Ferrari goes 1-2 in Thursday night practice at Le Mans

In the final hour of night practice for the 93rd Le Mans 24 Hours, Ferrari finished 1-2 on the leaderboard to shake off a lackluster effort in Hyperpole.

Robert Kubica set the pace in the yellow No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P with a 3m26.523s, followed by the factory-run red No. 50 Ferrari 499P.

Cadillacs took up three of the next four spots in the running order with the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R in third, the No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac in fourth, and the No. 12 JOTA Cadillac, the pole-sitting car for Sunday, in sixth behind the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963.

The No. 48 VDS Panis Racing ORECA 07-Gibson led LMP2; Toyota-backed young driver Esteban Masson set a 3m38.302s to lead the class, followed by the No. 29 TDS Racing ORECA and the No. 183 AF Corse ORECA.

And in LMGT3, Jose Maria Lopez put the No. 87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3 in first place with a 3m55.057s – leading the No. 10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin and the No. 54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari.

Brenton Grove had only completed one lap in his No. 63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 when the car came to a halt at the exit of the first Mulsanne Chicane. On its own, it wasn’t what the Grove family-fronted entry needed, after changing chassis following Stephen’s big Free Practice 1 crash.

And with the lack of sufficient night-time running last night and tonight, it puts the crew of the No. 63 Mercedes-AMG in a very difficult position just to be able to race on Saturday and Sunday.

There was drama later on for the No. 23 United Autosports ORECA – with 15 minutes to go, Daniel Schneider suffered a right-front puncture and stopped along the Mulsanne Straight to bring out a Full Course Yellow.

In the interim, the No. 15 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 limped back to the garage after just one lap with a reported cooling system issue.

Towards the end, Zacharie Robichon reported a potential drivetrain issue for the LMGT3 pole-sitting No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3, but the car returned to the track in time for the checkered flag.

RESULTS