LM P1-H: The Toyota Racing team confirmed its current level of performance by positioning itself in the top two places, very close to the time achieved last year in qualifying. The No. 8 TS040 Hybrid of Davidson/Lapierre/Buemi beat its sister car No. 7 of Wurz/Sarrazin/Nakajima. Audi Sport then placed its three R18 cars in front of the first Porsche, the No. 14 of Dumas/Jani/Lieb.

 

1. No. 8 - Toyota (3:23:014)
2. No. 7 - Toyota (3:23:156)
3. No. 3 - Audi (3:24:453)

LM P1-L: Sole team present in the LM P1 L class, the Rebellion Racing team endured a difficult day. Indeed, Nick Heidfeld lost control of his R-One at the very end of the session in the new part of the 24 Hours circuit. A great deal of work is therefore left to do starting with the Wednesday and Thursday tests.

1. No. 12 - Rebellion - Toyota (3:31:700)
2. No. 13 - Rebellion - Toyota (3:33:043)

LM P2: Victorious last year, the Morgan confirmed its efficiency on the Le Mans circuit with a promising time achieved by Olivier Pla. The driver native of Toulouse, second in the preceding edition, has good reason to believe in his chances in two weeks. Another satisfying element for the constructor of this car, Oak Racing, its brand new Ligier JS P2 placed ninth thanks to the Thiriet by TDS Racing team.

1. No. 26 - Morgan Nissan (3:37:795)
2. No. 48 - Oreca Nissan (3:38:286)
3. No. 36 - Alpine Nissan (3:39:026)

LM GTE Pro: Like last year, the performance level of the LM GTE Pro class has proven very dense. The No. 92 Porsche 911 GT3-RSR of Manthey Racing (Holzer/Lietz/Makowiecki) took first place in front of the two Ferrari 458 Italia cars. The No. 51 AF Corse car in front of the No. 52 of RAM Racing. For their first appearance in La Sarthe, the new Corvettes placed fourth and sixth in the class. The two official Aston Martin cars seemed less capable, but the hierarchy is far from definitive.

1. No. 92 - Porche 911 RSR (3:57:260)
2. No. 51 - Ferrari 458 Italia (3:57:799)
3. No. 52 - Ferrari 458 Italia (3:57:993)

LM GTE Am: It didn't take much for a GTE Am to lead all the cars in the GTE Pro class! The No. 90 Ferrari of 8 Star Motorsports lead all the 458 cars of the superior class, yet which had benefitted from the latest developments. The Italian machines thoroughly dominated the class as they took the top seven places!

1. No. 90 - Ferrari 458 Italia (3:57:403)
2. No. 72 - Ferrari 458 Italia (3:57:569)
3. No. 61 - Ferrari 458 Italia (3:58:440)

Highly anticipated, the No. 8 Nissan ZEOD RC completed 14 laps of the circuit with best time 3:54:145. The Test Day allowed the new "slow zone" procedure to be experienced which is intended to reduce the impact of the safety car's presence on the track. The idea is to neutralize only one part of the circuit in case of an incident. In that sector, the cars cannot pass each other nor exceed 60 km/h. Outside of this zone, the competition resumes. This "slow zone" can be preceded if need be with a short neutralization period by safety cars for the length of the circuit.

Next, the Technical and Administrative Verifications on Sunday, June 8th in downtown Le Mans. The 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place June 14th and 15th.

Pierre-Yves Riom / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO

PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SUNDAY JUNE 1 2014, TEST DAY. The No. 8 Toyota TS040 Hybrid, best time of the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans Test Day.