IN THE HEADLINES

VAUTIER IS RESERVE…

Sometime Indycar driver Tristan Vautier drove the Panis-barthez Competition Ligier LMP2 car at the test day in a reserve capacity. The Frenchman, who has never contested the 24 Hours, completed the 10 laps necessary to go into race week.

…AND SO IS IMPERATORI

Alexandre Imperatori was fastest in LMP2 at the end of the morning session in G-drive Racing’s lead ORECA-GIBSON 07 on a 3m30.176s. The Swiss driver is acting as reserve for the Russian entrant, which is also fielding a second ORECA in conjunction with the French Graff squad.

NEW CHASSIS FOR ASTON

Aston Martin Racing is rebuilding Marco Sorensen’s crashed Vantage GTE around a new chassis for the race. The team opted to prepare an entirely new car for the race rather than bring its test machine into play.

AMR AM TRIO STYMIED

Aston Martin Racing drivers Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda and Paul Dalla Lana got off a bad start in their attempt to finally get a GTE Am class win at Le Mans to go with the WEC class title they won last year. They completed only 27 laps in the morning before an oil leak curtailed their day before the end of the morning session.

YELLOLY ON HAND

Monaco Porsche Supercup race winner Nick Yelloly was on hand at Le Mans as reserve driver for the GTE Am Project 1 Porsche, but didn’t drive because the German team’s 911 RSR completed limited running as a result of an incident while Jorg Bergmeister was at the wheel in the morning.

ANDLAUER TOPS CLASS

Porsche junior driver Julien Andlauer jumped to the top of the GTE Am times at the end of the day. The Frenchman, who experienced the full Le Mans circuit last year in the Carrera Cup support race ahead of the 24 Hours, posted a 3m55.970s in the #77 Dempseyproton Porsche 911 RSR (below) to knock Giancarlo Fisichella’s Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE off the top of the times by 0.3s.