24 Hours of Le Mans – Free Practice 1: Toyota responds to Porsche

As some might have expected, tire warming up was tricky. Just twenty seconds after the green flag, a thick plume of smoke was visible in the Dunlop chicane. One of the 56 cars on the grid spun out.

As with all sessions since the beginning of the season, all the competitors started slowly. Only Nyck de Vries on Toyota number 7 pushed a bit harder. The Dutchman is the only man to have gone under the 3 minutes 27 mark on the first flying lap (3’26”918).

Further on, the performances of the Isotta Fraschini are similar to what has been proposed for several races. Number 11 remained stuck in the middle of the LMP2. Turning around 3 minutes 35, the Italian Hypercar was eight seconds behind the best in its category. Over the laps, it gained a few tenths to finally join the group of Hypercars. But the gaps remained large.

Two slow zones in a row

After 50 minutes of driving, the first slow zone was deployed in the Dunlop chicane. Car number 65 from Panis Racing spun and ended up in the gravel. The disruption only lasted a few moments.

The second one did not arrive much later. It was caused by the off-track excursion of United Autosport’s number 23 at the entrance of turn S Porsche. The whole field had to slow down while the marshals cleared the LMP2 from the gravel.

In this first hour of testing, the best times were set shortly after the track opened. While Toyota had set interesting times, the Porsche number 12 was leading at 1 hour 40 minutes from the end of the session (3’26”610). In the LMP2 category, AO by TF Sport was leading (3’34”245), just three tenths more than the last Hypercar. Lastly, the Inception Racing number 70 was narrowly ahead of the United Autosport #59.

Two incidents, a red flag

At mid-session, two incidents occurred one after the other. At the Dunlop footbridge, the Alpine number 35 driven by Ferdinand Habsburg came to a stop for a few moments before setting off again at a slow pace. At the same time, at the other end of the track, the Lexus #78 from Team Akkodis was also stopped on the track. The race management decided to bring out the red flag for safety reasons. A recovery truck took care of the LMGT3. The session interruption lasted only 13 minutes.

Red flag halfway through FP1 🚩

#78 Akkodis ASP team has stopped on track.

Watch live on https://t.co/IPZa0nvsLu#WEC #LeMans24 pic.twitter.com/ynj62DgKZw

— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) June 12, 2024

Lamborghini number 86 (GT3 – GR Racing) experienced a mechanical issue about ten minutes after the restart. The car was immobilized in the escape area of the first chicane on the Hunaudières straight. A new slow zone was deployed to remove the car.

It took more than two hours to see a Toyota back at the top of the standings. Car number 8 with Brendon Hartley at the wheel regained the position it held at the beginning of the session (3’26”013).

The AF Corse number 183 caused the fourth slow zone of the session. The LMP2 was stopped at the edge of the track at the S of the forest, with about forty minutes left on the clock. A second red flag interrupted the running of the 56 cars. The Cadillac number 2 hit the barrier at the entrance of the Hunaudières. But the American car was able to continue on its own. The damage was not very significant.

With all these disruptions, Toyota maintained its leadership ahead of Porsche number 12. This is followed by a succession of brands. Cadillac, BMW, Alpine, and Ferrari have placed at least one car in the top ten. In LMP2, AO by TF Sport also kept its first place. A small surprise at the end of the session, Akkodis 87 outperformed Inception number 70. Lexus drove almost a second faster (3’57”808).