There was a time when the Le Mans test day carried real weight. Held in late April or early May, it served as a preliminary trial. Competitors fought against the clock, and the slowest were eliminated.
Today, it’s little more than a final dress rehearsal - two additional free practice sessions held a week before the race for teams to prepare the race week.
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Since the Hypercar category adopted a Balance of Performance (BoP) system in 2021, teams have been cagey, often hiding their true pace to avoid triggering late BoP tweaks - something that’s happened in that first year. As a result, interpreting test day times is as much about reading between the lines as reading the stopwatch.
The BoP published last week meant minor tweaks ahead of Sunday’s action, but these adjustments didn’t shift the balance significantly.
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s technical director David Floury summed up a frustrating day: “It was complicated to get proper work done because of the many interruptions, but that’s the same for everyone.”
Indeed, sessions were disrupted by a safety car period and two red flags following off-track excursions from Luca Ghiotto (#43 Inter Europol ORECA 07) and Giorgio Roda (#11 Proton Competition ORECA 07).
So why were laptimes quicker overall? First, the circuit has been resurfaced from the exit of Arnage to the first left-hander of the Porsche curves. And more importantly, all cars are running with increased power compared to 2024.
Brendon Hartley ended the day fastest with a 3m26.246s in the #8 GR010 Hybrid Toyota, improving on last year best test day laptime by 0.661s - and on the 2024 race's fastest lap by 2.510s. Still, last year’s Hyperpole benchmark remains quicker: 3m24.634s by Kevin Estre.
Analysing the best 20% average lap times in the afternoon session puts the #83 Ferrari 499P on top with a 3m27.570s, followed by the #36 Alpine, #20 BMW, #51 Ferrari, #4 Porsche, and #8 Toyota, all separated by fractions of a second. Average stint pace told a similar story.
Hypercar test day top times by manufacturer
1. Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa (Toyota #8) – 3m26.246s
2. Calado/Pier Guidi/Giovinazzi (Ferrari #51) – 3m26.777s (+0.531s)
4. Schumacher/Makowiecki/Gounon (Alpine #36) – 3m26.902s (+1.067s)
5. Estre/L. Vanthoor/Campbell (Porsche #6) – 3m27.536s (+1.110s)
8. S. van der Linde/Rast/Frijns (BMW #20) – 3m27.554s (+1.308s)
9. Lynn/Nato/Stevens (Cadillac #12) – 3m27.610s (+1.374s)
18. Gamble/Tincknell/Gunn (Aston Martin #007) – 3m29.249s (+3.003s)
19. Vergne/Jensen/Di Resta (Peugeot #93) – 3m29.386s (+3.140s)
“We had a solid day,” added Floury. “But being quickest doesn’t mean much right now. It’s hard to get a clear read on the hierarchy. Ferrari looks sharp, possibly a step ahead, and behind them, there’s a tight group of five manufacturers. It’s going to be a great race.”
No one appears out of contention - well, aside from Aston Martin and Peugeot, who do seem on the back foot. Peugeot, in particular, lamented an unfavourable BoP and failed to improve on its 2024 time, losing over three seconds to the day’s best. Aston Martin, despite being new to the Hypercar class, at least showed slight progress.
‟It was a very productive test day, during which we ticked off a full to-do list with all three cars,” said Urs Kuratle, Porsche's LMDH factory racing boss.
"The team worked together seamlessly. This is the first time since last year that we’re running three cars, and we’ve successfully applied the lessons we learned. These insights are more valuable than laptimes alone.”
‟It’s hard to predict how we stack up against the competition – the field seems closely matched," Mathieu Jaminet added. "As expected, our Porsche felt good, but there’s still room to improve."
And what about Cadillac? “Track running has been limited with incidents,” Alex Lynn replied. “We ticked off a lot of our programmes, which is great
"The competitiveness of everyone is really tight. There are a lot of brands that are in great shape, and I would put us as one of them.
"Next week is going to be a big battle to try to win this one. I think we learned what we did right the last couple of years.
"We know the Cadillac suits this track nicely so we’ll try to put together the things we’ve known for the last couple of years”
BMW showed pace as well, though the #20 M Hybrid V8 stopped on track with an oil leak. Alpine, meanwhile, impressed again - with Mick Schumacher setting the fourth-best overall time in the #36 A424, behind only two Ferraris and the Toyota.
“We struggled a bit to find the right set-up this morning but we moved in the right direction this afternoon,” explained Alpine sporting director Nicolas Lapierre. “We got to try different tyre compounds in various conditions and complete most of our programme. The overall outcome is satisfactory despite the track time lost due to incidents. The drivers performed well and avoided making any mistakes.
"The pace looks right for now. Although it's still too early to draw any conclusions, we are in a good position, which is encouraging for next week.”
Ex-F1 driver Pietro Fittipaldi topped the LMP2 class in the #22 United Autosports ORECA, while Jose Maria Lopez went fastest in LMGT3 driving the #87 Akkodis-ASP Lexus RC F GT3.
Now, the serious business begins. Wednesday features just one practice session before the all-important fight for a place in Thursday’s Hyperpole.
What will the pecking order look like? That remains anyone’s guess, especially with temperatures expected near 30°C and potential storms on the horizon.
