Rebellion Racing has responded to Toyota’s dominance in the opening day of running at the 24 Hours of Le Mans by setting the fastest time in night practice, courtesy of newcomer Louis Delétraz.
Delétraz set a best time of 03:19:158 in the #3 Rebellion R13-Gibson, which was nearly half a second up on the #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Kamui Kobayashi, while Gustavo Menezes put the #1 Rebellion third ahead of the #8 Toyota.
The #4 ByKolles ENSO CLM P1/01-Gibson was the first to cause a pair of red flags when Bruno Spengler had an off and scattered debris across the track. The Canadian brought the car back to the pits, but the team completed no further laps.
In LMP2, Tristan Gommendy led the way for ELMS squad Duqueine Engineering, setting a 03:28:013 in the #30 ORECA 07-Gibson to go nearly a full second quicker than the #32 United Autosports ORECA of Job van Uitert, with Jean-Eric Vergne third in the #26 G-Drive Aurus 01-Gibson.
Porsche led the way in GTE Pro thanks to a 03:52:177 from Kevin Estre in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19, despite an early puncture for the Frenchman, Estre outpaced both Aston Martin Vantage AMRs in second and third, with the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo in fourth place.
Kei Cozzolino led the way for MR Racing in the #70 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, ahead of the #98 Aston Martin Vantage AMR and the #60 Iron Lynx Ferrari.
The session was red flagged with fifteen minutes remaining when Bonamy Grimes crashed the #62 Red River Sport Ferrari 488 GTE Evo at the first Mulsanne Chicane, after which the session was not resumed.
The Ferrari suffered significant front end damage after appearing to hit the right-hand side barrier, although Grimes was seen walking away from the incident.
