The first on track running has been completed for this year at Le Mans, so it's time to take a look at the data to see what we can pull out.
Because the long runs between pit stops are the best way to see pace for a 24 hour race, we've pulled out the fastest long run for each car. We've then combined these to find each team's fastest long run, and in the case of multi-car teams, the average.
The first thing to say is, while the usual culprits are still at the front, it looks very close. Ferrari, Porsche and Toyota are covered by less than two tenths on the long runs, with Alpine and Cadillac half a second or slightly more back.
The #51 Ferrari set the fastest long run, a five lap stint from James Calado in the afternoon session. This was interrupted by a full course yellow for a few laps, but Calado stayed out. This stint, eight laps with three laps affected by the FCY, was the car's longest stint in the three hour afternoon session.
Porsche's Nick Tandy and Toyota's Brendon Hartley were next up, under two tenths off Calado. The #36 Alpine was fourth fastest on the long runs, a 15-lap run interrupted again by a full course yellow for Mick Schumacher.
Alpine, though, will be pleased with this performance. They've been nipping at Ferrari's heels all year and being right up there in the crucial long runs will be encouraging for the French squad.
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JOTA's Earl Bamber was also pleased with his test day performance, with his fastest long run for the #38 Cadillac set in the morning session.
'I think it was a good first run and good to get all four Cadillacs out running,' said the Kiwi.
'We all had a good, clean session. For me, it was refamiliarization. I had done a lot of preparation work from the sims and good to finally be back at Le Mans. It’s good to be up front. We have a bit of work to do, and we’ll keep chipping away, but it’s certainly a solid start.'
Further back, the Peugeots were middling as they look to get a car which technical director Olivier Jansonnie admitted is 'harder to extract pace from' compared to the old wingless car.
Tim Fullbrook
'It was very important for us because we haven't driven on this track obviously for one year,' said Jansonnie after the two test day sessions concluded.
'Since then, last time here with this car, for us we've learned quite a lot of new things which we wanted to practice today. So in a way it was very important for us and we found some interesting results as well to prepare the race.
'It's overall two sessions, some red flags, which hampered a bit the results, breaking our efforts and some stint where you are trying to do some set up work. So it's part of the game here, it's like this every year. So always more difficult than a normal free practice.'
We've also aggregated the results by team and by manufacturer. For this, we've got two metrics to look at: the 'fastest' is a team's absolute fastest average stint, from a single car. The 'average' is a team or manufacturer's average from all their cars.
As we can see, Ferrari are still quickest in the 'fastest' metric but it's still super close between the various teams.
The three Cadillac teams are interesting here. The JOTA Cadillacs, as you might expect, were fastest in all three metrics, with Wayne Taylor Racing and the Whelen-sponsored Action Express Racing team finding their feet in WEC competition after usually competing in IMSA. But, neither is miles off the pace, and will only improve as the data is shared between all three factory teams.
The team or manufacturer with the most work to do is, undoubtedly, Aston Martin. This is the British manufacturer's first time at Le Mans with the new Valkyrie Hypercar, and the team's relative inexperience with the car is showing as they get up to speed with it on Circuit de la Sarthe.
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But, Aston are staying positive.
'I think it's our best ever day actually,' said Harry Tincknell, of the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie.
'And it's a shame because the timesheet doesn't really reflect it. [Before the last red flag] I just went out on a brand new tyre and we had only a couple of laps left of running, so it was kind of like potluck with the traffic.
'Didn't really pull the winning number out, but we were still like miles up on our best time and then went red flag, GT car spun just up ahead in Porsche Curves.
'So it's a shame, but the main thing is that we know we can see the delta and we can see the time that's in the car. From the moment we put the car on the ground this morning, we've been happy. It's definitely been our best day.
'The car's felt very reactive, very compliant, and actually very drivable, which is so important here over 24 hours. You just don't want something you're wrestling. You need something that's giving you confidence and that you can push.
James Jackson
However, the picture could completely change as we get closer to the race. Each team will be digging through the data to find where they're losing time, and refining setups accordingly.
The next session, the first official Le Mans practice session for 2025, begins 2pm local time on Wednesday 11th June. You can check the overall classification for the morning session and the afternoon session on the FIAWEC Al Kamel website.
Feature image: DPPI/WEC
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