Le Mans flag to flag this weekend on MotorTrend [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[

[Heel n Toe]

https://www.motorsport.com/lemans/



Le Mans 24h: Toyota dominates first qualifying session

Toyota came out of the gates flying in Thursday’s 45-minute qualifying session, which decided on the six cars from each of the four classes advancing to the Hyperpole session, while setting the grid for the remaining positions.

Kamui Kobayashi set a time of 3m17.089s in the #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, one tenth clear of teammate Kazuki Nakajima in the #8 sister car. Rebellion’s #1 car was 4.5 seconds behind courtesy of Bruno Senna’s 3m21.598s lap. With only five cars entered in the category, all entrants will proceed to tomorrow’s Hyperpole.

In LMP2 Will Stevens led early doors with a 3m27.097 in the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca, narrowly beating Paul di Resta’s time in the #22 United Autosports Oreca.

Stevens was then topped by Nyck de Vries' effort in the #29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca, the Dutchman setting a 3m26.648s.

Jean-Eric Vergne secured a Hyperpole spot for the #26 G-Drive Oreca, joined by Alex Brundle’s #32 United Autosports entry and the #33 High Class Racing Oreca driven by Toyota protegé Kenta Yama(censored!)a.

Formula E champion Antonio Felix da Costa narrowly missed out in seventh in the #38 JOTA Sport entry and will start the race from that position.

In GTE Pro the Aston Martins demonstrated their raw speed by dominating the session. Marco Sorensen put the #95 Aston Martin Vantage on top with a 3m50.872, half a tenth quicker than Alex Lynn in the #97 sister car.

Alessandro Pier Guidi took third in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari, a full second behind the Aston duo, followed by Davide Rigon in the remaining AF Corse Ferrari of Davide Rigon.

Porsche pair Gianmaria Bruni and Michael Christensen secured fifth and sixth, knocking out the customer Ferraris of WeatherTech Racing and Risi Competizione.

Augusto Farfus topped GTE Am in the #98 Aston, following by Charlie Eastwood in the TF Sport Aston, Ben Barker in the #88 Gulf Racing Porsche and Come Ledogar in the #81 Luzich Ferrari. The #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche and the #98 Project 1 Porsche will join them in Friday’s Hyperpole.

[Heel n Toe]

[Heel n Toe]

[imaircooled]

Thanks for the videos. I'll be watching.

[tevake]

Other than motortrend , is there any other online or other video access to watch the 24 hr of Le Mans

Cheers Richard

[Heel n Toe]

It's worth checking YouTube... sometimes someone will pirate the stream and put it up there.

MotorTrend has some $2.00 a month deal going on their app. I don't know if you have to commit to a certain period of time, though.
https://www.motortrendondemand.com/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ten.mtodplay&hl=en

Do you have any local friends who are car guys? Check with them. Invite yourself and offer to bring beer and snacks, etc.

[juanbenae]

i could not believe it when i programmed it to record. i hate when NBCSN leaves an IMSA race for a couple hours for something stupid like track & field and worse yet NASCAR practice or qualifying.

with all the smoke here from the fires and unable to venture outside i may actually take a ton of it in.

[Heel n Toe]

Saturday A.M. bump



Rebellion Racing's Gustavo Menezes says he was "really surprised" to split the Toyotas in qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours with what he described as "pretty damn close to a perfect lap".

It came after the #1 Rebellion R-13 shared by Menezes, Bruno Senna and Norman Nato suffered a problem with its Gibson engine that forced the trio to sit out the second practice session on Thursday ahead of first qualifying.

More, including video showing grid: https://www.motorsport.com/lemans/news/rebellion-lmp1-menezes-qualifying-toyota/4876961/?ic_source=home-page-widget&ic_medium=widget&ic_campaign=widget-6

[javadog]

Here we go. What will be the biggest factor this year? Rain? Leaves? The large number of inexperienced amateur drivers? Seeing a lot of women drivers this year, which is something new.

[stuttgart46]

The Porsches are going backwards. Just another reason to hate to 2020

[astrochex]

Porsches had weight added via BoP.

[javadog]

Yeah, something like 40 kg, which is huge.

[brp914]

someone livestreaming from their car right now on youtube. Intense.

[Scott Douglas]

It's really going to get interesting once it starts raining.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by astrochex

Porsches had weight added via BoP.

And they have a 30 mm air restrictor. They are way down on power. The Ferrari and Astons just pull away on the straights. It all looks like the other teams sandbagged in qualifying except Porsche.

Only rain will help them level the field.

Did Corvette not even enter this year?

[rfuerst911sc]

I am enjoying the race I have watched most of it so far . It's a shame about the BOP additional weight penalty for Porsche . All they can do is keep pushing . Ferrari has now had two cars blow right front shocks . It's also a shame Corvette is not racing or Ford for that matter .

[Scott Douglas]

I've been watching it pretty much non-stop today too. Pretty nice coverage IMO.
I don't think the Fords and Corvettes could get into the country, that's why they aren't there.
It's kind of weird not seeing all the spectators there. No ferris wheel etc either.

[rfuerst911sc]

The Ford's aren't there because they are no longer in the series . The Corvette's originally were going to participate in LeMans but with Covid they decided to pass for this year . I am quite surprised there has been no rain .

[URY914]

Just finished. Toyo again

[rfuerst911sc]

It was an enjoyable race to watch. I commend Motor Trend TV to cover the entire race .