Ferrari achieved the fastest lap time in the third free practice session at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 499P with the #50 (Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen) completed the Circuit des 24 Heures in a lap time of 3:27.283 minutes, making the final statement before the Hyperpole qualifying on Thursday evening.
A GT3 accident was the only interruption in a session. The United Autosports McLaren #59 (Cottingham/Costa/Saucy) was responsible for this, as it hit the barrier at Tetre Rouge. Apart from that, the training session went off without any major upsets.
FP3 in Le Mans: Ferrari ahead of Porsche and BMW
Result: The early phase of training was dominated by long runs. The first time trial only began around 40 minutes before the end of qualifying. Laurens Vanthoor in the Porsche set the fastest lap time in this phase. His time was attacked again in the last few minutes before the end of the time limit and beaten by Antonio Fuoco in the Ferrari.
The #15 BMW with Dries Vanthoor at the wheel (teammates: Marciello/Wittmann) came in third, just 0.041 seconds behind the Porsche. The #3 Cadillac (Bourdais/van der Zande/Dixon) secured fourth place just a few minutes before the end of the time.
In fifth place was the #7 Toyota (Lopez/Kobayashi/de Vries), followed by another Cadillac duo, led by the #2 car (Bamber/Lynn/Palou) ahead of the Whelen Cadillac #311 from IMSA (Derani/Aitken/Drugovich) and #3 Cadillac (Bourdais/van der Zande/Dixon).
Eighth place went to the second Toyota #8 (Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa). Behind them was the #4 Porsche (Jaminet/Nasr/Tandy). Mick Schumacher’s Alpine #36 (teammates: Lapierre/Vaxiviere) rounded off the top 10 in tenth position.
24h Le Mans: Jota gets shakedown after Wednesday crash
The #12 Jota Porsche was unable to take part in the session after its accident in FP2 on Wednesday evening. The car, which needs to have its chassis changed, should be rebuilt by the race. Team boss Dieter Gass said: “We only have a little over 24 hours to rebuild our #12 car – a job that normally takes three weeks. But we have full confidence in our mechanics that they could perform another miracle.
Jota received an exemption from the FIA and is therefore allowed to complete a shakedown lasting a maximum of 30 minutes on Friday at the airport next to the track. However, the car must definitely take part in the warm-up on Saturday afternoon in order to be allowed to start in the 24-hour race.
Incidents: In the Hypercar class, the third practice session went without any major accidents. The biggest excitement of the session was caused by the #59 United Autosports McLaren (Cottingham/Costa/Saucy). James Cottingham, at the wheel of the McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo, lost the rear of his car in Tetre Rouge and hit the tire wall hard.
The accident caused the session to be interrupted for around 20 minutes. During this time, another McLaren, the #70 Inception car (Iribe/Millroy/Schandorff), rolled out. The #65 LMP2 car (Sales/Beche/Huffaker) from Panis Racing also had a technical problem.
For the team of former Formula 1 driver Olivier Panis, the trouble was not over: After a driving error by Scott Huffaker, the Indianapolis car also ended up in the tire wall. In the last hour of training, the #51 Ferrari was plagued by an electronic problem and had to be repaired in the pits.
| Pos. | No. | Team/Brand | driver | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 | Ferrari | Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen | 3:27.283 |
| 2 | 6 | Porsche-Penske | Estre/Lotterer/L. Vanthoor | 3:27.391 |
| 3 | 15 | BMW WRT | D. Vanthoor/Marciello/Wittmann | 3:27.432 |
| 4 | 3 | Cadillac | Bourdais/van der Zande/Dixon | 3:27.471 |
| 5 | 7 | Toyota | Lopez/Kobayashi/de Vries | 3:27.803 |
| 6 | 2 | Cadillac | Bamber/Lynn/Palou | 3:28.245 |
| 7 | 311 | Cadillac | Derani/Aitken/Drugovich | 3:28.345 |
| 8th | 8th | Toyota | Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa | 3:28.642 |
| 9 | 4 | Porsche-Penske | Jaminet/Nasr/Tandy | 3:28.690 |
| 10 | 36 | Alpine | Lapierre/Schumacher/Vaxiviere | 3:28.879 |
| 11 | 51 | Ferrari | Pier Guidi/Calada/Giovinazzi | 3:28.985 |
| 12 | 19 | Lamborghini Iron Lynx | Grosjean/Caldarelli/Cairoli | 3:29.042 |
| 13 | 35 | Alpine | Chatin/Habsburg/Milesi | 3:29.373 |
| 14 | 5 | Porsche-Penske | Campbell/Christensen/Makowiecki | 3:29.420 |
| 15 | 20 | BMW WRT | S. van der Linde/Frijns/Rast | 3:29.896 |
| 16 | 94 | Peugeot | Vandoorne/Di Resta/Duval | 3:30,000 |
| 17 | 83 | AF Corse Ferrari | Kubica/Shwartzman/Yifei | 3:30.308 |
| 18 | 38 | Jota Porsche | Rasmussen/Hanson/Button | 3:30.383 |
| 19 | 63 | Lamborghini Iron Lynx | Bortolotti/Kvyat/Mortara | 3:30.453 |
| 20 | 99 | Proton Porsche | Jani/Tincknell/Andlauer | 3:30.987 |
| 21 | 93 | Peugeot | Vergne/Jensen/Müller | 3:31.461 |
| 22 | 11 | Isotta Fraschini | Bennett/Vernay/Serravalle | 3:37.217 |
| 23 | 12 | Jota Porsche | Stevens/Nato/Ilott | – |