In an intense morning during the test day of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Cadillac managed to set the best time with its V-Series.R, while an incident with the number 8 vehicle of Toyota caused a red flag.
The first three-hour session was productive, with all 18 entries from Hypercar setting a timed lap before half an hour had passed. Will Stevens was the first to record a time of 3m27.843s, achieved with the #12 Cadillac. However, this time was more than a second below the record set by Toyota in 2025.
Through a safety car exercise, directed by the Race Direction, the session was interrupted for nearly 40 minutes. This measure inhibited any significant improvement during the session. Once normalcy was restored, a Full Course Yellow period was implemented to clean debris from the track.
The most notable incident occurred with 30 minutes remaining when the Toyota GR010 Hybrid #8 and the Oreca 07 #25 of Algarve Pro made contact at the exit of the Goodyear Chicane. Ryo Hirakawa, the Toyota driver, could not avoid the collision after the Oreca lost control, resulting in visible damage to the Toyota vehicle.
With the recovery of the vehicles quickly completed, competitors were able to resume the session and enjoy a few final minutes to improve their times. Ultimately, it was the #101 Cadillac, driven by Filipe Albuquerque, who set the best time of the morning at 3m27.011s, beating the #35 of Alpine by 0.328s.
A second three-hour session is scheduled for 3:30 PM local time, where teams will compete again on this iconic track.
Results of the Le Mans morning session
| POS | NO | Team | Laps | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 101 | CADILLAC WTR | 27 | 3:27.011 |
| 2 | 35 | ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM | 27 | 3:27.339 |
| 3 | 12 | CADILLAC HERTZ TEAM JOTA | 35 | 3:27.843 |
| 4 | 009 | ASTON MARTIN THOR TEAM | 36 | 3:28.086 |
| 5 | 50 | FERRARI AF CORSE | 28 | 3:28.291 |
| 6 | 8 | TOYOTA RACING | 33 | 3:28.319 |
| 7 | 7 | TOYOTA RACING | 30 | 3:28.468 |
| 8 | 15 | BMW M TEAM WRT | 37 | 3:28.623 |
| 9 | 20 | BMW M TEAM WRT | 37 | 3:28.698 |
| 10 | 007 | ASTON MARTIN THOR TEAM | 36 | 3:28.730 |
| 11 | 17 | GENESIS MAGMA RACING | 37 | 3:28.738 |
| 12 | 51 | FERRARI AF CORSE | 31 | 3:28.774 |
| 13 | 38 | CADILLAC HERTZ TEAM JOTA | 34 | 3:28.825 |
| 14 | 83 | AF CORSE | 28 | 3:28.896 |
| 15 | 93 | PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES | 36 | 3:29.271 |
| 16 | 94 | PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES | 30 | 3:29.285 |
| 17 | 36 | ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM | 25 | 3:29.390 |
| 18 | 19 | GENESIS MAGMA RACING | 30 | 3:29.988 |
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
SourceID: SRC_c6971786836ebaf8a73a75a87b4acf07d4f14eee