12:42 – Toyota driver Sebastien Buemi has set the fastest time at the Circuit de la Sarthe in the warm-up session for 24 Hours of Le Mans, Giedo van der Garde clocked third fastest overall in the LMP2 car of Racing Team Netherlands.
The circuit in the Pays de la Loire region was still wet from the rain that fell last night, so the teams proceeded with extreme caution in view of the race start this afternoon. Only 33 of the 59 participating teams actually clocked a lap time.
Initially it was Mike Conway who was the fastest in the # 7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, with a time of 3.39.375. Buemi – in the # 8 Toyota – improved that time after falling off the black and white checkered canvas to 3.36.693, a time still more than 15 seconds slower than the times the Toyota LMP1 cars clocked on dry land. . The competition in the LMP1 – the two Rebellions and ByKolles’ car – decided not to go out this morning.
Third overall was therefore Van der Garde in the Oreca 07 of Racing Team Netherlands. The Dutch former F1 driver came to a 3.43.022, six seconds faster than Matthieu Vaxiviere in the Oreca 07 of Panis Racing and eight seconds faster than Nick Foster in the Ligier JSP217 of Eurasia Motorsport. LMP2 polesitter United Autosports decided not to let any time be recorded.
Changing weather conditions
The participants in the 88th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will most likely experience rain. If the weather forecasts are not wrong, it will rain heavily in and around Le Mans next night and tomorrow morning. And precipitation is also expected in the last hours of the long-distance race. The varying conditions will be especially challenging for the 40 rookies that appear at the start. The 24 hours of Le Mans starts a little earlier than usual on Saturday, at 2.30 p.m.
In collaboration with Filip Cleeren
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