Le Mans Test Day - the start of the countdown

Written by Neil Matthews Friday, 22 April 2011 00:00

Easter Sunday (24th April) sees the return of the Test Day for the 24 hours of Le Mans; run on the full circuit and with all of the teams present testing both cars and drivers for the race 6 weeks later on the 11th/12th June.

There has been no test day for the last 2 years as part of cost reduction measures introduced by the ACO in response to the global economic downturn. But we all welcome its return, especially to this slot well ahead of the race.

For those unfamiliar with the schedule for the 24 hours of Le Mans, Test Day is an important opportunity for the teams to test their cars on the full circuit which is to a large part made up of public roads for most of the year. Le Mans places unique pressures on both car and driver, so this precious few hours of running outside of the pressure of race week is crucial. However, the times recorded on Test Day have no bearing to the race itself; qualifying sessions on the Wednesday and Thursday evening of race week govern the starting positions for the race.

Our friends at Rebellion Racinghave a new aero package for their pair of Lola-Toyota LM P1 cars and they will be hoping for a successful Test Day. Our best wishes go to Bart and the team. These striking cars carry hopes of many for petrol to claw back some of the differential to the diesel Audis and Peugeots.

In LM P2 we are cheering along 2010 LMS P2 champions RML with their 'new for 2011' HPD (Honda Performance Development) ARX-01d. After a tough outing at Le Castellet in the Le Mans Series we wish Mike, Tommy and Ben all the best on Sunday!

If you want to know more about how Test Day works, our partners at Planetlemans have posted this a very informative guide and also have all of the news from the track both before and after the event.

With 6 weeks left until the 24 hours of Le Mans, Test Day marks the start of the countdown to the best weekend of the year for endurance racing fans across the globe. We look forward to seeing you all there!