Two days on from Test Day, the teams entered in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans have had another chance to hone their cars’ settings. Some of them took to the Bugatti circuit while others simply verified their set-ups ready for the race.

Ten teams (15 cars in all) went out on the track this Tuesday, with most cars in the flagship LM P1 class operational. The three factory teams – Audi, Porsche and Toyota – each assigned one driver from each crew to put in a few laps.

The #7 and #8 Audi R18s were driven by Frenchmen Benoit Tréluyer and Loïc Duval, the #5 and #6 Toyota TS 050 Hybrids by Japanese drivers Kazuki Nakajima and Kamui Kobayashi, and the two Porsche 919 Hybrids by New Zealand’s reigning WEC champion Brendon Hartley and Swiss driver Neel Jani. Over at Swiss team Rebellion Racing, Brazilian Nelson Piquet  took out the two Rebellion R-Ones – cars #13 and #12 – one after the other.

None of the laps were timed and a good day’s driving was had by all.

What the teams had to say this Tuesday:

Ralf Juttner, Managing Director of Audi Sport Team Joest :
“We're making the most of the track being open. We are not allowed to spend more than one hour on the circuit per car, otherwise it counts as a test day and is deducted from our quota for the year. The mechanics started to dismantle the cars entirely on Sunday evening and we took our time putting them back together on Monday. The Audi R18 is the most complex car we have every built and the drivers and engineers have a lot to check when they give it a full overhaul like this.”

 

John Litjens, Project Leader at Toyota Gazoo Racing:

“We only had our Japanese drivers here for these final adjustments. We simulated refuelling and other technical drills, looking at the brakes in particular. The hybrid system that recovers brake energy slows the car down partially when the driver hits the brakes and the brake discs are sized accordingly. They serve as back-up to the hybrid system but also have to be able to bring the car to a halt independently at certain times. They should last the full race but to cover all bases, we practice changing them as fast as we can. The whole team is heading off this evening and we’ll be back on Saturday.”

                                                                           

Pascal Zurlinden, Chief Test Engineer at  Porsche Team:

“Like last year, we are running in all our spare parts ready for the race. I don’t really want to say whether this is the race engine or not, but what is sure is that we are at the final stage of our preparations before race week. We have returned the tyres used on Sunday to Michelin and we are using commercially-available tyres now when we go out on the track. They are totally different to those we’ll be using in the race. Brendan Hartley is driving the #1 car and Neel Jani is in #2. We are all going back to Wiessach this evening. My job as Chief Test Engineer is now over but I’ll be back to oversee race strategy.

 

Bart Hayden, Team Manager at Rebellion Racing:

“We are carefully preparing for the race: Nelson Piquet has stayed behind to drive the two cars on which we’ve changed the engines, gearbox and brakes. We finished the usual checks on car #13 this morning and we put in a first lap with #12 late this morning, followed by another thirty this afternoon. We didn't do any more than that. The driver has been instructed to avoid the rumble strips during these tests.”