- Porsche’s Neel Jani led the way in practice with a fastest lap of 3:22.011 in the No.2 Porsche 919 Hybrid. The Swiss driver headed a Porsche 1-2 with Timo Bernhard taking the No.1 to a time of 3:33.550.
- Audi’s Lucas di Grassi was the only other driver to dip under the 3m23 mark, but Toyota’s No.6 was close behind the Brazilian so it’s very close among the LMP1 manufacturers.
- Nelson Piquet Jr was the quickest of the two Rebellion Racing R-One AERs, but the LMP1 Private Teams did not all have a good session. The first of three red flags was for the No.4 ByKolles Racing car which suffered a brief fire with Pierre Kaffer at the wheel. The German driver exited the cockpit completely unharmed.
- LMP2 saw a typically close battle between teams and constructors, with an ORECA, Alpine and Liger filling the top three spots. 2015 class winners KCMG were at the head of the time sheets with a time of 3:39.133, just four hundredths of a second ahead of the No.36 Signatech Alpine.
- It was Ferrari versus Ford in LMGTE Pro – the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE setting the pace (3:53.833). Another Ferrari and Ford filled 2nd and 3rd places in class ahead of the fourth-placed No.66 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK entry.
- Fastest of the FIA WEC entrants in LMGTE Am was the No.83 Ferrari 458 Italia AF Corse entry in third place. For many of the drivers it offered a first opportunity to work on set up in preparation for tonight’s first qualifying session.
- The session was interrupted by three red flags to retrieve stranded cars, and by several rain showers around the 13.6 km circuit.
