Duqueine Team Tops Opening Free Practice Session
The 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans week truly begins this Wednesday with the first qualifying session. Before that, competitors took part in Free Practice 1. This opening session saw the #30 Duqueine Team ORECA 07 move to the front of the field.
Free Practice 1
LMP2:
Already among the leading cars during Sunday’s Test Day, Duqueine Team’s #30 ORECA 07 confirmed its strong start to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The prototype, shared by Doriane Pin, Richard Verschoor, and Julien Andlauer, stood out by setting the benchmark time of 3:35.248. The French team places itself in an ideal position ahead of the start of qualifying later this Wednesday.
Second overall, the #14 TDS Racing ORECA 07 leads the Pro-Am category. Tobias Lutke, Mathias Beche, and Kévin Estre completed the 13.626 kilometers of the Sarthe circuit in 3:35.958. The crew had already shown its outright speed during the initial runs. Always a strong contender, IDEC Sport broke into the top 3 at the end of Free Practice 1. Job Van Uitert, Paul Lafargue, and Valerio Rinicella placed the #28 ORECA 07 in third position.
Third in the 2025 Hyperpole, the #99 ORECA 07 sits fourth overall and second in Pro-Am. James Allen, Dane Cameron, and PJ Hyett are expected to be frontrunners as the qualifying session approaches. The #22 United Autosports ORECA 07 finished fifth, ahead of two Pro-Am cars: the #183 AF Corse ORECA 07 and the #4 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA 07.
Hypercar:
Alpine Endurance Team prepared for qualifying by placing one of its cars in the top 5. The #35, with Antonio Félix Da Costa, Charles Milesi, and Ferdinand Habsburg on board, can head into the week’s first major highlight with confidence. The #36 (Frédéric Makowiecki, Jules Gounon, Victor Martins) finished twelfth.
For their Le Mans debut, Genesis Magma Racing saw one of its GMR-001s finish in the top 10 of Free Practice 1. This result came courtesy of the #17 (André Lotterer, Luis Felipe Derani, Mathys Jaubert), which set the ninth-fastest time of the session. The #19 (Mathieu Jaminet, Paul-Loup Chatin, Daniel Juncadella) clocked the thirteenth-fastest time.
LMGT3:
The five Ferrari 296 LMGT3s assembled by ORECA experienced zero issues during this session. The highest-placed representative of the Prancing Horse brand was the #57 Kessel Racing entry of Takeshi Kimura, Conrad Laursen, and Daniel Serra.
Qualifying Practice 1 will begin this Wednesday and will be split into two parts. LMP2 and LMGT3 will have thirty minutes, starting at 18:45, to secure a spot in the top 15. The Hypercars will aim for the same objective during their dedicated session from 19:30 to 20:00.