Le Mans FP3: Ferrari Leads, McLaren Dominates LMGT3

Hypercar

Antonio Fuoco, at the wheel of the Ferrari 499P No.50, set the best time in FP3 with a lap of 3m27.283s, surpassing the Porsche Penske 963 No.6 driven by Kevin Estre, who finished second with 3m28.391s. The No.6 Porsche received a 5-minute penalty for a Full Course Yellow procedure infraction.

Third place went to Dries Vanthoor in the BMW M Team V8, with a time of 3m27.432s. Sebastien Bourdais, in the Cadillac Racing V-Series.R No.3, finished fourth, showing a solid performance from the American manufacturer.

Toyota Gazoo Racing finished fifth and eighth, with the No.7 ahead of the No.8 GR010 Hybrid Hypercar. Between the two Toyotas were the No.2 Cadillac and the No.311 Action Express, driven by Pipo Derani, Felipe Drugovich, and Jack Aitken. Completing the top ten were the Porsche Penske 963 No.4, with Felipe Nasr at the wheel, and the Alpine A424 No.36, which will participate in the Hyperpole session.

The Porsche 963 of Hertz Team Jota No.12, which crashed in FP2, is being rebuilt with a new chassis for the weekend race, scheduled to shake down at the local airfield before Saturday.

LMGT3

The McLaren No.59 led the LMGT3 category with a time of 3m57.558s set by Gregoire Saucy. However, the car ended up in the Tertre Rouge barriers after James Cottingham lost control and crashed. Saucy's best time was just 0.006s faster than Franck Perera's in the Lamborghini No.60 of Iron Lynx.

Third place in the category went to the GR Racing Ferrari, driven by Daniel Serra, Riccardo Pera, and Michael Wainwright, after overcoming technical difficulties. The top six in LMGT3 were completed by the Aston No.777 of D’Station, the McLaren No.95 of United Autosport, and the Ford Mustang No.77 of Proton.

The Inception McLaren faced problems in FP3 when Frederik Schandorff had to stop on the Mulsanne straight after completing only four laps.

LMP2

Matthias Beche, in the Panis Racing No.65, topped the LMP2 times with a lap of 3m37.217s, although he ended up in the gravel in the final hour at Indianapolis Corner. His teammate Rodrigo Sales also had issues, brushing the barriers at the Ford Chicane, but with little damage.

Beche's time was 0.017s better than the No.47 Cool Racing Oreca-Gibson, with Frederik Vesti making his Le Mans debut. The AO by TF Sport 'Spike' car was third, thanks to a late lap by Louis Deletraz, while the AF Corse entry, driven by Francois Perrodo, Ben Barnicoat, and Nicolas Varrone, finished fourth, although slow on track.

Patrick Pilet put the Vector Sports car in fifth place, while the IDEC car rounded out the top six.