Brendon Hartley posted a 3m26.013s with around 50 minutes of the opening three-hour first practice session remaining in the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID – a time that is almost a second faster than Porsche managed at last Sunday’s Test Day.
Callum Ilott’s 3m26.610s in the #12 Jota-run privateer Porsche 963 LMDh had topped the timesheets for much of the session, before the Briton was relegated to second.
BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh pilot Dries Vanthoor had briefly assumed second place with an effort in the closing minutes, but this was later deleted for a track-limits breach.
But his subsequent 3m26.671s was still good enough for third spot, ahead of the customer Proton 963 of Julien Andlauer – another late improver.
Nyck de Vries’ 3m26.918s in the opening minutes ensured that Toyota had two cars in the top five.
Also within a second of Hartley’s benchmark was the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh of Alex Lynn, who posted a 3m26.928s early on.
However, Lynn later caused one of two red flags when he crashed into the barriers at Terte Rouge with around 20 minutes of FP1 remaining.
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Next up in seventh spot was the second of the two BMWs, courtesy of Robin Frijns.
Ferrari’s defence of its Le Mans victory last year began in low-key fashion with the fastest of the trio of AF Corse-run 499Ps in eighth place with Antonio Fuoco in the #50 machine also just under a second off Hartley’s time.
The two Alpine A424 LMDhs, on their maiden Le Mans outing, rounded out the top 10, while the best of the Peugeot 9X8s was the #93 in 17th.
The top Lamborghini SC63 was 21st and the rear of the 23-strong Hypercar field was brought up by the Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 LMH, eight seconds off Toyota’s time.
Louis Deletraz topped the LMP2 leaderboard for almost the entire session in the #14 TF Sport-run AO ORECA-Gibson 07, having set a 3m34.245s in the opening 20 minutes.
The class is making a return to the World Endurance Championship for Le Mans, having been dropped from the regular WEC roster for 2024 with the LMGT3 division’s introduction.
James Allen was second in the #30 Duqueine with a 3m34.843s, while third was the #23 United Autosports entry, courtesy of Ben Hanley.
Last year’s GTE Am victor Ben Keating later went straight on at the Porsche Curves in that car and had to be pushed out of the gravel.
A late flyer from Esteban Masson gave Lexus top spot in the LMGT3 ranks with a 3m57.808s in the closing minutes.
Inception’s #70 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo had previously led the way throughout the almost session with a 3m58.770s in the hands of Brendan Iribe.
That effort was two-tenths faster than the #59 United Autosports-run example.
The sister #78 Lexus was the other car to have brought out a red flag halfway through FP1 when it ground to a halt on the straight after Mulsanne Corner.