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By: Geoff Creighton

Summary

Status: Stopped
 
 
So it's provisional pole for Porsche with Neel Jani after the first qualifying session of this year's event. Porsche/Porsche, Toyota/Toyota, Audi/Audi, Rebellion/Rebellion is how they stack up for now.
Right at the end, Muller lowers the bar even further – a 3m51.185s from the #68 Ford driver. That is mighty.
 
Sorensen's got the Aston in the mix for "not Ford or Ferrari" honours, lapping 0.3s slower than Makowiecki. It's a 3m55.261s for the #95 Aston, which is ninth in class.
Chequered flag - that's the end of the first qualifying session at Le Mans.
Derani moves the #31 ESM Ligier from 10th to sixth with a last-gasp lap.
Di Grassi moves the #8 Audi ahead of its team-mate, posting a 3m22.4s to go 0.3s faster than the #7 R18 and take fifth place.
Muller gets into the 3m51s and moves the #68 Ford ahead of the #66 car into fourth. His 3m51.743s puts him 0.3s off top spot.
Merhi improves the best time in the #44 Manor ORECA, but not by anywhere near enough to move it up from its current fourth in class.
It's all looking good for Porsche fans as first qualifying enters its final minutes. It's had a smooth session, and sits one-two on the leaderboard heading into Thursday's running. Toyota leads the chase, with Audi firmly in third after an evening where its focus has been on things other than qualifying times, particularly with the #8 car.
 
 
A purposeful-looking Danny Watts jumps into the #42 Strakka Gibson. Looks like he might have a late qualifying shot to try and move that car up from its current seventh place.
 
 
 
Makowiecki is pushing hard - a little too hard. He just spun exiting the Ford chicane, but got going again quickly enough.
Dirk Muller rams home the fact that this is looking more and more like a two-marque race by going fifth quickest in the #68 Ford on a 3m52.173s.
Another improvement for the #8 Audi as it plays catch-up - di Grassi gets down to a 3m22.8s to put the second Audi just half a tenth behind the #7 machine. It stays sixth.
Another improvement - this time from Makowiecki, who sets a 3m54.918s. The #92 Porsche is down to last year's pole time...but 3.5s off this year's pace.
Lapierre improves to a 3m37.225s, but that doesn't move the #36 Signatech Alpine ORECA up a position. It's still third.
And Hartley retakes top spot for the #1 Porsche on a 3m22.560s.
Chatin now jumps up to second in LMP2 in the Panis Barthez Competition Ligier. His 3m40.308s is about equidistant between Lapierre and Gommendy.
Gommendy improves to a 3m40.754s but remains second in LMP2.
Di Grassi goes fastest in the #8 Audi on a 3m22.985s.
Sam Bird in the #71 AF Corse gets a track limits warning.
Sarrazin goes fourth fastest now on a 3m25.011s.
Remember, we only have eight LMP1 cars still running in this session after the #4 CLM caught fire and caused a red flag earlier on
The SO24! by Lombard Racing Ligier has been summoned to pitlane again to fix its telemetry.
Sarrazin has also improved the #6 Toyota's time to a 3m25.321s. That car is now fifth.
Jani puts the #2 Porsche into top spot with a 3m24.489s lap. So it's a Porsche one-two for now.
Bruni is now fastest, usurping Vilander's time by 0.3s.
Gommendy is back in the Eurasia entry that's currently second. He led the way in LMP2 before Lapierre's effort.
Standings with 50 minutes remaining: 1 Hartley, 3m24.594s; 2 Duval, 3m24.852s; 3 Lieb, 3m25.186s; 4 Buemi, 3m25.223s; 5 Treluyer, 3m25.526s; 6 Conway, 3m26.211s.
Townsend Bell has just broken the #88 Proton Porsche's stranglehold on the fastest Am time, dragging the #62 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 0.4s clear.
 
Quick report from <a href='http://twitter.com/Andre_Lotterer'>@Andre_Lotterer</a>  to <a href='http://twitter.com/BenoitTreluyer'>@BenoitTreluyer</a>  after he left the car <a href='http://twitter.com/search?q=%23WEC&src=hash'>#WEC</a>  <a href='http://twitter.com/search?q=%23LeMans24&src=hash'>#LeMans24</a>  <a href='http://twitter.com/search?q=%23LeagueofPerformance&src=hash'>#LeagueofPerformance</a>  <a href=http://pbs.twimg.com/media/ClAegagW0AAramj.jpg"/>

Quick report from @Andre_Lotterer to @BenoitTreluyer after he left the car #WEC #LeMans24 #LeagueofPerformance http://pbs.twimg.com/media/ClAegagW0AAramj.jpg

Hartley improves the #1 Porsche fastest time of the session, setting a 3m24.594s.

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