Albuquerque puts Wayne Taylor Cadillac quickest in Le Mans test

Filipe Albuquerque put the No. 101 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V‑Series.R on top of the timesheets in the opening Le Mans Test Day morning session, posting a 3:27.011 lap. That time was about three‑tenths quicker than Charles Milesi’s Alpine A424 and was 0.001 seconds shy of last year’s equivalent‑session best. Will Stevens ran third in the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac with a 3:27.843, and the Hypercar field’s top cars were covered by under three seconds, with the top ten separated by less than two seconds. Sources varied on the exact order behind the leaders, with Roman De Angelis, Alex Riberas and Norman Nato all reported among the top finishers and Nicklas Nielsen consistently placed fifth. Sebastien Buemi and Kamui Kobayashi also featured in the top seven, and Buemi’s lap was set before the session stoppage.

The morning running was interrupted by a red flag after a collision between Ryo Hirakawa’s No. 8 Toyota and Jake Hughes’ No. 25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca at the Dunlop Chicane (reported by one source as Turn 3), with the stoppage coming with roughly 27 minutes remaining. Reports differed on the extent of the damage: one account said the No. 8 suffered significant left‑rear damage, another said the car suffered no critical damage and was expected to continue, and a third said both cars were left damaged and could not return to the pits under their own power. The session had been focused on track familiarization and procedure drills, including Full Course Yellow and a planned 38‑minute Safety Car practice. Le Mans debutant Genesis showed promise with Pipo Derani 11th in the morning, Mathieu Vaxivière led LMP2 and François Heriau topped LMGT3. On‑track running was scheduled to resume at 15:30 CEST as teams assessed crash damage and continued preparations for race week.