Audi fastest in practice at Le Mans
Audi struck the first blow at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours by posting the fastest times in the free practice session on Wednesday
The session was hit by rain just over 60 minutes into the six-hours, so there were no improvements to the front running times for the vast majority of practice. The fastest times were set after each car had completed just a handful of installation laps, before they were forced into wet weather testing for the rest of the evening.
Last year's winning crew of Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello posted the quickest time of the session, but just half a tenth quicker than their team-mates Lucas Luhr, Mike Rockenfeller and Marco Werner in the #2 R15.
The #9 car of Marc Gene, David Brabham and Alexander Wurz was the quickest of the Peugeots but also suffered the brunt of the team's problems, requiring a new clutch mid-way through the session before returning to the pits in a cloud of smoke in the final 10 minutes.
Peugeot showed good wet weather pace though, with Sebastien Bourdais lapping up to five seconds a lap faster than anyone else on the circuit during his wet stint in the #8 908.
The Pescarolo-run customer Peugeot 908 of Jean-Christophe Boullion, Simon Pagenaud and Benoit Treluyer was the fourth fastest car in the session, outpacing two of the factory cars.
The best of the Lola Aston Martins - the #008 car of Darren Turner, Anthony Davidson and Jos Verstappen - finished the session eighth overall, five seconds off the pace of the lead Audis.
The second Aston Martin Racing car was less than a second behind, while the #009 car was a couple of seconds behind and had to be pushed back to the garage when it ground to a halt while leaving the pits near the end of the session.
The Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder was quickest of the LMP2 cars, 1.5 seconds ahead of its nearest rival, the similar car of Team Goh.
The factory Corvettes led the GT1 class with the #63 car of Jan Magnussen, Johnny O'Connell and Antonio Garcia a couple of seconds faster than the #64 example of Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Marcel Fassler.
GT2 was headed by the Team Felbermayr Porsche of Richard Lietz, Marc Lieb and Wolf Henzler.
Three cars failed to complete a significant amount of meaningful running in the six-hour session. The LMP2 Barazi Epsilon Zytek stopped with an oil system failure after completing only 12 laps. The #68 JLOC Lamborghini Murcielago stopped on its outlap with a broken driveshaft. The #41 GAC Zytek completed just 16 laps before a broken input shaft curtailed its evening's running.
There were several spins and trips across the gravel during the evening but the only accident befell Jean de Pourtales, who crashed the #39 Kruse Shiller Lola-Mazda into the wall at the Ford chicane.
Pos | Class | Drivers | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
1. | LMP1 | Capello Kristensen McNish |
Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi R15 TDI | 3m30.708 | |
2. | LMP1 | Rockenfeller Werner Luhr |
Audi Sport North America | Audi R15 TDI | 3m30.762 | 0.054 |
3. | LMP1 | Brabham Gene Wurz |
Peugeot Sport Total | Peugeot 908 HDi FAP | 3m31.102 | 0.394 |
4. | LMP1 | Boullion Pagenaud Treluyer |
Pescarolo Sport | Peugeot 908 HDi FAP | 3m33.028 | 2.320 |
5. | LMP1 | Bourdais Montagny Sarrazin |
Team Peugeot Total | Peugeot 908 HDi FAP | 3m33.426 | 2.718 |
6. | LMP1 | Bernhard Premat Dumas |
Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi R15 TDI | 3m34.716 | 4.008 |
7. | LMP1 | Tinseau Juoanny Barbosa |
Pescarolo Sport | Pescarolo 01-Judd | 3m35.868 | 5.160 |
8. | LMP1 | Davidson Turner Verstappen |
Aston Martin Racing | Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 | 3m35.996 | 5.288 |
9. | LMP1 | Minassian Lamy Klien |
Team Peugeot Total | Peugeot 908 HDi FAP | 3m37.980 | 7.272 |
10. | LMP1 | Charouz Enge Mucke |
AMR Eastern Europe | Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 | 3m36.732 | 6.024 |
11. | LMP1 | Hall Primat Kox |
Aston Martin Racing | Lola-Aston Martin B09/60 | 3m38.490 | 7.782 |
12. | LMP1 | Panis Lapierre Ayari |
Team Oreca Matmut AIM | Oreca 01-AIM | 3m44.474 | 13.766 |
13. | LMP1 | Zwolsman Jr Karthikeyan Lotterer |
Kolles | Audi R10 TDI | 3m44.508 | 13.800 |
14. | LMP1 | Belicchi Prost Jani |
Speedy Racing Team Sebah | Lola B08/60-Aston Martin | 3m44.560 | 13.852 |
15. | LMP1 | Ortelli Senna Monteiro |
Team Oreca Matmut AIM | Oreca 01-AIM | 3m46.202 | 15.494 |
16. | LMP2 | Elgaard Poulsen Collard |
Team Essex | Porsche RS Spyder | 3m46.426 | 15.718 |
17. | LMP2 | Ara Kunimoto Maassen |
NAVI Team Goh | Porsche RS Spyder | 3m48.096 | 17.388 |
18. | LMP1 | Albers Bakkerud Mondini |
Kolles | Audi R10 TDI | 3m49.960 | 19.252 |
19. | LMP1 | Ragues Mailleux Andre |
Signature Plus | Courage-Oreca LC70E-Judd | 3m52.858 | 22.150 |
20. | LMP1 | Campbell-Walter Ickx Ianetta |
Creation Autosportif | Creation CA07-Judd | 3m54.552 | 23.844 |
21. | LMP2 | Amaral Pla Smith |
Quifel ASM Team | Ginetta-Zytek 09S/2 | 3m56.200 | 25.492 |
22. | LMP1 | Hardman Leventis Watts |
Strakka Racing | Ginetta-Zytek 09S | 3m56.698 | 25.990 |
23. | GT1 | O'Connell Magnussen Garcia |
Corvette Racing | Corvette C6.R | 3m57.876 | 27.168 |
24. | LMP2 | Leuenberger Pompidou Kane |
Speedy Racing Team Sebah | Lola B08/80-Judd | 3m58.210 | 27.502 |
25. | GT1 | Gavin Beretta Fassler |
Corvette Racing | Corvette C6.R | 3m59.586 | 28.878 |
26. | LMP2 | Laheye Ajlani Moreau |
OAK Racing | Pescarolo 01-Mazda | 4m00.428 | 29.720 |
27. | LMP2 | Newton Erdos Dyson |
Ray Mallock Ltd. | Lola B08/86-Mazda | 4m01.378 | 30.670 |
28. | LMP2 | Noda Marsh de Pourtales |
Kruse-Schiller Motorsport | Lola B07/46-Mazda | 4m03.488 | 32.780 |
29. | GT1 | Lichtner-Hoyer Gruber Muller |
Jetalliance Racing | Aston Martin DBR9 | 4m06.606 | 35.898 |
30. | GT2 | Lieb Henzler Lietz |
Team Felbermayr-Proton | Porsche 997 GT3-RSR | 4m08.304 | 37.596 |
31. | GT2 | Melo Kaffer Salo |
Risi Competizione | Ferrari F430 GT2 | 4m10.980 | 40.272 |
32. | GT2 | Coronel Bleekemolen Janis |
Snoras Spyker Squadron | Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R | 4m13.196 | 42.488 |
33. | GT2 | Pilet Narac Long |
IMSA Performance Matmut | Porsche 997 GT3-RSR | 4m14.340 | 43.632 |
34. | GT2 | Bell Kirkaldy Sugden |
JMW Motorsport | Ferrari F430 GT2 | 4m14.584 | 43.876 |
35. | GT2 | Babini Malucelli Ruberti |
BMS Scuderia Italia | Ferrari F430 GT2 | 4m14.858 | 44.150 |
36. | GT2 | Bergmeister Law Neiman |
Flying Lizard Motorsports | Porsche 997 GT3-RSR | 4m15.254 | 44.546 |
37. | GT2 | Bruni Perez Companc Russo |
AF Corse | Ferrari F430 GT2 | 4m16.846 | 46.138 |
38. | GT2 | Farnbacher Simonsen Montanari |
Hankook Farnbacher Racing | Ferrari F430 GT2 | 4m17.098 | 46.390 |
39. | LMP2 | Piccini Biagi Bobbi |
Racing Box | Lola B08/80-Judd | 4m18.870 | 48.162 |
40. | GT2 | Drayson Cocker Franchitti |
Drayson Racing | Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 | 4m23.262 | 52.554 |
41. | LMP2 | Ojjeh Gosselin Peter |
GAC Racing Team | Zytek 07S/2 | 4m23.788 | 53.080 |
42. | GT2 | O'Young Hesnault Kralev |
Endurance Asia Team | Porsche 997 GT3-RSR | 4m24.420 | 53.712 |
43. | LMP1 | Tomlinson Dean Moore |
Team LNT | Ginetta-Zytek 09S | 4m24.700 | 53.992 |
44. | GT2 | Rodrigues Lebon Bouchut |
JMB Racing | Ferrari F430 GT2 | 4m26.170 | 55.462 |
45. | GT2 | Mansell Ehret Rusinov |
Team Modena | Ferrari F430 GT2 | 4m26.298 | 55.590 |
46. | GT2 | Dempsey Kitch Jr Foster |
Team Advanced Engineering | Ferrari F430 GT2 | 4m26.514 | 55.806 |
47. | GT2 | McInerney McInerney Vergers |
Virgo Motorsport | Ferrari F430 GT2 | 4m26.784 | 56.076 |
48. | LMP2 | Bruneau Rostan Greaves |
Bruichladdich Bruneau Team | Radical SR9-AER | 4m28.252 | 57.544 |
49. | GT2 | Felbermayr Sr Felbermayr Jr Lecourt |
IMSA Performance Matmut | Porsche 997 GT3-RSR | 4m29.856 | 59.148 |
50. | LMP2 | Nicolet Hein Yvon |
OAK Racing | Pescarolo 01-Mazda | 4m35.952 | 1m05.244 |
51. | GT1 | Alphand Gregoire Goueslard |
Luc Alphand Aventures | Corvette C6.R | 4m38.342 | 1m07.634 |
52. | GT1 | Maassen Jousse Clairay |
Luc Alphand Aventures | Corvette C6.R | 4m42.802 | 1m12.094 |
53. | GT2 | Krohn van de Poele Jonsson |
Risi Competizione | Ferrari F430 GT2 | 4m44.220 | 1m13.512 |
54. | LMP2 | Barazi Moseley Bennett |
Team Barazi-Epsilon | Zytek 07S/2 | 5m00.760 | 1m30.052 |
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