Peugeot still dominant in qualifying
Peugeot is still on course to sweep the front two rows of the grid after the second of three qualifying sessions for the Le Mans 24 Hours
The two-hour session began on a damp track following a downpour this afternoon. Although it dried throughout, most teams elected to practice pitstops and driver changes early on, and no competitive times were set until well into the second hour.
A flurry of improvements inside the last quarter of an hour jumbled some places down the order, though the frontrunners remained as they were after Wednesday's night session.
Alexander Wurz looked on course to challenge Sebastien Bourdais' pole time from Wednesday, posting several purple sector times towards the end of the session.
Three-time Le Mans pole-sitter Stephane Sarrazin hopped into the #2 Peugeot for the final run and he too came close to challenging Bourdais' benchmark, but both he and Wurz ran into traffic towards the end of their laps and failed to improve.
Marco Andretti put the #12 Rebellion Lola in a provisional 19th after the car failed to set a time during Wednesday's qualifying session.
David Brabham snatched the provisional LMP2 class pole for the Highcroft Racing HPD, pulling out a 3m34.537s to move 1.6 seconds clear of the Strakka HPD. The ASM Ginetta-Zytek remains a distant third.
The GT1 class-leading Young Driver Aston Martin only emerged for the last 15 minutes of the session with Tomas Enge behind the wheel, but held its top spot by just 0.3s from the Marc VDS Ford GT, which moved ahead of the #60 Matech Ford.
Toni Vilander lifted the sole remaining AF Corse Ferrari to second in the GT2 class, behind #82 Risi Ferrari which Gianmaria Bruni put on provisional pole yesterday. The #63 Corvette is now third, behind Vilander.
The second AF Corse Ferrari, of Mika Salo, Matias Russo and Luis Companc, has been withdrawn from the event following the damage sustained to the car in Russo's accident at the Porsche Curves last night.
Incidents this evening included a crash for Jean-Christophe Boullion at the Porsche Curves in the #13 Rebellion Racing Lola. Jacques Nicolet also spun the #34 Oak Racing Pescarolo at the final chicane after contact from Stephane Salini in the WR-Zytek.
Manuel Rodrigues had a spin in the #14 Kolles Audi R10 with the nose just kissing the barrier, and Mike Newton spun the #25 RML Lola on his out-lap inside the last 10 minutes.
The Drayson Lola stopped at the pitlane exit with an electrical problem, but Jonny Cocker managed to restart and coax the car back to the pits. The Spyker and the #15 Kolles car also suffered from mechanical niggles.
The JMW Motorsport Aston Martin sat out the session while having a new engine and gearbox fitted.
Pos Drivers Cls Car Time Gap 1. Lamy/Bourdais/Pagenaud P1 Peugeot 908 3:19.711 2. Wurz/Davidson/Gene P1 Peugeot 908 3:20.317 +0.606 3. Montagny/Sarrazin/Minassian P1 Peugeot 908 3:20.325 +0.614 4. Panis/Lapierre/Duval P1 ORECA Peugeot 908 3:21.192 +1.481 5. Bernhard/Dumas/Rockenfeller P1 Audi R15 3:23.578 +3.867 6. Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer P1 Audi R15 3:24.430 +4.719 7. Kristensen/McNish/Capello P1 Audi R15 3:24.688 +4.977 8. Mucke/Fernandez/Primat P1 Lola-Aston Martin 3:26.680 +6.969 9. Turner/Hancock/Barazi P1 Lola-Aston Martin 3:26.747 +7.036 10. Mailleux/Ragues/Ickx P1 Signature Aston 3:29.774 +10.063 11. Ayari/Andre/Meyrick P1 ORECA 01-AIM 3:30.056 +10.345 12. Bouchut/Tucker/Rodrigues P1 Kolles Audi R10 3:30.907 +11.196 13. Jarvis/Albers/Bakkerud P1 Kolles Audi R10 3:31.661 +11.950 14. Brabham/Franchitti/Werner P2 Highcroft HPD 3:34.537 +14.826 15. Watts/Kane/Leventis P2 Strakka HPD ARX-01 3:36.168 +16.457 16. Pirro/Cocker/Drayson P1 Drayson Lola 3:36.634 +16.923 17. Mansell/Mansell/Mansell P1 Beechdean Ginetta 3:36.897 +17.186 18. Belicchi/Boullion/Smith P1 Rebellion Lola 3:37.093 +17.382 19. Jani/Andretti/Prost P1 Rebellion Lola 3:41.007 +21.296 20. Hughes/Amaral/Pla P2 ASM Ginetta-Zytek 3:41.968 +22.257 21. Moreau/Charouz/Lahaye P2 Oak Pescarolo 3:42.399 +22.688 22. Lewis/Burgess/Willman P1 Autocon Lola-AER 3:43.167 +23.456 23. Erdos/Newton/Wallace P2 RML Lola HPD 3:44.598 +24.887 24. Pirri/Cioci/Perrazzini P2 Racing Box Lola 3:47.971 +28.260 25. Hein/Nicolet/Yvon P2 Oak Pescarolo 3:52.730 +33.019 26. Schell/da Rocha/Zollinger P2 Pegasus Norma 3:52.837 +33.126 27. Noda/Pourtales/Kennard P2 KSM Lola-Judd 3:52.972 +33.261 28. Enge/Nygaard/Kox GT1 YD Aston 3:55.025 +35.314 29. Leinders/Palttala/de Doncker GT1 Marc VDS Ford GT 3:55.356 +35.645 30. Greaves/Ojjeh/Chalandon P2 Bruichladdich 3:55.680 +35.969 31. Salini/Salini/Gommendy P2 WR/Salini WR 3:55.818 +36.107 32. Rostan/Meichtry/Bruneau P2 Race Perf Radical 3:56.679 +36.968 33. Grosjean/Mutsch/Hirschi GT1 Matech Ford GT 3:57.296 +37.585 34. Jousse/Gouselard/Massen GT1 Alphand Corvette 3:58.810 +39.099 35. Policand/Gregoire/Hart GT1 Alphand Corvette 3:58.906 +39.195 36. Bruni/Melo/Kaffer GT2 Risi Ferrari 3:59.233 +39.522 37. Alesi/Fisichella/Vilander GT2 AF Corse Ferrari 3:59.837 +40.126 38. O'Connell/Magnussen/Garcia GT2 Corvette 4:00.097 +40.386 39. Gavin/Beretta/Collard GT2 Corvette 4:01.012 +41.301 40. Lieb/Lietz/Henzler GT2 Felbermayr Porsche 4:01.640 +41.929 41. Pilet/Narac/Long GT2 IMSA Porsche 4:01.755 +42.044 42. Farfus/J Muller/Alzen GT2 BMW M3 4:01.893 +42.182 43. Westbrook/Scheider/Holzer GT2 BMS Porsche 4:02.014 +42.303 44. Bergmeister/Law/Neiman GT2 Fl. Lizard Porsche 4:02.685 +42.974 45. Gardel/Berville/Canal GT1 Larbre Saleen 4:03.175 +43.464 46. Priaulx/D Muller/Werner GT2 BMW M3 4:03.215 +43.504 47. Farnbacher/Simonsen/Keen GT2 Hankook Ferrari 4:03.886 +44.175 48. Krohn/Jonsson/van de Poele GT2 Risi Ferrari 4:03.959 +44.248 49. Coronel/Dumbreck/Bleekemolen GT2 Spyker 4:04.057 +44.346 50. Yogo/Iiri/Yamanishi GT1 JLOC Lamborghini 4:05.796 +46.085 51. Allemann/Gachnang/Frey GT1 Matech Ford GT 4:06.286 +46.575 52. Bell/Sugden/Miller GT2 JMW Aston Martin 4:06.391 +46.680 53. Felbermayr/Felbermayr/Konopka GT2 Felbermayr Porsche 4:10.054 +50.343 54. v.Splunteren/Hommerson/MachielGT2 Prospeed Porsche 4:11.161 +51.450 55. Goossens/Dalziel/Gentilozzi GT2 Jaguar XKR 4:13.537 +53.826 56. Salo/Russo/Companc GT2 AF Corse Ferrari withdrawn
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