24h Le Mans
The #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P shined brightest in the darkness this evening by stopping the timer at 03:25.523 - almost one second quicker than anyone else in Free Practice 4.
The shortest session of the week and the final dress rehearsal before the big one… the 93rd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This was the last chance for all 62 teams to finalise their set-ups and give drivers the maximum amount of time behind the wheel before the race. Run under the cloak of darkness, the short-sharp Free Practice 4 came hot off the back of a dramatic Hyperpole session.
The #83 Ferrari 499P in the hands of AF Corse were 0.933 clear of the #50 factory car from Ferrari AF Corse and the #311 Cadillac of preparation firm Whelan. Being knocked out in Hyperpole 1 earlier tonight - the yellow Ferrari didn’t have the true outright pace in qualifying trim, but yet again featured in the top-five cars in Free Practice sessions once again - putting together a case that they could challenge for a win this weekend.
Pole sitters #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA can be proud of their nights work in sixth - positioned just behind the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 in fifth and sister #38 Cadillac in fourth.
Mechanical gremlins worked their way into the #23 United Autosports ORECA down the Mulsanne with Daniel Schneider trying to recycle and restart the LMP2 car, but had to pull over. Under poor lightning conditions, Race Control covered the recovery with a Full Course yellow in the final 10 minutes of the session.
#48 VDS Panis Racing had their moment of glory as they stood on the summit of the final Free Practice table of the week while class pole sitters #29 TDS Racing feel as ready as they can be with second quickest on the stopwatch. #183 AF Corse also feel like they have a car that can challenge in race trim this weekend as they bookended the rostrum in third.
The 60-minute session ran almost without incident, except for a brief Yellow Flag and Slow Zone within the first 10 minutes. The #63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG stopped on the exit of the first chicane on the Mulsanne straight. Once rescued the session was clear to proceed.
Akkodis ASP Team didn’t feature anywhere near the front in Hyperpole. Perhaps the #87 and #78 Lexus’ can handle the heavy fuel loads and tyre wear effectively giving them an all round solid performing race car? Only time will tell. The #87 Lexus ended the night fastest on the timesheet ahead of a chasing #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage and #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari who recovered from a FP3 visit to the graveltrap with a third in FP4 this evening.
1. Ferrari 499P #83 AF Corse – Robert Kubica / Yifei Ye / Philip Hanson - 03:26.523
2. Ferrari 499P #50 Ferrari-AF Corse – Antonio Fuoco / Nicklas Nielsen / Miguel Molina - 03:27.456
3. Cadillac V-Series.R #311 Cadillac Whelen – Jack Aitken / Felipe Drugovich / Frederik Vesti - 03:27.780
4. Cadillac V-Series.R #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA – Earl Bamber / Sébastien Bourdais / Jenson Button - 03:27.893
5. Porsche 963 #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport – Kévin Estre / Laurens Vanthoor / Matt Campbell - 03:27.919
Tomorrow sees two support class races in the form of the Porsche Sprint Challenge and Ford Mustang Challenge as well as plenty for the fans to enjoy off track, including the Fan Village, Open Track and Drivers Parade in the centre of Le Mans.
The next time we see the 24 Hours of Le Mans crews will be Saturday for a brief 15-minute Warm-up before the race starts at 16:00 local time.
