The first test session for the centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans — one of two sessions on Test Day ahead of next weekend’s race — ended with the No. 50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P of Antonio Fuoco leading the field of 62 cars with a time of 3m30.886s. But the session included a setback for Hypercar heavyweight Toyota when Mike Conway got into the grass with his No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 HYBRID and spun into the barrier at Tertre Rouge.
Conway was uninjured but the incident inflicted significant damage to the front body panels of the Toyota. The crash led to a red flag which brought an early end to the session.
Behind Fuoco, Peugeot also enjoyed an encouraging start as its No. 94 Peugeot 9X8 was fast and trouble-free, completing a session-best 31 laps with Gustavo Menezes setting the second-fastest time, at 3m31.346s (a faster lap of 3m31.189s was deleted for exceeding track limits). However, the sister car stopped on track early in the session with a mechanical issue.
The Porsche 963s now look fast too. Laurens Vanthoor in the No. 6 Penske Porsche Motorsport 963 set a time of 3m30.787s which would have stood as the fastest — had it not been deleted for exceeding track limits as well. Even so, Porsche still was represented in the top three as Yifei Ye reeled off a 3m31.477s in the No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA 963. The second Ferrari of James Calado was fourth fastest.
Conway wound up fifth fastest with a 3m31.856s, just 0.2s ahead of the fastest Cadillac V-Series.R, the yellow No. 3 from the Chip Ganassi Racing-run squad courtesy of Renger van der Zande.
Reshad de Gerus was a surprise pacesetter in the LMP2 class, driving the No. 47 COOL Racing ORECA to a time of 3m36.409s — faster than two of the Hypercars, and a full second quicker than the next-fastest driver in the class.
Louis Prette took the No. 66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE EVO left the way in LMGTE Am with a 3m56.623s.
The NASCAR Garage 56 entry got off to a strong start, too: The No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 looked competitive with the GTE Am field, especially in the hands of Jenson Button, who set a 3m56.880s, which would have been fourth-quickest in the GTE Am running order.