TKF, MV Agusta, Folch Already On the Pace...

This just in from Race24 Message Board regular Embedded, who is already at Le Mans and has reported on yesterday's free practice sessions...

Here is a small overview on the two days of free practice sessions organised by the circuit and open to all teams included in the official 24H Le Mans entry list.

Not Much Track Time

This year's first surprise - at least for me – is that for these two days of testing the practice sessions are really reduced to the minimum; just 90 minutes each day both for Formula WEC bikes and STK and Open!

Today's sessions were scheduled for the early afternoon (14:00-15:30) for Formula WEC and from 15.45-17.15 for STK and Open class, while tomorrow schedule is from 9:00-10:30 for Formula WEC and from 10.45-12.15 for STK and Open.

My personal feeling is that such a schedule is really a pity because a lot of teams are present, but that is the most free testing they can have from the circuit. Moreover most of them only realised this yesterday when they arrived at the Le Mans circuit.

Weather Report

There's was foggy weather in the early morning with low temperatures (10 °C); similar condition to last year's race on Sunday morning. Weather conditions improved more and more over the day, until during Formula WEC and STK and Open sessions the temperature was rising to 15/20 °C with sunshine.

Unofficial Lap Times

Most of the teams were present and got straight down to testing, with the following unofficial best lap times (a few directly recorded by me, most directly from the teams or “Radio Paddock”) related to some Formula WEC teams:

Moto 38 (Pirelli): Low 1:44s

Also available were times from AM Moto(Dunlop) with low 1:43s and Phase One (Dunlop) with high 1:44s, but those last two indications I personally considered less realistic than all of the above; at the end I expect both teams to be faster.

The final indication is that practically no riders crashed during any sessions, a much better situation if compared to the last test of a couple of weeks ago; but keep your fingers crossed because the forecast for the end of the week is for mainly wet conditions during free practice, qualifying and race.

And now keep posted for Wednesday afternoon's report …

Race24.com will be operating from the circuit on Thursday...

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