The warming-up is in the books, only hours remain now until the green flag for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Yesterday was free of track-time, but that didn’t mean it was a rest day. Drivers had to show up for the drivers parade, while the GT teams got word of Balance of Performance adjustments.
Unsurprisingly, Ford and Ferrari were hit with extra ballast in addition to a turbo boost reduction for the Ford GT. Corvette and Aston Martin went the other way, receiving a break in the BoP weight and a wider air restrictor. Porsche, who were found right in between the speeding Ford and Ferraris and the slower Aston Martin and Corvettes, didn’t get any BoP adjustments, as they were on the pace that the ACO and FIA had in mind for the GTs all along.
Saturday morning was a dry affair, with the warming-up session being held on a dry track surface. With two red flags for accidents, the session was far from clean. André Lotterer set the fastest time of the morning in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro before the last minutes of warming-up were abandoned. Mike Conway ended up second fastest in the Toyota TS050 Hybrid, only two tenths faster than third placed Porsche 919 Hybrid pilot Romain Dumas.
The weather this afternoon will be a different story, with rain expected for the first hours of the race. After that, it should be dry running.
Photos by Julian Schmidt.
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