- Toyota GAZOO Racing's Jose Maria Lopez was quickest overall in opening practice for this weekend's 24 Hours of Le Mans with a lap at 145.662 mph.  This lap was a mere nine-hundredths of a second faster than Signatech Alpine's Andre Negrao in the Alpine A480.  Kazuki Nakajima in the second Toyota was third.

United Autosports' Phil Hanson was fastest in LMP2 with a lap at 145.570 mph, fourth overall and a little more than one-eighth of a second off the overall fastest time.  Albuquerque was three-quarters of a second faster than G-Drive Racing's Nyck de Vries, fresh off of his Formula E championship.  Team WRT's Louis Deletraz was third, then IDEC Sport's Paul-Loup Chatin and DragonSpeed's Ben Hanley.

In the GT classes, AF Corse's Daniel Serra was fastest in his Ferrari with a lap at 132.487 mph, good for 32nd overall.  The lap was four-hundredths of a second faster than Corvette Racing's Nick Tandy.  Porsche GT Team's Gianmaria Bruni was third fastest, then James Calado and Sam Bird.

GTE-Am was topped by Team Project 1's Matteo Cairoli with a lap at 132.447 mph, 34th overall and third fastest of all GT cars.  Pera's lap was over a second faster than GR Racing's Ben Barker.  Dempsey-Proton Racing's Julien Andlauer was third, then Absolute Racing's Alessio Picariello and Kessel Racing's Mikkel Jensen.

- United Autosports announced Tuesday that they have signed Josh Pierson, 15, to drive an ORECA 07-Gibson in the FIA World Endurance Champoinship's LMP2 class full-time in 2022.  If all goes to plan, Pierson, who will turn 16 in February, will be the youngest-ever entrant in the 24 Hours of Le Mans next year.

Pierson currently races full-time in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship for Pabst Racing, part of INDYCAR's Road To Indy junior series.  Through 13 races, Pierson is fourth in points with five podium finishes.  His best finishes are a pair of second-place finishes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway back in May.