The teams competing in the 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans made the most of a 15-minute warm-up session this morning to get ready for the race. There was not a second to waste as it was the first chance this week that the teams and drivers have had to practice in the wet – conditions they expect to find at times during the race. A track that had been bone-dry for weeks was coated in a film of grease after the early morning drizzle. This was reflected on the stopwatch as lap times were around 15 seconds slower than in qualifying.

All 59 cars completed at least one lap and 33 of them at least one timed lap. The SO24-Has by Graff and Algarve Pro Racing pit crews would have had their hearts in their mouths as the #39 and #25 Oreca 07-Gibsons headed into the escape lanes, but no damage was reported.
Toyota Gazoo Racing showed it means business with the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid clocking the fastest time in 3:36.693. Here are the top lap times recorded in each class:

LMP1 (only two cars completed a timed lap)

1. #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid – Toyota Gazoo Racing – Sébastien Buemi/Kazuki Nakajima/Brendon Hartley – 3:36.693
2. #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid – Toyota Gazoo Racing – Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/Jose-Maria Lopez – 3:39.375

LMP2

1. #29 Oreca 07-Gibson – Racing Team Nederland – Frits van Eerd/Giedo van der Garde/Nyck de Vries – 3:43.022
2. #31 Oreca 07-Gibson – Panis Racing – Nicolas Jamin/Julien Canal/Matthieu Vaxiviere – 3:49.568
3. #35 Ligier JS P217-Gibson – Eurasia Motorsport – Nobuya Yamanaka/Nick Foster/Roberto Merhi – 3:51.214

LMGTE Pro

1. #51 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO – AF Corse – Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado/Daniel Serra – 4.12.476
2. #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 – Porsche GT Team – Gianmaria Bruni/Richard Lietz/Frédéric Makowiecki – 4:15.548
3. #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 – Porsche GT Team – Michael Christensen/Kevin Estre/Laurens Vanthoor – 4:17.477

LMGTE Am

1. #54 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO – AF Corse – Thomas Flohr/Francesco Castellacci/Giancarlo Fisichella – 4:17.393
2. #70 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO – MR Racing – Takeshi Kimura/Vincent Abril/Kei Cozzolino – 4:17.799
3. #83 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO – AF Corse – François Perrodo/Emmanuel Collard/Nicklas Nielsen – 4:17.’979

The teams are ready. Groupe PSA chief Carlos Tavares will brandish the French national flag to start the 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans at 14:30 today.