Toyota Gazoo Racing made an impressive start to this year’s official running at the Circuit de la Sarthe ahead of the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans by dominating Sunday’s test day, beating the pole time from 2016 in the process.
Toyota heads into this year’s edition of the endurance classic out to avenge its heartbreaking defeat, and made an immediate impact by sweeping the top three positions on Sunday.
Kamui Kobayashi turned in a fastest lap of 3:18.132 in the No. 7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid to finish over a second clear of the sister No. 8 entry at the top of the timesheets, as well as lapping 1.6 seconds quicker than last year’s pole time.
Defending Le Mans holder Porsche endured a tough day blighted by a number of issues, leaving the No. 2 919 Hybrid fourth, 3.3 seconds off the headline pace, with the No. 1 car behind in P5.
Signatech Alpine set the pace in LMP2 as Nelson Panciatici posted a fastest lap of 3:28.146 in the No. 35 Alpine A470 Gibson (rebadged Oreca 07), giving the French squad P1 by almost seven-tenths of a second. Jean-Eric Vergne put in an impressive display on his first outing at the Circuit de la Sarthe to finish second for Manor, while Alex Brundle was third-fastest for Jackie Chan DC Racing.
Oliver Gavin topped the timesheets for Corvette in GTE Pro, posting a best time of 3:54.701 in the No. 64 C7.R as the Porsche 911 RSRs followed in second and third, the No. 91 leading the No. 92. Curiously, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing’s Le Mans defense started in quiet fashion as its quartet of Ford GTs filled out the bottom four positions.
Aston Martin Racing led the way in GTE Am courtesy of Pedro Lamy in the No. 98 Vantage V8, whose time of 3:58.250 was enough to give the British marque top spot by 0.052 seconds. Fernando Rees finished second in the No. 50 Larbre Competition Corvette C7.R, with Matteo Cairoli taking third for Dempsey-Proton Racing.