### Brendon Hartley Propels No. 8 Toyota to Top Spot in 24H Le Mans Test Day

In an impressive display of speed and precision, Brendon Hartley propelled the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid to the top of the timesheets during the 24 Hours of Le Mans test day. Hartley's standout performance came in the afternoon session, where he clocked a fastest time of 3:26.246, immediately surpassing the morning’s best effort set by AF Corse Ferrari driver Robert Kubica.

The New Zealander's extraordinary time secured the top spot by a margin of 0.531 seconds, with James Calado in the works No. 51 Ferrari 499P trailing closely behind. Kubica’s earlier effort placed him third in the No. 83 Ferrari, with a time of 3:26.902, just slightly better than his morning lap.

Alpine’s Mick Schumacher shone among the LMDh manufacturers, achieving the fourth-fastest time in the No. 36 entry, 1.067 seconds off Hartley's pace. Following him were the Porsche Penske Motorsport cars, with Kevin Estre in the No. 6 Porsche 963 finishing fifth, and Nick Tandy in the No. 4 car trailing in sixth.

Cadillac’s top performer, the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA car driven by Alex Lynn, finished ninth-fastest, nestled between the No. 50 Ferrari driven by Miguel Molina and the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid piloted by Robin Frijns. The latter car was involved in a significant incident, causing one of the session's three red flags when Sheldon van der Linde stalled at the Porsche Curves.

The session witnessed two more stoppages: Giorgio Roda in the No. 11 Proton Competition Oreca caused a 24-minute delay after crashing near Indianapolis, and Brenton Grove triggered the final red flag in the No. 63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo after hitting barriers at the Porsche Curves.

In the LMP2 category, Pietro Fittipaldi led with the fastest time of 3:35.770 in the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson, eclipsing the morning session's best by over a second. Close behind was Mathias Beche in the No. 29 TDS Racing Oreca, who finished second in class and first among Pro-Am cars, while Louis Deletraz in the No. 199 AO by TF machine rounded out the top three.

The LMGT3 class saw Akkodis ASP dominate, with Jack Hawksworth setting a scorching pace in the No. 87 Lexus RC F GT3, achieving a best time of 3:55.276. This time was nearly two seconds faster than the morning benchmark set by his teammate Jose Maria Lopez. Alessio Rovera’s effort in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari secured a second place, pushing the No. 57 Kessel Racing 296 GT3 of Casper Stevenson to third.

The test day results set an exhilarating stage for the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans, promising fierce competition and thrilling performances.