The Grand Prix of Endurance is back, the City of Le Mans preparing to become motorsport’s ultimate battleground for the 94th time. Having defeated the defacto Kings of Le Mans and banished Porsche to the USA, Ferrari seek a fourth consecutive crown for the first time since 1964. Yet with the field having closed the performance gap and arriving hungrier than ever, it will be no easy task for the Scuderia – but it never has. Who will emerge from the Porsche curves at 4.00pm on Sunday? It’s time for the oldest endurance test of them all to begin…

Hypercar

A year on from taking pole at the Circuit De La Sarthe Cadillac are fastest again in FP1, with a 1-2 lockout secured by Earl Bamber’s #38 Jota-run V.Series R.

Bamber was the only man to breach the 3.25 barrier, laying down a blistering 3.23.786 with 22 minutes remaining in the first of four three-hour-long free practice sessions. Behind him was teammate Filipe Albuquerque in the Wayne Taylor Racing #101, 1.6sec down on the Kiwi’s searing time.

Third was the BMW #15 of Spa winner Rene Rast, who’s last-gasp charge secured third with a 3.25.533 with last year’s pole-sitting Cadillac, the #12 of Will Stevens coming home fourth with a best time of 3.26.033, narrowly missing out on the elusive 3.25.

Fifth was the first of the Alpines, at what’s expected to be the last outing for the marque’s A424 in French colours. Charles Milesi went four tenths of a second off the #38 Cadillac, with a 3.26.078.

Then came the first of the Toyotas, as the new for 2026 TR010 gets its first outing at Le Mans. Sebastian Buemi was just three thousandths of a second from eclipsing Milesi’s time, a 3.25.494 the Swiss driver’s best effort. Ferrari could only muster seventh from the 2024 winning #50 crew in a session they struggled in.

The session was bookended by the sister #83 Ferrari’s lockup at Mulsanne corner, tank-slapping the barriers at with 16 minutes remaining. In a difficult session for Ferrari the defending race winner was down in 15th at the end, with a best time of 3.27.326 while the #51 was a lowly 17th with a best time of 3.27.652.

Aston Martin’s duo of Alex Riberas in the #009 and Tom Gamble in the #007 sandwiched newcomers Genesis in 8th and 10th, who are the first ever Korean team to tackle this fabled race. Luis Filipe “Pipo” Derani was the fastest of the two GMR-001s, donning a special livery for this event.

LMP2

LMP2 saw close competition for top spot in the time boards was the #30 Duqueine Team, thanks to a late push-lap from Doriane Pin.

The 22-year-old, who’s on the books of Peugeot at present as a reserve driver, went seven tenths quicker than anyone else in the class, setting an untouchable 3.35.248 in the car she shares with Richard Verschoor and Porsche ex-pat Julien Andlauer. Second was another Frechman stepping down to LMP2, as Kevin Estre swaps his usual Penske-operated 963 for the #14 TDS Racing LMP2 this weekend, and was immediately up to speed, posting a 3.35.958 that was good enough for second.

Third was the up-and-coming Italian Valerio Rinicella who in the opening hour had dominated the timing sheets, setting five consecutive personal best times in his first ever running at Le Mans’ ultimate endurance test. In the end his 3.36.189 proved more than competitive, putting him right amongst the favorites for this class.

Rounding out the top five were two men far more familiar to the all-conquering Oreca 07, as James Allen, substituting for Louis Deletraz in the #99 AO Racing’s “Rockie” Pegasus liveried machine who was called up last minute to the works Cadillac squad, set a strong 3.36.224. Just a tenth-and-a-half behind was Gregoire Saucy for United Autosports.

A four-minute-long slowzone was product of the youngest squad in the race, CLX Motorsport’s #37 of Theodore Jensen, fifteen minutes into proceedings. Remarkably, Jensen and both his teammates are all 19 years old rookies at Le Mans, with Adrien Closmentil and Ian Aguilera forming the trio. Aguilera is also the youngest driver present on the grid. They finished 15th fastest.

Having led the Pro/Am timings early on, the #4 Crowdstrike of George Kurtz repeated Jensen’s mistake at the Mulsanne chicanes, ending up deeper in the gravel traps and bringing out another full-course yellow en route to seventh in LMP2.

Elsewhere there was trouble for the #9 Proton, which spun over the crest before Tetre Rouge early on with Harry King at the wheel. Forced to pit to fix the resulting suspension damage result they failed to set a competitive time.

LMGT3

And in the hotly contested LMGT3, staking their claim were Lexus with the #78 of Jack Hawksworth, who took top spot despite early promise from Corvette’s Racing Team Turkey #34 of Charlie Eastwood that would end the session in 5th.

The Japanese marque held the fastest time for the majority of the session thanks to Hawksworth’s early prowess, setting a 3.55.737 during the closing stages of the first hour, a time that was uneclipsed. Behind them were BMW with the #32 M4 GT3 Evo of Augusto Farfus, who were a single tenth down with a best time of 3.55.837. The sister BMW, #69 of Anthony Mackintosh was third, incredibly just a thousandth of a second of Farfus’s time.

Completing the top five was Mercedes, a year on from their difficult return the early signs were promising, as their Iron-Lynx run #62 of Qatar Racing Team went fourth fastest, being the only other car to breach the 3.56sec barrier, with a final time of 3.55.904. Fifth were indeed Corvette with the Charlie Eastwood piloted #34 of Racing Team Turkey setting the fastest of the 3.56sec times, a 3.56.147 specifically.

Ferrari also struggled in LMGT3, failing to reach the top 10 in the final standings. Their best effort was that of Conrad Laursen’s #57 Kessel Racing 296 GT3 Evo, with a best time of 3.56.580.

An hour and fourty minutes into proceedings, Antaures Au picked up rear bodywork damage on his outlap in his #10 McLaren 720S GT3 with the rear smoking on the way into pitlane.

Qualifying gets underway at 18:45 local time.

image credit – T GOUREAU, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons