Final qualifying
Live Text
Sort by
Welcome to Autosport's coverage of the final qualifying sessions for the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours.
LMP1
It looks like we have a fire up of the ByKolles CLM in the garage, and the bodywork is going on for the car that missed yesterday's qualifying session following a big fire in practice. There was a little bit of smoke on fire-up, but that's normal, and nothing like as alarming as the smoke that was pouring from the car yesterday evening.
Rain
Race control says rain is increasing in the north-west area of the circuit. There are certainly some nasty clouds around.
LMP1
Just in case you were wondering, the #8 Audi lost its best time from first qualifying last night – and a place to the sister car – for using more than the per-lap fuel allowance. The decision from the stewards states that there was a "breach of limitation of gasoline consumption" but we'll take that as a slip of the typewriter. Reckon Audi would have been in even worse trouble if they'd filled up with petrol by mistake.
Rain
There's a thunderstorm approaching the circuit around the start of the lap, but the rain hasn't quite reached the circuit yet.
GTE PRO
And the turning weather isn't deterring those on track – Hand's completed a newest personal best of a 3m53.672s and is now onto his sixth lap. Calado, fresh out of the pits, has done a session best of 3m53.218s.
LMP1
Both Porsches and both Audis are in the pits - both Toyotas and both Rebellions are still out there.
LMP1
The ByKolles CLM has been out for a run - Kaffer turning a lap 14s off the pace but enough to get it onto the back of the LMP1 field in ninth overall.
Twitter
Rain
The long-predicted rain has arrived on the pitstraight. Audi fits the #7 R18 with wets as it sits on the pit apron.
GTE PRO
Hand pits at the end of his sixth lap. The only other driver to complete a comparable stint is Rigon in the #71 Ferrari – and the Ford's average is 2s a lap faster. That shouldn't be a true reflection of their relative race pace though.
LMP2
Only Taittinger in the Pegasus Morgan and Berthon in the Greaves Ligier are still on track in LMP2. But they are lapping fairly gingerly, and likely on the way back to their garages, for the moment at least.
Twitter
LMP1
Both Audis have headed out, as the Toyotas crawl back to the pits on slick tyres. One of the Porsches has been pushed out onto the pit apron - it's the #2 car and it heads back out with Lieb still at the wheel.
LMP2
Before the rain arrived, Tung in the Baxi DC Racing Alpine logged the fastest LMP2 lap,a 3m39s, about three seconds off the pace in the class set last night by Rast.
GTE PRO
Rigon, Franchitti and Ricky Taylor have crawled back to the pits in their Ferrari, Ford and Chevrolet respectively.
LMP1
While this wet running is useless from a qualifying point of view, it's extremely useful for the teams in terms of practice. They have a range of wet/intermediate tyre specifications to try, and it's never a bad idea to have some experience in the bag of driving in changeable conditions - you never know when you could end up on the wrong tyre in the race itself. With it being such a long lap as well, there's a lot of time to be gained or lost in these situations.
Twitter
LMP1
Treluyer and Duval pit after just one lap on wets in the Audis.
LMP2
Taittinger and Berthon are both back in the pits, with the rest of the LMP2 field.
Twitter
LMP1
An onboard shot from the #2 Porsche shows it has not started raining yet at the opposite end to the pits - the track (and the car's windscreen) look dry on the run from Arnage to the Porsche Curves.
Information
There are 180 drivers entered in this race, and 40 of them have making their first appearance in the race. This is a good chance for some of them to get a feel for the track in the wet.
Twitter
From a quick scan, four LMP2 entries improved on their Wednesday times. Pegasus is now 15th in the class, two spot ahead of the #37 SMP Racing BR-01 - Petrov set that time - while Algarve Pro Racing and SO24! by Lombard are 18th and 22nd.
Twitter
LMP1
Almost every car is in the pits at the moment. Two of those proving the exception to the rule are the front row-occupying Porsches, which continue to tentatively circulate. As we say that, Lieb brings the #2 into the pits.
LMP2
Matsuda for KCMG and Nakano for Race Performance have headed out to sample the conditions.
LMP1
Webber brings the #1 Porsche in, and it is wheeled into the garage. Prost's #12 Rebellion is now the only LMP1 car in action.
LMP2
Munemann is out as well in the Algarve Pro Racing Ligier.
GTE PRO
Jan Magnussen's heading out on the #63 Corvette. The ex-Formula 1 driver has won Le Mans four times in class – but didn’t even make the start last year after heavily damaging his Corvette in qualifying.
The Dane, who shares his Pratt & Miller-run Chevy C7.R with Antonio Garcia and Ricky Taylor, crashed at the Porsche Curves in the final qualifying session for the 2015 race.
A small stone, which was caught up in the throttle assembly, caused the C7.R’s throttle to stick open and triggered a large crash through the fastest corners of the circuit.
Corvette wasn’t able to repair the car and that meant sidelining Magnussen, Garcia and then-third driver Ryan Briscoe for the race.
The Dane, who shares his Pratt & Miller-run Chevy C7.R with Antonio Garcia and Ricky Taylor, crashed at the Porsche Curves in the final qualifying session for the 2015 race.
A small stone, which was caught up in the throttle assembly, caused the C7.R’s throttle to stick open and triggered a large crash through the fastest corners of the circuit.
Corvette wasn’t able to repair the car and that meant sidelining Magnussen, Garcia and then-third driver Ryan Briscoe for the race.
LMP1
Both Audis head back out, as does the #6 Toyota of Sarrazin. We'd love to tell you something else other than reporting cars leaving and entering the pits, but there's really not much else to tell at the moment.
GTE PRO
A brace of Fords head out on track - Franchitti and Johnson back aboard the #67 and #66 GTs respectively.
LMP2
A bit more activity now from the LMP2 runners. Minassian is out in the #27 SMP Racing BR-01, Senna RGR Sport by Morand and Gommendy for Eurasia Motorsport. The latter's ORECA was damaged late last night by Pu, and has been rebuilt since.
Rain
Heavy rain still falling in the early part of the lap, but the far end of the circuit, including the last part of the Mulsanne Straight all the way round to the start of the Porsche Curves, remains reasonably dry.
Twitter
Autosport
Here's our report from that session, which won't be classed as 'eventful', if we're being honest. Still, there were a few incidents, and some changes further down the field, so make sure you didn't miss anything: 
Still raining - so here's a trackside puddle to enjoy
Twitter
By: Geoff Creighton
Published:
Page:
