The second free practice session of this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans took place this evening, as drivers completed their mandatory laps under cover of darkness at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Kamui Kobayashi, one of the most successful qualifiers in recent times at Le Mans, claimed a late peak lap of 3m26.096s in the #7 TOYOTA RACING entry the Japanese star shares with team-mates Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries
A small amount of track time was lost earlier in the session due to a spin for de Vries at the Goodyear Chicane that damaged the TR010 Hybrid’s floor, requiring repairs by the Japanese manufacturer
AF Corse fought back from its qualifying disappointment, as Yifei Ye lapped second-fastest in the two-hour session in the #83 Ferrari 499P he shares with fellow 2025 Le Mans winners Robert Kubica and Phil Hanson
Ye’s 3m26.316s lap just shaded the #101 Cadillac WTR-entered challenger, which was again at the sharp end of the times as Filipe Albuquerque set the third-quickest effort on 3m26.387s
But there was a brief issue for the Portuguese ace, as he lost power entering the pits and was forced to re-start the car; the issue was rectified, allowing the V-Series.R to resume its preparations
Alpine Endurance Team continued to show impressive pace, with the only Hypercar rookie at Le Mans, Victor Martins, claiming a best lap of 3m26.417s for fourth place
That was just 0.003s clear of the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA car in fifth, as Will Stevens set the best time in the car he shares with Norman Nato and Louis Delétraz
The stand-in Swiss driver, though, suffered a puncture and a slow lap back around to the pits in the final 20 minutes; the car returned to the track after receiving a new front-right Michelin Pilot Sport tyre
Genesis Magma Racing continued its highly impressive debut at La Sarthe as the #19 GMR-001 Hypercar placed sixth, with Mathieu Jaminet getting to within 0.7secs of the outright pace
Toyota placed seventh with the #8 TR010 Hybrid, which had an action-packed session as Brendon Hartley endured a high-speed trip across the gravel at the second Mulsanne Chicane
Aston Martin THOR Team wound up eighth, with the #007 entry of Harry Tincknell, Ross Gunn and Tom Gamble once more showing great promise for the American-entered British marque
BMW M Team WRT rounded out the top ten, with the Spa Francorchamps-conquering #20 M Hybrid V8 just heading the sister #15 car by 0.3secs, although late drama hit Dries Vanthoor as he spun off at the exit of the Forest Esses section of the track and had to be rescued from the gravel trap
LMGT3
BMW continued its productive programme across Wednesday at Le Mans, as the #32 Team WRT M4 driven by Augusto Farfus set the pace with a peak lap of 3m55.132s
The Brazilian’s best beat the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG entry crewed by Rui Andrade, Martin Berry and Maxime Martin by 0.3secs
The reigning FIA WEC and Le Mans-winning #92 Manthey Porsche, known as The Bend Manthey this season, claimed third position as Richard Leitz personally aims for a remarkable seventh class victory alongside team-mates Yassin Shahin and Riccardo Pera
The Spa-winning #10 Garage 59 entry placed fourth, as McLaren aims to reprise its famous 1995 Le Mans success
Completing the top six in the LMGT3 category were the #21 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari and #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin, with Simon Mann and Eduardo Barrichello respectively setting the times
LMP2
Forestier Racing by Panis topped the times in FP2, with Esteban Masson clocking the fastest effort of 3m33.645s
That proved to be 0.320secs quicker than the CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca-Gibson, as Porsche’s rapid young charger Laurin Heinrich impressed again with the best lap in the car he shares with George Kurtz and Alexander Quinn – ensuring the #4 prototype emerged on top in the Pro/Am sub-class, too
Completing the top three was the #183 AF Corse entry of François Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxivière and Ben Barnicoat
A braking issue into Indianapolis caused an incident for Grégoire Saucy in the #22 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson, with the car taking no further part in the session as it was recovered and the team began repairs
An early incident saw a small amount of damage inflicted to the #44 Proton Competition entry, as Horst Felbermeyer Jnr endured an excursion
Next up will be FP3 at 14:45 local time (CEST) on Thursday, 11 June, followed by the two Hyperpole shootouts to determine the final grid positions for the race from 20:00 CEST.
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