24h Le Mans
Test Day is a rehearsal for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Teams use the track time to glean precious information and fine-tune settings before the race. Racing aficionados enjoy interpreting the day’s statistics. We have picked out six that illustrate the aspects to master for success in endurance.
The number of laps completed by the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 – BMW M Team WRT, the most diligent crew on track this Sunday. That’s 1171 kilometres worth of intensive training. The Belgian team likes to take advantage of every minute on track. The same car did the most laps last year too: 74. A sign of consistency and a perfectly executed action plan. Setting aside Cadillac and Ferrari (228 and 195 laps respectively), which have three cars, BMW spent the most time on track yesterday, completing a total of 167 laps, compared to 152 for Aston Martin, 152 for Peugeot, 147 for Genesis and Toyota and 131 for Alpine.
In LMP2, Job van Uitert’s top time would have earned him third place in last year’s Hyperpole. The Dutchman clocked 03:35.344 in the IDEC Sport #28 Oreca 07. The crew of the #28 reflect the essence of LMP2, the class where anything can happen. Van Uitert has speed, Valerio Rinicella, his 19 year-old teammate, has the fieriness of youth, and, with nine starts under his belt, Paul Lafargue has experience. Race veterans mix with rookies, wisdom meets whizz kids. Many drivers in this class are out to shine to attract an offer of a seat in the Hypercar class. The level of driving skill is higher every year, as Van Uitert’s performance shows. TDS Racing’s Mathias Beche, last year’s pole sitter, was less than two-tenths behind him.
In LMGT3, 19 cars (over 3/4 of the field) recorded times within tenths of each other. More than in the Hypercar class (13), and the most since the class changed in 2024. The Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo #54 in the hands of Francesco Castellacci was fastest, by nine-thousandths of a second. Proof that every little detail will make a difference, hence the need for groundwork on Test Day.
The top time of the day was recorded by Tom Gamble in the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie.
It is remarkable for several reasons. First, it is very close to the benchmark set last year on Test Day by Toyota (3:26.246). Second, Aston Martin’s best time last year was three seconds per lap slower! In the space of a year, the British manufacturer has made phenomenal progress, confirmed by another interesting statistic: Tom Gamble’s Test Day time is better than the Valkyrie #007’s 2025 qualifying time!
The Heart of Racing has worked hard. The prototype’s production car appearance and the sound of its fierce naturally-aspirated V12 already turned heads. Now its performance is attracting attention too. Not least from its opponents.
Four of the ten fastest laps Test Day were achieved at the wheel of the Alpine A424. The class record. Ferdinand Habsburg (03:26.938 – fifth best time of the day), Charles Milesi (03:26.990 – sixth), and António Félix da Costa (03:27.130 – tenth) in the #35 were particularly fast. In the #36, Victor Martins was fastest (03:27.017).
The Alpine’s was impressive in consistency – an all-important factor in endurance. This is a team sport and compromise is required to ensure all three drivers can express their full potential in the cockpit, despite radically different styles. This aspect looks to be perfectly understood in the Alpine camp.
That’s the top speed, in kilometres per hour, attained on Sunday, by Ferdinand Habsburg and Victor Martins in the Alpine A424 #35 and #36. It’s faster than last year (344.5). Exiting Tertre Rouge, the right-hand bend that leads to the iconic Mulsanne Straight, drivers are often already nearing 245 kph. Then peripheral vision blurs as they accelerate, all the way up to seventh gear. When they passed the Auberge des Hunaudières, the Alpine A424s were travelling at about 100 metres per second. Outrageous speed. Yet, the human at the wheel must brake at the same point as on previous laps, with a margin of 50 centimetres.
From a technical point of view, top speed depends on various factors, such as air temperature, aspiration, torque and the set-up chosen by the team. A car with less downforce will be faster on straights, but will have less grip on corners. So a Hypercar that’s quick in the Porsche Curves, for example, will have a slight disadvantage on the Mulsanne Straight.
Test Day confirmed a trend observed since 2023: gaps are tiny, sometimes non-existent, in all three classes. Driver engagement before the race is always difficult to determine. However, the clock doesn’t hide anything, and it indicates that there is very little to choose between teams entered for the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans.
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