Peugeot on top in 'Ring practice

Sarrazin's best lap was more than half a second quicker than his teammate's, with Minassian just over three tenths ahead of Allan McNish in the first of the Audi R10s.

Mike Rockenfeller was fourth in the second Audi, seven tenths adrift off McNish's pace but still a full 1.7 seconds ahead of the next car, which was the Lola Aston Martin. Jan Charouz's best lap in the first of the petrol-powered cars edged out Loic Duval in the first Courage Oreca.

The next Oreca car was seventh, with the Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder the top LMP2 class car just behind in eighth. The first of the Pescarolos was ninth, with the LMP2 Van Merksteijn Porsche completing the top ten.

Antonio Garcia led the GT1 class in the only Aston Martin that ran this afternoon. He finished the day a second clear of the first of the Luc Alphand Adventures Chevrolet Corvettes.

The Ferrari vs Porsche battle in GT2 is typically close with just a tenth of a second separating the leading cars from each manufacturer at the top of the class.

The Farnbacher Ferrari is narrowly ahead of the Felbermayr Porsche at the end of the first day, but there is plenty of support for the German marque with Porsches third and fifth in class as well, sandwiching the lead Spyker in fourth.

That means the second Ferrari, the JMB car, is only sixth, with the much-fancied Virgo Motorsport example behind the second Spyker in eighth.

Pos Driver Car Time
LMP
1. Lamy/Sarrazin Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP 1:40.726
2. Gene/Minassian Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP 1:41.296
3. Capello/McNish Audi R10 TDI 1:41.607
4. Premat/Rockenfeller Audi R10 TDI 1:42.310
5. Mucke/Charouz Lola Aston Martin 1:44.070
6. Ortelli/Ayari Courage-Oreca Judd 1:44.116
7. Panis/Lapierre Courage-Oreca Judd 1:44.408
8. Collard/Boullion Pescarolo Judd 1:45.077
9. Primat/Tinseau Pescarolo Judd 1:45.466
10. Burgueno/De Castro Epsilon Euskadi Judd 1:46.189
11. Nakano/Valles Epsilon Euskadi Judd 1:46.319
12. Barbosa/Ickx/Short Pescarolo Judd 1:46.810
13. Campbell-Walter/Hall Creation CA07 - Aim 1:47.909
14. Simpson/Halliday Creation CA07 - Aim 1:48.744
15. Nicolet/Hein Pescarolo Judd 1:49.382

LMP2
1. Elgaard/Nielsen Porsche RS Spyder 1:44.645
2. Bleekemolen/Verstappen Porsche RS Spyder 1:45.214
3. Amaral/Pla Lola B05/40 AER 1:46.312
4. Lienhard/Theys/Lammers Porsche RS Spyder 1:46.408
5. Ragues/Lahaye Pescarolo Judd 1:46.620
6. Kane/Hughes WF01 Zytek 1:46.761
7. Erdos/Newton Lola MG 1:46.862
8. Belicchi/Pompidou/Zacchia Lola B08/80 Coupe Judd 1:46.917
9. Barazi/Vergers/Rees Zytek 07S Zytek 1:46.994
10. Manning/Foster WF01 Zytek 1:47.837
11. de Pourtales/Noda Lola B05/40 Mazda 1:49.585
12. Ojjeh/Gosselin Zytek 07S Zytek 1:49.832
13. Rostan/Peterson/Lueders Radical SR9 AER 1:51.565
14. Salini/Salini/Roussel WR Zytek 1:53.857

GT1
1. Garcia/Enge Aston Martin DBR9 1:55.227
2. Beretta/Policand Corvette C6.R 1:56.258
3. Alphand/Moreau/Gouselard Corvette C6.R 1:56.766
4. Rusinov/Kox Lamborghini Murcielago 1:58.098

GT2
1. Ehret/Kaffer/Beltoise Ferrari F430 GT 1:58.525
2. Lieb/Davison Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 1:58.624
3. Narac/Lietz Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 1:58.970
4. Dumbreck/Kelleners/Vasiliev Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R 1:59.717
5. Nielsen/Westbrook/Simonsen Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 1:59.833
6. Aucott/Daoudi Ferrari F430 GT 1:59.927
7. Chiesa/Leuenberger Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2R 2:00.774
8. Bell/Bruni Ferrari F430 GT 2:00.867
9. Ried/Felbyrmayr/Felbyrmayr Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2:02.628
10. Balandras/Lecourt/Belloc Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2:02.765
11. Kutemann/Basso/Scheier Ferrari F430 GT 2:02.967
12. Daniels/Paltalla/Sugden Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2:04.457