Qualifying: Coronel fastest at wet Magny-Cours

However, heavy rain in both sessions hampered all the teams in their efforts to prepare for Tuesday's 500km race, but Dutchman Coronel nicked in with a quick lap of 1m51.532s just before the first session came to a close. And since the rain fell even heavier in the second practice session, preventing anyone from improving on their times, Coronel's place at the top was assured.

Second quickest was the Carsport Holland Viper of Mike Hezemans, with Labre Competition's Christophe Bouchut and Jean Phillipe Beloc in third.

The fastest N-GT runner was the RWS Motorsport Porsche of Luca Riccitelli and Dieter Quester; the pair set the ninth quickest time of the session. Paul Belmondo's Anthony Kumpen and Claude Yves Gosselin were the fastest in the GT class. Their lap of 1m57.393 was good enough for 17th quickest overall.

Tomas Enge, fresh from his F3000 win in Spain, and Nordic team mate Justin Wilson made their FIA GT debut in a Coca Cola Racing Porsche in the N-GT class, and the pair manage to claim the fourth fastest time in the second practice session. However, their fastest lap of 1m58.373s was still over seven seconds slower than Coronel's quick time set in the morning.