24h Le Mans
Road to Le Mans, the Porsche Sprint Challenge France and the Ford Mustang Challenge are all exhilarating support races at the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans. Here's a round-up after the first free practice sessions.
The fourth of six Michelin Le Cup rounds, Road to Le Mans is the high point of the season. The 58 entrants (116 drivers, two per car) took advantage of two one-hour free practices today. The field is made up of three categories: LMP3, LMP3 Pro-Am and GT3.
The morning session went off without a hitch. In the head category, David Hadrien (R-ace GP's #85 Duqueine D09) topped the timesheet in 3:50.288. In Pro-Am, Julien Lemoine clocked a respectable time of 3:53.259 (Ans Motorsport's #84 LMP3 Ligier) and the Ferrari 296 GT3 driven by Eliseo Donno dominated GT3 in 3:58.303.
The night session (20:30–21:30) was slightly disrupted when contact was made between the #6 LMP3 Ligier JS P325 and the #7 Adess AD25. as de quoi, toutefois, perturber le train des meilleurs. Already one to watch in the previous session, cooler temps helped Team Virage Ligier improve its times (P1 and P3). Brazilian driver Sérgio Sette Câmara, a former reserve and development driver for McLaren F1 Team in 2019 then Red Bull Racing in 2020, secured the second fastest time (P1 in Pro-Am). Team Motopark's #65 Mercedes-AMG GT3 driven by Lukas Dunner clocked the best time in GT3.
The 58 Road to Le Mans competitors will hit the track again tomorrow, Thursday 12 June, when things get serious: qualifying from 11:45 to 12:40 and the start of Race 1 at 18:25!
Entrants in the Porsche Sprint Challenge France participated in two free practices. This championshipnat de France groups together various racing Porsches as well as series-produced Porsches adapted for circuits. For example, Porsche 911 type 992 GT3 Cups, 911 type 992 GT3 Rs and GT4 RSs. During the morning FP1, young French hopeful Enzo Joulie made his mark at the wheel of Martinet by Alméras' #97 Porsche 992 GT3 Cup ahead of Louis Meric in Racetivity's #31 Porsche LM31 and Sylvain Noël in Racing Technology's #111 Porsche.
This relatively calm session was followed by another early in the afternoon with current 992 GT3 Cup leader Victor Blugeon in ABM's #74 Porsche quickly snatching P1. Shortly after a Full Course Yellow, the times went crazy. Kim André Hauschild in HRT Performance's #48 Porsche slipped into the lead only to be immediately overtaken by Clément Loeul in Ancel Motorsport's #100 Porsche. Times were only slightly slower than the morning session, but the gaps at the top of the timesheet were extremely tight. Loeul finished in the lead thanks to a time of 4:04.531, though Blugeon did almost catch up to him in the final lap. Joulie rounded out the top 3.
The first qualifying session for the Porsche Sprint Challenge is tomorrow at 09:00.
Robert Noaker of Robert Noaker Racing clocked the fastest time of the two Mustang Challenge free practices. The American turned in a lap in 4:20.174 then 4:21.271 at the wheel of his Mustang Dark Horse R. Only one other competitor clocked a time under 4:24 (Cameron McLeod of Ryan McLeod Racing Cars in 4:23.963). The second session was ended prematurely by a red flag. The most consistent drivers on the track were able to complete six laps. A red flag had already shortened the morning session when the engine bonnet of Academy Motorsport's #97 driven by Marco Signoretti became detached and went flying at Mulsanne.
