A sunny but breezy day at the Circuit Paul Ricard saw the first day of action of the 2022 Michelin Le Mans Cup season. There was seven hours of track time available for the 38 cars to test on the 5.771km circuit in preparation for the first round at Le Castellet on Saturday afternoon.
The no69 Cool Racing Ligier was the fastest car on track in the two sessions, with Malthe Jakobsen posting a 1m50.200 lap time in the afternoon.The Dane was just 0.044s ahead of the no 12 Eurointernational Ligier of Glenn Van Berlo, the Dutch driver lapping the 5.7km track in 1m50.244.
The fastest Duqueine entry was the no4 Nielsen Racing M30-D08 with Matt Bell setting the fastest time in the morning session.The British driver’s lap of 1m50.636 was third fastest overall, 0.141s ahead of the no23 United Autosports Ligier of Wayne Boyd.
Reigning champions Tony Wells and Colin Noble finished the afternoon session in 11thplace, with Noble’s 1m51.625 lap time in the morning session, the 13thbest of the day.
The GT3 category saw the Danish team GMB Motorsport claim three of the top four times of the day.The no88 Honda NSX GT3 claimed the top spot in both sessions with Mikkel Pedersen posting the best times in the morning and afternoon, but it was the earlier time of 1m54.463 that set the class benchmark for the day.
The no55 Honda NSX was the second fastest car in both sessions, with a 1m55.887 by Kasper Jensen in the afternoon claiming the second-best overall time of the day.
Theo Nouet in the no99 Bullitt Racing Aston Martin Vantage set the third best time of the day, the 19-year-old French driver posting a 1m56.131 to keep in touch with the Hondas.However, a collision with another car later in morning session damaged the Aston Martin, side lining the car for the rest of the day.
The 2022 Michelin Le Mans Cup opening round at Le Castellet will get underway on Friday 15 April, with the first 110-minute race of the season on Saturday 16 April.
CLICK HERE for the results from the morning test session at Le Castellet.
CLICK HERE for the results from the afternoon test session at Le Castellet.
