Kobayashi leads Toyota 1-2 in Le Mans warm-up
Ex-Formula 1 driver Kamui Kobayashi topped the timesheet in the #7 Toyota during morning warm-up for the 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours, edging team-mate Sebastien Buemi in the #8 car.
Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez completed the first two stints in the 45-minute session, before handing the #7 to team-mate Kamui Kobayashi for the final laps of warm-up.
Sebastien Buemi had topped the timesheet in the #8 Toyota, eclipsing Conway’s previous benchmark by 0.057 seconds.
Kobayashi’s penultimate lap of the session was 0.262s clear of Buemi’s fastest time, taking him to the top of the timesheet.
Buemi was the only driver to take to the track in the #8 car, as team-mates Fernando Alonso and Kazuki Nakajima – who set the time to put the car on pole position – sat out warm-up.
The first non-hybrid LMP1 was the #10 DragonSpeed, with Ben Hanley jumping to third on the timesheet with his final lap.
He had several lap times deleted mid-way through the session as a result of speeding in the pitlane.
The #17 SMP Racing entry finished in fourth, ahead of the #1 Rebellion Racing R13 which was propelled into fifth by Neel Jani.
The #11 SMP Racing car ended up sixth, with Mikael Aleshin posting the fastest time in the car. He handed driver duties to Vitaly Petrov for the final stint of the session. Team-mate and 2009 Formula 1 champion Jenson Button did not complete a lap.
Ricky Taylor headed the LMP2 class in the #34 Jackie Chan DC Racing entry. He was 0.4s faster than the #36 Signatech Alpine team, which finished second in class.
LMP2 polesitter the #48 Idec Sport team failed to post a lap time, instead recording six installation laps.
Four-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon finished top of the GTE-Pro times in the #69 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford. The team carried an additional eight kilograms of ballast as a result of post-qualifying Balance of Performance adjustments.
Three Ferraris followed in the GTE-Pro class, with the #51, #52 and #71 AF Corse cars second, third and fourth respectively. Ferrari has been given an additional litre of fuel to use as part of the BoP changes.
Keating Motorsports #43 led the GTE-Am class. Polesitter #88 Dempsey-Proton Racing team did not complete a lap on the session.