Aston Martin Valkyrie Flexes Muscle on Le Mans Test Day

The official Test Day for the 94th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans wrapped up under clear, sunny skies in La Sarthe, giving a first real glimpse of the form guide ahead of next week’s crown jewel endurance race. Topping the timesheets overall was Aston Martin THOR Team, with British driver Tom Gamble setting a blistering pace in the afternoon session aboard the No. 007 Valkyrie.

Gamble clocked a superb lap of 3:26.293 on soft compound Michelin tyres just over an hour into the final three-hour session. His benchmark remained unbeaten, signalling immediate intent from the British hypercar program.

Toyota Gazoo Racing bounced back from a morning scare to take second. Following a collision between Ryo Hirakawa and an LMP2 entry, the No. 8 GR010 Hybrid was rapidly repaired. Brendon Hartley went on to cut Aston Martin’s margin to just 0.108 seconds late in the afternoon. Norman Nato put the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R into third place overall, while a strong showing from Alpine Endurance Team saw Ferdinand Habsburg and debutant Victor Martins round out the top five. All eight Hypercar manufacturers finished within an incredibly tight one-second window.

In the LMP2 category, Job van Uitert left it late to secure top honours for IDEC Sport. The Dutchman reeled off a 3:35.344 in the final twenty minutes to depose Mathias Beche’s TDS Racing entry by 0.175 seconds, while AF Corse’s Matthieu Vaxiviere took third.

LMGT3 saw a dominant display by the Prancing Horse. Francesco Castellacci set the fastest class time of the day with a 3:56.646 aboard the No. 54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo. He pipped Timur Boguslavskiy in the No. 91 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R by a mere 0.009 seconds, while Jonny Edgar placed the TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette third.

Official track action resumes on Wednesday, June 10th, with Free Practice 1.