24h Le Mans Practice 3 headlines as #7 Toyota leads the way 09.06.2022: 24 Hours of LE MANS Circuit de la Sarthe June 8-12 June Thursday, June 9th 2022

24 Hours of LE MANS
Circuit de la Sarthe
June 8-12 June
Thursday, June 9th 2022




Kamui Kobayashi goes quickest again at Le Mans in third free practice session this afternoon in No.7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid Hypercar



Final preparations for this evening’s Hyperpole session are carried out as Toyota place 1-2 but second placed No.8 Toyota suffers a technical glitch


The LMGTE Pro category sees the No.64 Corvette lead the way, and in LMP2 No.22 United Autosports USA car heads the times. Session red flagged at mid-way point after accident for TDS Racing x Vaillante LMP2 entry.



In the LMGTE Am class the No.46 Team Project 1 Porsche heads the 23-car class.





Hypercar  




·       No.7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar driven by Kamui Kobayashi sets best FP3 time with a 3m26.796s Hyperpole simulation lap, which is the fastest lap of the 90th running of Le Mans so far



·       The No.8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010-Hybrid Hypercar is second with Brendon Hartley setting fastest lap on 3m27.115s



·       But No.8 stops on track and slowly returns to pits after electrical issue stops Ryo Hirakawa. Car returns to the action



·       Glickenhaus Racing third as No.708 car laps in 3m27.466s with Olivier Pla at the wheel



·       No.709 Glickenhaus 007LMH car places fourth ahead of Alpine ELF Team car which gets last BoP break ahead of FP3 and Hyperpole



·       But Alpine has to crawl back to the pit after an issue in final 25 minutes of race






LMGTE Pro  



·       Corvette Racing ahead in LMGTE Pro with Nick Tandy in No.64 car sets a 3m52.307s lap



·       No.91 Porsche GT Team second as Richard Lietz sets a best time of 3m52.787s



·       Corvette Racing first and third as No.63 Chevrolet Corvette driven by Jordan Taylor, Antonio Garcia and Nicky Catsburg  peaks on a 3m52.824s



·       Michael Christensen sets best time in No.92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 to place fourth



·       AF Corse are fifth and sixth with its pair of Ferrari 488 GTE Evo’s as Miguel Molina and James Calado set times



·       Riley Motorsports Ferrari 488 GTE Evo spends most of session in pits with unspecified technical issue and is seventh






LMP2   




·       No.31 WRT car of Rene Rast, Robin Frijns and Sean Gelael topped the LMP2 class for majority of the session but United Autosports claimed a late 1-2 finish



·       Filip Albuquerque sets best time of 3m30.964s in final three minutes to go P1 in No.22 car



·       No.23 sister United Autosports USA car places second with Alex Lynn peaking on a 3m31.025s lap



·       The 3m31.030 set by WRT’s Robin Frijns was initially 0.8s ahead of No.23 United Autosports USA car but is demoted to third as Lynn’s time is just 0.005s quicker



·       Cool Racing take fourth as Yifei Yi stops clocks with a time just 0.2s off second position



·       No.38 JOTA Oreca-Gibson is fifth fastest in ultra-competitive category as a 3m32.151s lap is set by Antonio Felix da Costa



·       Norman Nato sets late time to grab sixth position in LMP2 class in Realteam by WRT entry



·       No.83 AF Corse car is seventh and also leads the Pro/Am division with Nicklas Nielsen bringing joy to large Danish fan base at Le Mans



·       Several LMP2 cars hit trouble through incidents, especially the TDS Racing x Vaillante LMP2 entry as Philippe Cimadomo crashes heavily at Porsche Curves


·       ARC Bratislava car driven by Miro Konopka and No.47 Algarve Pro Racing car of Jack Aitken collide at Dunlop Chicane in final 10-minutes but both cars continue


·       Further incidents from Duqueine and Graf cars cause yellow flag periods during the three hours session






LMGTE Am   



·       No.46 Team Project 1 Porsche leads the LMGTE Am field with Mikkel Pedersen flies to a 3m54.386s best


·       TF Sport second as Henrique Chaves laps just 0.2s off Pedersen’s best


·       Third in LMGTE Am class is Hardpoint Motorsport Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Alessio Picariello


·       No.98 Northwest AMR Aston Martin Vantage is fourth with David Pittard setting quickest lap


·       No.59  Inception Racing car crashes in final moments of session as Alexander West damages his Ferrari 488 GTE Evo





Sam SMITH photo Paul Foster