Kobayashi, Toyota tops Le Mans 24 Hours practice after rain, red flag

Full 2019 Le Mans 24 Hours practice results

Kamui Kobayashi has rescued top spot for Toyota Gazoo Racing with a late lap in the sole Le Mans 24 Hours practice to bump out Stoffel Vandoorne’s long-time leading effort for SMP Racing in a session stalled by intermittent rain and a red flag.

The former McLaren Formula 1 driver produced a 3m 19.931s at the start of the final hour of the four-hour practice in conditions at their best after rain arrived mid-session.

That lap looked set to take top spot until Kobayashi went quicker in the #7 Toyota, by an impressive 1.840s, with just under two minutes of the session remaining.

With the #11 SMP Racing was shuffled to second place late on, the #3 Rebellion Racing also narrowly missed out in third place just 0.029s of Vandoorne’s effort.

But there was no improvement from the #8 Toyota, with Kazuki Nakajima held up by yellow flags on his final lap, meaning last year’s Le Mans winners remained fourth fastest and almost two seconds off the sister Toyota at the finish.

The #1 Rebellion Racing car completed the top five ahead of the #17 SMP Racing comfortably ahead of the DragonSpeed and the ByKolles Racing.

In LMP2, last year’s class pole-sitter IDEC Sport Oreca grabbed top spot with a 3m 28.363s to pull out over three-tenths on the #31 DragonSpeed Oreca with Anthony Davidson at the wheel. 2018’s dethroned LMP2 winners G-Drive Racing Aurus grabbed third spot in class.

In GTE Pro, the Porsche duo dominated with Laurens Vanthoor placing the #92 911 RSR at the top of the times 0.315s quicker than the #94 driven by Mathieu Jaminet at the end of the session. The #71 AF Corse Ferrari led the charge just in front of the #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK.

In GTE Am, the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche lead from the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari.

The four-hour practice session was red flagged midway through by a heavy crash for Tracy Krohn in the #99 Dempsey-Proton Porsche at the second Mulsanne chicane. A 46-minute delay was required to repair the track barrier, while Krohn was taken to hospital for checks having suffered back pain in the high-speed off.

The first 2019 Le Mans 24 Hours qualifying gets underway at 2200 local time tonight (June 12) at Circuit de la Sarthe.