a traditional race car.” Toyota has yet to reveal technical details of the GR010’s internal combustion engine, which will be announced during Friday’s virtual launch. A maximum power output for an LMH of 670bhp (500kW), with the ICE operating alone or in conjunction with the hybrid system, is defined under the regulations. Vasselon said that the performance of the GR010, which will run at a minimum weight of 1030kg, will be significantly reduced on that of the LMP1 car, whose base weight was 878kg. “There is definitely an impact on lap times simply because the target [of the new rules] was to make performance more affordable, and performance costs money,” he explained. “We can anticipate a lap time increase at Le Mans of around 10s, and it should be four to five seconds on a normal five-kilometre WEC circuit.” The target race lap time at Le Mans for the Hypercar class, which will incorporate LMH and LMDh machinery from 2022, is 3m30s. Toyota is undertaking a third test with the GR010 at the Aragon circuit in Spain this week, which started on Tuesday and concludes on Thursday. Kamui Kobayashi and Kazuki Nakajima, who both missed the shakedown at Paul Ricard and then the second test at Portimao in December, are scheduled to be part of the driver roster in Spain this week. Toyota is again running only one car in the test. Toyota is expected to confirm an unchanged driver roster for the 2021 WEC season when it reveals its new car in full livery on Friday.

Mercedes reserve driver Stoffel Vandoorne has announced he will be racing in the World Endurance Championship LMP2 class this year with Jota Sports. Vandoorne will now be having a very busy schedule in 2021 competing in both WEC and in Formula E alongside Nyck de Vries in the factory Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team. Vandoorne will also race in the Asia Le Mans series for Jota Sports. In a tweet Vandoorne said he was very happy to be back in WEC this season with Jota Sport together with my buddies Sean Gelael and Tom Blomqvist. Vandoorne had experienced endurance racing for the first time in 2019 when he finished third overall, behind only the two Toyota entries, for LMP1 team SMP Racing, in the Le Mans 24 Hour. For 2021, a new hypercar class, Le Mans Hypercars(LMH) will replace LMP1 as the championship bids to rekindle manufacturer interest after Porsche and Audi pulled out in recent years, leaving Toyota as the sole manufacturer-backed LMP1 entry. LMP2 will remain the ‘budget’ competition with teams obliged to run one of four homologated chassis with no developments permitted. Manufacturer entries in the category are also banned with entries reserved for “smaller independent teams with a lower budget”.

MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi will return to the Gulf 12 Hours in Bahrain in January with his Avintia-bound half-brother Luca Marini joining him in a Ferrari 488 GT3.Rossi contested the 12-hour event at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi last year in a Kessel Racing-run 488 Ferrari partnered by Marini and his long-time friend and business partner Alessio Salucci. The trio took a class win in their 488 GT3 in the Pro-Am category and were third overall and will return to defend their crown in January. A brief statement from the organisers said: “MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi will return to race at the Gulf 12 Hours on 9 January 2021 at the Bahrain International Circuit. “Rossi made his Gulf 12 Hours debut at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi in 2019 with the Monster VR46 Kessel Racing team, winning the GT3 Pro-Am class and taking third position overall. “He will return alongside teammates Luca Marini and Alessio Salucci in their Ferrari 488 GT3.” Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event has been moved from Yas Marina to the Bahrain International Circuit and delayed from its December slot to January. Rossi hinted earlier this year his plans were to race the Gulf 12 Hours instead of taking part in the World Rally Championship finale at Rally Monza in December. The Italian isn’t the only MotoGP rider to have raced at the Gulf 12 Hours, with former Yamaha teammate and three-time world champion Jorge Lorenzo taking part in the event in 2016. Rossi’s protege Franco Morbidelli was announced on Saturday morning as an entrant in the WRC finale at Monza next month in a Hyundai WRC3 car. This weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix marks Rossi’s final outing with the factory Yamaha squad, having spent 15 years in two stints with the team. He will depart for Petronas SRT in 2021 alongside Morbidelli, but will remain a factory-contracted rider and have machine parity with Maverick Vinales and his replacement Fabio Quartararo. Marini is currently 18 points off the Moto2 championship lead ahead of this weekend’s Portugal finale, with the VR46 rider one of four capable of taking the crown. He will step up to MotoGP in 2021 with the Avintia squad in partnership with VR46 after signing a deal with Ducati, and will join current Moto2 points leader Enea Bastianini. Rossi’s debut Gulf 12 Hours appearance came days after driving seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton’s 2017 title-winning Mercedes at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit near Valencia. This was Rossi’s first taste of modern hybrid F1 machinery, while Hamilton impressed on his first MotoGP test on the Yamaha M1.

Factory Aston Martin driver Alex Lynn will skip the final round of the 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship season in Bahrain after testing positive for COVID-19. Following his Le Mans 24 Hours success with Maxime Martin and Harry Tincknell in the #97 Aston Martin Vantage in the GTE Pro class, Lynn was due to return with Martin as a duo for this weekend’s eight-hour title decider. However, in a statement released on Wednesday, Aston has revealed that the British driver didn’t travel to Bahrain after returning a positive COVID-19 test. “It’s incredibly disappointing to end the FIA World Endurance Championship season in this way, especially after the amazing high of the Le Mans victory that brought us back into title contention,” said Lynn. “I wish all my teammates the best of luck this weekend, but especially Maxime and Richard.” Lynn’s place will be taken by Richard Westbrook, who was already due to travel to the Gulf nation to drive alongside Paul Dalla Lana and Ross Gunn in Aston’s #98 entry in the GTE Am ranks due to Augusto Farfus’ commitments with BMW in the clashing Sebring 12 Hours. With Westbrook moving up to GTE Pro, Aston has called up 2017 GTE Am champion Pedro Lamy to take Westbrook’s place in the #98 Vantage. “I feel really sorry for Alex,” said Westbrook. “It’s terrible for a driver to have the chance to fight for a championship taken away by something like this. “I am looking forward to getting back in the Vantage GTE and having had a plenty of miles under my belt at Le Mans, I’m certain that I will be able to give Maxime the support he needs as he goes for the championship. “Bahrain is one my favourite tracks; I won my first GT race there 2005. Hopefully I can do it again this weekend!” The two Aston crews occupy the top two spots in the GTE Pro standings, with the #95 entry of Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim leading Lynn and Martin by 15 points, with 39 available in the bonus points Bahrain race.

Ferrari has called up Daniel Serra to race for its factory GTE Pro squad in next weekend’s Bahrain FIA World Endurance Championship season finale. Brazilian racer Serra will replace WEC regular Alessandro Pier Guidi alongside James Calado at the wheel of the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE in the eight-hour race on November 14. Pier Guidi will instead represent Ferrari in the clashing GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup round at Paul Ricard, reprising his usual role in the manufacturer’s lead entry in that series entered under the AF Corse banner. He’ll be joined by Sam Bird and Come Ledogar for the French race, having had Calado and Nicklas Nielsen as his teammates for the first three rounds of the series. Danish racer Nielsen will be in Bahrain to take up his usual spot in the #83 AF Corse entry in the GTE Am class alongside Francois Perrodo and Emmanuel Collard. Miguel Molina and Davide Rigon will race with Ferrari in Bahrain in the #71 GTE Pro car as normal, leaving two spots alongside former Williams Formula 1 driver Sergey Sirotkin in the AF-run SMP Racing car at Paul Ricard. These will be filled by long-time factory driver Toni Vilander and ex-Formula 2 racer Antonio Fuoco. Calado remains just about in contention for the GTE Pro drivers’ title in the WEC, as he and Pier Guidi are 26 points down on the leading #95 Aston Martin crew of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen with 38 available in the bonus-points Bahrain event. Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin in the #97 Aston are their teammates’ nearest challengers, 15 points adrift following their class win in the Le Mans 24 Hours in September. Aston drivers also lead the way in GTE Am, with TF Sport trio Salih Yoluc, Charlie Eastwood and Jonathan Adam defending an eight-point lead over Perrodo, Collard and Nielsen. In GTWCE, Calado, Pier Guidi and Nielsen are fifth in the standings and 18 points adrift of the head of the table with a maximum of 34 up for grabs at Paul Ricard. The SMP car is not in contention, having failed to score points this season so far.

There were plans underway to change this month’s 24 Hours of Spa to 25 hours, but it now seems that the plans have been abandoned. It was also announced that the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup that will be holding double points will be held behind closed doors from October 24th to 25th. Laurent Gaudin who is the World Endurance race manager said that the Stephane Ratel Organisation believed to the end that it would be possible to allow a limited crowd to attend the race which had been rescheduled from its normal July period to this month due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “We tried everything to manoeuvre this huge event through the various protocols and very strict health constraints,” Gaudin explained. “After multiple proposals, with the requirements increasing and the volume of public authorised falling, we had to face facts and the whole team made the sad decision to lay down arms. We are truly sorry for all our fans and I have no doubt that we will face criticism, but SRO is not above the law.” It had also been announced that the 24 hour race would be extended by an hour to be the 25 Hours of Spa as Stephanie Ratel who is the series boss said that he wanted the event to be ‘a race to remember even in the years to come’. The change of the race duration to 25 hours, would have seen the change in the clock on the Sunday morning of the race. The addition of an extra hour would have the race start on 3:30pm on Saturday and end on 3:30pm on Sunday. Laurent Gaudin later explained the move to add an extra hour to the Spa race was part of a plan to give fresh impetus to the October edition. “We were optimistic and we thought, a little naively, that the disease would be behind us by this time of the year,” he said. “With this not being the case and with no fans able to join us, we have elected to revert to the original format.” The race now will follow its normal schedule, where it will be starting at 3:30pm on Saturday and end at 2:30pm on Sunday. The final entry list of the cars to be competing in the race is yet to be announced, as 50 cars took part in the last week’s official pe-event test at Spa.

Legendary motorsports mechanic Dickie Stanford has joined United Autosports as its new Historic Motorsport Project Manager from Williams. United Autosports is a joint ownership between Mclaren CEO Zak Brown and former Le Mans winner Richard Dean and competes in the World Endurance Championship and also the European Le Mans Series. The team has a vast range of classic cars such as the 1970 Can-Am Mclaren M8D, 1986 Williams FW11, 1991 Penske PC20 and 2001 McLaren MP4-16A. Dickie Stanford joined the Williams Formula 1 team back in 1985 as a race mechanic first working on Niger Mansell’s Williams FW10, and through the years he was finally promoted to team manager in 1995. He later reduced his workload in 2005 but after 5 years he returned to Williams in 2010 to run and manage its test team before moving across into the heritage department. His first trip will be to Portugal this weekend for the Peter Auto Estoril Classic, where the team will run the 1989 Jaguar XJR10 and the 1974 Ford Cologne Capri RS3100 for Brown and IndyCar legend Dario Franchitti. “I am delighted to be joining United Autosports as Historic Motorsport Project Manager,” said Stanford. “I am looking forward to working on new and very exciting ongoing historic projects with the team. United Autosports have some of the best examples of F1, IndyCars and sports cars in the world. “I would like to say thank you to Zak and Richard and the rest of the team at United Autosports for my very warm welcome.” Zak Brown added: “I’m delighted Dickie has joined the team in our growing historic motorsport department and I’m looking forward to working with him as he brings his experience to the team.”

Rebellion racing have announced that they will no longer be competing in the World Endurance Championship after the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This means the LMP1 team will not be taking part in the WEC final round which will take place in Bahrain. As Rebellion Racing CEO, Calim Bouhadra in a statement said that the team’s involvement in the 8 hours of Bahrain race still depended on the team having a chance to beat Toyota Gazoo in the WEC title. The Rebellion team has taken the second place in the 24 Hours of Le Mans after topping FP3 as Gustavo Menezes, Norman Nato and Bruno Senna being 30 points behind the No.8 Toyota. A 39 point offer still remains in the 2019/2020 WEC finale including a point for the pole position. The Rebellion R-13’s have been the only non-hybrid LMP1 cars on the track and their only chance to beat the dominant Toyotas relies on the possibility they do not finish the race. Bouhadra confirmed the decision made by the team on Tuesday, that the Swiss racing team will not be racing in Bahrain, in addition to termination of their involvement in WEC. This means that only 2 cars owned by Toyota Gazoo Racing will be taking part in the final race that will conclude the LMP1 era of cars. Bykolles Racing with their ENSO CLM P1/01 only competed at Spa in August and 24 Hours of Le Mans as Ginetta also ruled out racing in Bahrain. This withdrawal of the LMP1 teams will give the two Toyota TS050 Hybrid A rather simple race as no car will finish below 2nd. Victory at Le Mans for Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima in the No.8 Toyota maintained them to the top of the WEC standings on 175 points. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez driving the No.7 Toyota were leading prior to last weekend, winning three of the preceding six WEC races, but are now behind by seven points following their troubled run to third place at La Sarthe. With the 38 points offer on the victory and 27 for the 2nd at the Bahrain finale, means that whichever car finishes first will have won the title even without any consideration of the car that will win the pole

Toyota Gazoo Racing have won their third consecutive championship in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as Kazuki Nakajima took the No.8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid past the chequered flag at Circuit de la Sarthe. This victory was the third for Kazuki Nakakima and Sebastian Buemi, and the second for Brendon Hartley who is the new Zealander who is replacing Fernando Alonso in the car No.8 for the 2020 season. Meanwhile the sister Toyota car No.7 finished third with Jose Maria Lopez after overtaking Rebellion Racing No.3 car driven by louis Deletraz in the final hour while it was stuck in the garage after having a crash damage. It was a better result for the sister Rebellion racing car in the hands of Norman Nato, after finishing second and splitting the two Toyota TS050 Hybrid. This was the final Le Mans for Rebellion racing after they announced they are pulling out of endurance racing. Toyota had entered as the race favourites as their LMP1 Hybrids finish the race in a 1-2 victory but it was not the case after the Toyota No.7 driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez experienced a turbo failure at 3.am and had to pit for repairs that took 30 minutes, making the car to drop eight laps behind its sister Toyota. In LMP2 the No.22 United Autosports car driven by Filipe Albuquerque, Phil Hanson and pole sitter Paul di Resta took the victory for the LMP2 class which was holding 24 cars, Phil Hanson took the car for the chequered flag. The final minutes proved critical for the No.22 car after United Autosports called in Hanson to the pits for a quick check making the No.38 Jota Sport driven by Anthony Davidson take the lead as the race was coming to an end. But merely 10 minutes to the close of the event Davidson found himself having to surrender the lead as he had to pit for fuel and finally finished second with a comfortable gap with the third Panis racing Oreca driven by Nico Jamin. United Autosports were looking for a 1-2 victory in the LMP2 class but the No.32 car suffered an oil leak and had to pit for an hour losing the podium places. During the final hour, the No.26 G-Drive  Oreca driven by Jean-Eric Vergne shot off at the Indianapolis as it was running third in the LMP2 class, and later on Vergne reported over the radio that the suspension had broken. Panis Racing team took the position as Mathieu Vaxiviere was on the wheel. The No.39 Graff Racing Oreca had shown promising results as James Allen led for the first two hours of the race but later crashed into a tyre barrier with only 40 minutes to go. This saw the team lose the 5th place in the LMP2 class. In the GTE Pro class, the No.97 Aston Martin took the lead just like in FP1 in the hands of Alex Lynn as he was able to hold off James Clado in the No.51 Ferrari AF Corse by about half a lap. Nicki Thiim came in third with the No.95 sister Aston Martin. The porsche Factory team who were contenders for the GTE Pro victory only managed to finish 6th and 7th after being disadvantaged by the balance of performance results. In GTE Am, the No.90 TF Sport with Charlie Eastwood took the win as Matt Campbell in the No.77 Proton Porsche finished second, with AF Corse getting another podium place as the No.83 car with Nicklas Nielsen finished third. The race was one of a kind, with 16 of the 59 cars to start the race failing to reach the flag. As the chequered flag fell on the 24 Hours, so did the flag fall on the LMP era. For 2021, the Hypercar regulations will take hold.

Rebellin driver Louis Deltraz led the Free Practice session in the 24 Hours of Le Mans which was featuring four hours of night-time run which gives opportunity for the drivers and teams to test their cars for the night ahead of the weekend race. Majority of the fastest lap times were set on the first half of the session as the other half many teams switched to tyre work. Louis Deletraz set a time of 3m19.158s in the first hour as he was driving the No.3 Rebellion R-13 LMP1 privateer. Kamui Kobayashi with the Toyota TS050 Hybrid recorded 3m19.638s on his second lap which was an improvement from his previous laps as Gustavo Mendez closely followed with the second Rebellion R-13. Sebastian Buemi came fourth with the sister N0.8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid. Much later the Bykolles came in as the fifth and final of the LMP1 cars losing a lot of time after Bruno Spengler made contact with the barrier at Tetre Rouge just an hour and a half in the session bringing out a red flag. Tristan Gommendy set the pace for the LMP2 cars in his No.30 Duqueine Oreca 07 with 3m 28.013s in the first hours of the session as the record remained untouched. United Autosports’ Job Van Uitart came in second with the No.32 Oreca-07 just nine tenths of a second later than Gommendy as Jean Eric Vergne in his No.26 G-Drive Oreca came in third a tenth of a second later. Both of the IDEC cars remained in the pits after suffering accidents early Thursday with the team’s No.28 Oreca requiring a new tub. Kevin Estre took the lead in the GTEPro class after recording a time of 3m 52.177s in the first hour of the session aboard the No.92 Porsche 911-RSR 19. The No.97 Aston Martin Vantage driven by Maxime Martin came second just three tenths of a second later as Marco Sorensen took third with the No.95 Aston Martin Vantage. James Calado took 4th with the No.51 Ferrari AF Corse making it the first of the Ferraris. In the GTE Am category Kei cozzolino topped with the japanese MR Racing Ferrari recording a time of 3m 54.490s beating Paolo Rubetri’s No.60 Iron Lynx Ferrari time in the final hour. The No.98 Aston Martin with Augusto Farfus came second a tenth of a second after Cozzolino. The session was halted 15 minutes early after a huge accident for Bonamy Grimes in the Red River Ferrari after the Briton lost his car under braking for the first Mulsanne chicane and rammed into the barriers, but climbed out unhurt.

The first practice for the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans which is the 6th round of the 2019/2020 World Endurance Championship ended as the No.8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid(Toyota Gazoo Racing) lead the LMP1 category as Aston Martin Racing Vantage Racing lead in the GTEPRO category. There was a safety car period in the 3-hour practice session to clear debris left by Team Project 1’s No.89 Porsche RSR which went offtrack at the Indianapolis and later the race was restarted as the porsche was driven back to the pit stop. The No.8 Toyota driven by Kazuki Nakajima made the fastest lap of 3m 21.656s as the No.7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid came in three tenths of a second later, which was also a second earlier than the No.95 Aston Martin Vantage. The No.51 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO AF Corse were the third fastest with 3m 55.186s, they were the 2019 GTEPRO victors as the reigning champions came later with the No.92 Porsche 911 being 7th and the sister porsche No.92 came 8th in the class. LMP2 class was headed by the No.33 High Class Racing Oreca-07 Gibson with a lap time of 3m 29.873s as the No.29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca came on 3m 29.918s just leaving a gap of 0.045 seconds. No.39 JOTA Oreca was the third quickest recording a lap time of 3m 31.206s. Aston Martin also headed the GTE-Am class with the no98 Vantage of Ross Gunn finishing ahead of five LMGTE Pro cars with a 3m55.484 lap.  The no72 Hub Auto Racing Ferrari was second fastest with a 3m56.350 and the no70 MR Racing Ferrari just over two tenths behind the no72 Ferrari. Free Practice 2 for the 24 Hours of Le Mans will start at 14h00 CET.