Kamui Kobayashi delivered a last-gasp lap of 3:26.096 to put Toyota on top of the order in Wednesday night’s second practice for the 2026 Le Mans 24 Hours.
The Japanese driver, sharing the No. 7 Toyota TR010 Hybrid with Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries, overcame an early heart-stopping spin to set the fastest time just as the clock ticked towards the end of the night session, beating Yifei Ye in the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari by 0.220 seconds.
This marked the first night-time practice of the entire race week, drawing all 62 cars across Hypercar, LMP2, and LMGT3 categories into a dramatic two-hour battle under the darkness of La Sarthe.
Ferrari’s performance came after a disappointing qualifying, where the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P failed to make it into Hyperpole and will start the race 17th on the grid, second from last in the Hypercar category.
Filipe Albuquerque caused drama when his No. 101 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R lost both power and lights coming into the pit lane, but the team performed a control-alt-delete reboot on the American machine that got him back on track to deliver a strong third-place effort.
Le Mans debutant Victor Martins drove the No. 36 Alpine A424 to the fourth fastest lap, while Louis Deletraz recovered from a front-right puncture to finish fifth in the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R.
The No. 19 Genesis GMR-001 impressed in sixth in the hands of Mathieu Jaminet as the team marked its first ever competitive night session at Le Mans.
Ryo Hirakawa was seventh fastest in the sister No. 8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid after rebounding from a puncture and Brendon Hartley’s earlier spin at the second Mulsanne chicane.
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Full Le Mans 24 Hours 2026 entry list
Ross Gunn slotted the No. 007 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie into eighth, while the pair of Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8s rounded out the top-ten with Sheldon van der Linde’s No. 15 quicker than the No. 20.
Dries Vanthoor had beached the No. 15 BMW into the gravel after losing control at the Esses coming into Tertre Rouge.
In the LMP2 category, Esteban Masson set the pace in Le Mans 24h night practice with an effort of 3:33.645 in the No. 29 Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca 07-Gibson, leading the way with a margin of over a second from his rivals.
Alex Quinn in the No. 4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca finished second, just 1.3 seconds slower than Masson, while Matthieu Vaxiviere rose to third with a late flyer in the No. 183 AF Corse entry, a further 7 tenths off Quinn and over 2 seconds adrift of Masson.
The No. 30 Duqueine of Richard Verschoor lost time stranded in gravel on the approach to the Goodyear Bridge after a spin, the No. 222 United Autosports 07 Gibson suffered an off after just seven laps with Mikkel Jensen at the wheel, while the No. 44 Proton Competition hit the barriers at Arnage.
Augusto Farfus set the pace in LMGT3 aboard the No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO with a 3:55.132, beating Maxime Martin in the No. 61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 by just three tenths of a second.
Riccardo Pera in the No. 92 The Bend Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R nabbed third place, followed by Marvin Kirchhoefer in the No. 10 Garage 59 McLaren 720S and Alessio Rovera in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.
