Peugeot reveals true pace in P2
Nicolas Minassian revealed a glimpse of the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP's true potential around the new Silverstone lay-out by lapping more than a second faster than the opposition in the second free practice session for the AUTOSPORT 1000km
The Frenchman, who watched the #1 Peugeot spin off the track at Farm in the hands of co-driver Anthony Davidson early in the session, waited until near the end of the hour to move ahead of the 'privately'-run Oreca version at the top of the timesheets.
Nicolas Lapierre was second fastest in that multi-coloured #4 car, having proved the pace-setter for much of the session with a 1m45.110s lap.
Allan McNish went third fastest for Audi, improving on his morning time with the R15 TDI to lap at 1m45.789s ahead of his team-mate Rinaldo Capello in the sister car - the pair of them unusually on-track at the same time having been split in to different crews for this event.
Rebellion Racing upheld Lola honours with fifth fastest time for the Andrea Belicchi/Jean-Christophe Boullion machine, while the #009 Aston Martin was sixth quickest.
Olivier Pla was tenth overall in the ASM Ginetta to be top of the LMP2 class, outpacing the Strakka Acura for 0.4s.
Darren Turner, returning to the scene of what could have been a triumph for him in the World GTs earlier this year, set the pace in GT2 along with co-driver Rob Bell in the JMW Aston Martin in what promises to be a fascinating class battle this weekend.
The V8 Vantage was 0.4s quicker than the closest Ferrari, that of AF Corse driven by Jean Alesi, Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander - which was second quickest in class.
But only just from the #77 Felbermayr Porsche and Jaime Melo in the second AF Corse machine.
Pos Cl Drivers Car Time 01. P1 Davidson/Minassian Peugeot 1m43.935s 02. P1 Lapierre/Sarrazin Peugeot 1m45.110s + 1.175s 03. P1 Kristensen/McNish Audi 1m45.789s + 1.854s 04. P1 Bernhard/Capello Audi 1m46.747s + 2.812s 05. P1 Belicchi/Boullion Lola-Rebellion 1m46.989s + 3.054s 06. P1 Barazi/Hancock/Mucke Aston Martin 1m47.422s + 3.487s 07. P1 Fernandez/Primat/Meyrick Aston Martin 1m48.233s + 4.298s 08. P1 Mansell/Mansell Ginetta-Zytek 1m48.289s + 4.354s 09. P1 Prost/Jani Lola-Rebellion 1m48.292s + 4.357s 10. P2 Amaral/Pla Ginetta-Zytek 1m49.082s + 5.147s 11. P1 Drayson/Cocker Lola-Judd 1m49.435s + 5.500s 12. P2 Leventis/Watts/Kane HPD 1m49.447s + 5.512s 13. P2 Erdos/Newton/Collins Lola-HPD 1m51.092s + 7.157s 14. P2 Ojjeh/Greaves/Ebbesvik Ginetta-Zytek 1m51.287s + 7.352s 15. P1 Ragues/Mailleux/Ickx Lola Aston Martin 1m51.870s + 7.935s 16. P1 Burgess/Mowlem/McMurry Ginetta-Zytek 1m52.037s + 8.102s 17. P2 Case/Babini/Leo Lola-Judd 1m52.455s + 8.520s 18. P2 Moreau/Hein Pescarolo-Judd 1m52.534s + 8.599s 19. P2 Lahaye/Nicolet Pescarolo-Judd 1m54.380s + 10.445s 20. P2 Pirri/Cioci/Perazzini Lola-Judd 1m56.842s + 12.907s 21. P2 Frey/Rostan/Bruneau Radical-Judd 1m57.931s + 13.996s 22. P2 de Pourtales/Ordonez/Kennard Lola-Judd 1m58.125s + 14.190s 23. FLM Kraihamer/De Crem/Delhez FLM ORECA 1m58.361s + 14.426s 24. FLM Pillon/Verdonck/Hollings FLM ORECA 1m58.530s + 14.595s 25. P2 Schell/Da Rocha Courage-ORECA 1m58.642s + 14.707s 26. FLM Firth/Hughes FLM ORECA 1m59.128s + 15.193s 27. P2 Gates/Garofall/Phillips MG Lola-AER 2m01.146s + 17.211s 28. FLM Barlesi/Cicognani/Chalandon FLM ORECA 2m02.263s + 18.328s 29. GT1 Gardel/Goueslard/Rees Saleen 2m02.582s + 18.647s 30. FLM Zacchia/Lombard/Moro FLM ORECA 2m02.954s + 19.019s 31. GT2 Bell/Turner Aston Martin 2m03.891s + 19.956s 32. GT2 Alesi/Fisichella/Vilander Ferrari 2m04.212s + 20.277s 33. GT2 Lieb/Lietz Porsche 2m04.239s + 20.304s 34. GT2 Bruni/Melo Ferrari 2m04.469s + 20.534s 35. GT2 Westbrook/Holzer Porsche 2m04.532s + 20.597s 36. GT2 Companc/Russo Ferrari 2m04.696s + 20.761s 37. GT2 Muller/Werner BMW 2m04.729s + 20.794s 38. GT2 Ragginger/Ried/Dumas Porsche 2m04.745s + 20.810s 39. GT2 Pilet/Narac Porsche 2m04.950s + 21.015s 40. GT2 Kirkaldy/Mullen Ferrari 2m05.290s + 21.355s 41. GT2 Dumbreck/Coronel Spyker 2m06.245s + 22.310s 42. GT2 Ehret/Quaife/Kaffer Ferrari 2m06.868s + 22.933s 43. FLM Kutemann/Basso/Hartshorne FLM ORECA 2m08.253s + 24.318s 44. GT2 Giroix/Goethe Lamborghini 2m12.566s + 28.631s 45. GT2 Farnbacher/Simonsen Ferrari 2m33.573s + 49.638s
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