No.15 BMW quickest in red flag disturbed FP3
- Benjamin Crundwell
- 46 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Dries Vanthoor has gone quickest in the No.15 BMW in Free Practice 3, the No.29 Forestier Racing topped an LMP2 class which saw multiple incidents, and the No.23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin was quickest in LMGT3.
The three hour session started at 14:45 this afternoon. The first hour brought problems immediately for multiple competitors.
The first victim was the No.28 IDEC Sport LMP2. The Oreca 07 suffered a brake failure, forcing the car to limp home, with two separate offs. The car returned to the track later, but made contact with the No.009 Aston Martin, fortunately avoiding a crash.
The next car with problems was Laurin Heinrich's LMP2, the No.4 Crowdstrike Racing car spun at the first chicane, an uncharacteristic mistake from young talent.
Even more of an uncharacteristic mistake, Kévin Estre went deep at the first chicane on the Mulsanne straight, then was unable to turn his car on the curb and had to apply the brakes to avoid hitting the barrier. The Porsche factory driver is racing the No.14 TDS Racing LMP2 car this week, since Porsche are missing Le Mans for the first time since 2023.
Another LMP2 car hit troubles, as the No.44 Proton Competition car found the wall at the Porsche Curves, fortunately avoiding any dramatic damage.
While Raffaele Marciello spun the No.15 BMW at the final chicane, Norman Nato topped the times with the No.12 Cadillac. The No.12 led a Cadillac one-two for most the session, from the No.101.
With half an hour left in the session, all the teams started to strap fresh tyres to their cars for qualifying runs, but Daniel Schneider's No.222 United Autosport LMP2 went on the marbles at the Ford chicane, and hit the wall. The red flag was called to clear the incident, so the rest of the competitors could do complete qualifying runs without a slow zone.
After the red flag, Dries Vanthoor set a 3:23.302, beating the No.12s previous quickest lap time. The No.15 BMW stayed fasted by the chequered flag, four tenths ahead of the No.36 Alpine. The No.12 Cadillac finished third, but Norman Nato could only improve by two tenths compared to the cars lap at the start of the session.
The championship leader, the No.20 BMW finished fourth, and the No.17 Genesis broke into the top five, nine tenths off the leader. The South Korean manufacturer is doing exceptionally well, considering this is only the GMR-001-Hypercar's third race in the WEC.
Despite their troubles earlier in the session the No.29 Forestier Racing topped the LMP2 tables with a 3:34.252, only one thousandth of a second in front of the No.30 Duqueine car. The No.343 Inter Europol Competition car finished third, four tenths back.
The LMGT3 class was led by the No.23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, which set a 3:53.728. The No.32 WRT BMW finished in second place and the No.87 Akkodis ASP Lexus finished third.
Hyperpole takes place this evening, starting at 20:00 local time (19:00 BST).
