Kevin Estre led the way in the #6 Porsche 963 LMDh with a 3m26.907s set in the second of the two three-hour sessions on Sunday to head the times by just over two-tenths from Felipe Nasr in the sister #4 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry.
The Brazilian improved the #4’s best lap by Nick Tandy, already good enough for second, to 3m27.142s late in the faster afternoon session in which the top eight cars dipped under Toyota driver Kamui Kobayashi’s quickest lap from the morning.
Brendon Hartley took third in the afternoon in the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar with a 3m27.615s, while Michael Christensen made it three PPM cars in the top four courtesy of a 3m27.773s.
Miguel Molina posted a 3m28.014s to jump to fifth with an hour left on the clock to head the trio of Ferrari 499P LMHs competing in the 23-car Hypercar field.
Robin Frijns was again in the top six for the WRT BMW squad, the Dutch driver finding 1.4s from the morning to end up on 3m28.072s in the #20 M Hybrid V8 LMDh.
Lamborghini continued its improved WEC form from the morning, Daniil Kvyat getting down to 3m28.222s to take seventh position in the Test Day times during the final hour in the afternoon.
The customer AF Corse-run Ferrari 499P was the last car to go under Kobayashi’s morning best, Yifei Ye setting a 3m28.248s.
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid of Jose Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck De Vries
Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt
The #12 Jota customer Porsche team’s 963s was another later improver, Will Stevens putting the car ninth in the afternoon rankings with a 3m28.623s before Callum Ilott improved the car’s time to 3m28.487s but not its position.
Jose Maria Lopez, drafted back into the Toyota squad after Conway was ruled out of Le Mans as the result of a cycling accident, rounded out the afternoon top 10 in the #7 GR010 with a 3m28.827s that left him four-tenths off team-mate Kobayashi’s morning mark.
Behind the second Jota and Ferrari factory entries in which Oliver Rasmussen and Antonio Giovinazzi set the times came the best of the revised Peugeot 9X8 LMHs with Paul di Resta at the wheel.
The Briton’s 3m29.326s left him nearly two and a half seconds off the frontrunning pace.
Top Cadillac V-Series.R was the Action Express Racing with Pipo Derani at the wheel in 14th place.
The Brazilian set a 3m29.380s to end up just over two tenths quicker than Alex Lynn in the best of the Ganassi-run Caddys in 16th.
The two Alpine A424 LMDhs were again near the rear of the Hypercar pack, Nicolas Lapierre and Charles Milesi taking 17th and 20th.
#36 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424 of Nicolas Lapierre, Mick Schumacher, Matthieu Vaxiviere
Photo by: Marc Fleury
The LMP2 class was led by United Autosports, Oliver Jarvis taking the top spot by nearly three-tenths.
His 3m34.704s aboard the Anglo-American team's #22 ORECA-Gibson 07 just shaded Olli Caldwell’s 3m25.981 in the best of the Algarve Pro entries in the all-ORECA field.
Third place went to the Duqueine ORECA in which James Allen set a 3m36.354s shortly before the session was red-flagged five minutes early.
The TF Sport Chevrolet team headed the LMGT3 rankings with Sebastien Baud as the quickest runners in the new-for-2024 class dipped below four minutes for the first time.
Baud topped the times with a 3m59.883s in the #82 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, which put him just three hundredths up on the 3m59.920s from Alex Riberas in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
Augusto Farfus was the last driver below four minutes in the fastest of the two WRT BMW M4 GT3s.
Track action at Le Mans resumes with the first free practice session at 14:00 local time on Wednesday, which is followed up the hour-long first qualifying session in the evening.
Source: Autosport