Free practice and qualifying
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Rain
The rain prediction is pushed back another 10 minutes to 17:50. Skies looking pretty bright by the pits at the moment.
GTE PRO
One school of thought here is that the Astons being on the Dunlop tyre might make that car, in the words of one rival GTE driver, "sensational" in mixed conditions. Turner posts a 4m07s, Jonny Adam a 4m08s, and while it's difficult to properly gauge with nobody else in Pro on track that is considerably quicker than some respectable drivers in GTE Am are managing.
LMP1
Dumas has been the quickest driver throughout this period of poor weather, and he's now within 10 seconds of the fastest dry-weather lap from earlier in the session.
LMP1
Fun and games between Lotterer and Dumas at the start of the lap, swapping positions down the pitstraight, then both getting a bit hesitant into the first chicane when they remember it's only practice and the track is still damp off the racing line. The #7 Audi remains ahead, having briefly allowed the #2 Porsche onto its tail with a small error in the Porsche Curves on the previous lap.
GTE PRO
And with a return to slicks come a personal best first sector for the #69 Ford in the hands of Ryan Briscoe. Let's see if he can make it a Ford 1-2-3-4.
LMP1
More action for Lotterer, who encounters three LMP2 cars doing a good job of trying to trip over each other after the second Mulsanne Chicane, including stamping on their brakes just as the #7 Audi was looking for a way through the cars that seemed to be spread all the way across the road.
LMP2
Leutwiler is in the Race Performance ORECA and has run wide slightly but is able to continue. That car is 20th in LMP2.
LMP2
Leutwiler is joined by Winslow and Nakano in that Race Performance entry. Ex-Prost and Minardi F1 driver Nakano missed last year's race, but has a best result here of fifth outright in 2011.
GTE PRO
Briscoe completes a hat-trick of personal best sector times and improves to a 3m57.223s. Bourdais did a personal-best first sector but the rest of the lap tailed off.
Red flag
Red flag. The ByKolles CLM is on fire on the Mulsanne Straight.
Red flag
Kaffer frantically tries to remove the rear bodywork while gesticulating to the marshals to get involved in salvaging the car before the flames do too much damage.
Kaffer rips the engine cover off the CLM-AER P1/01 as the red flag is shown
Red flag
The flames are out now on the CLM, but it is still at the side of the track waiting for a recovery vehicle to take it away. The car is slowest of the LMP1 runners, 8.3s off the pace set by the #8 Audi.
GTE AM
The #55 AF Corse Ferrari is slow towards the back end of the circuit with a puncture, but Duncan Cameron returns the car to the pits.
GTE PRO
In GTE Pro, Tommy Milner has been instructed by race direction to pit the #64 Corvette to fix a telemetry issue.
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LMP1
Bernhard just posted a 3m28.310s in the #1 Porsche. That's about 3.5s off the fastest time of free practice, so that track conditions are far better than they were not long ago.
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Information
One hour and 45 minutes remaining of free practice here. Currently, the #8 Audi is fastest thanks to Duval's lap of 3m24.852s.
GTE PRO
A few first sector improvements cropping up at the moment, but they're not being translated into overall bests yet. Garcia sets the #63 Corvette's best S1 time, but tails off through the second and third sectors.
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LMP1
Dumas improves the fastest time for the #2 Porsche to a 3m26.941s.
LMP2
If you are keeping an eye on a certain C. Hoy this week, he is in the Algarve Pro Racing Ligier for the first time this session.
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Rain
What is called 'Level 1' rain is back on the pit straight. It's tipped to persist for another 15 minutes, until 6:40pm local time.
GTE PRO
Briscoe sets the #69 Ford's fastest lap with another improvement, a 3m57.052s.
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LMP1
Webber has jumped back into the #1 Porsche - we've already had all three drivers cycling through that car in this session and he is back in for a second run.
LMP2
The Murphy ORECA, with Goosens at the wheel has been the road. Goosens lost the rear end braking after Turn 1 and spun to the outside and collected a foam advertising board. One of the GTE Ferraris had to take seriously evasive action as he rejoined the road in a fairly clumsy manner. Goosens is heading back to the pits with minor bodywork damage.
Radio Comms
"We may have debris of car #48 [Goosens] after Zone 3" confirms the race director.
Information
90 minutes of free practice remaining.
Buemi and Kobayashi in the #5 and #6 Toyotas are having a busy time, running nose to tail and carving through traffic in Porsche Curves.
GTE PRO
Not too much activity from the GTE cars at the moment, though the Pro leading #66 Ford has returned to the circuit with Stefan Mucke at the wheel.
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LMP2
Goosens has finally made it back to pitlane in the Murphy ORECA, crawling the final leg of the journey to the team's garage.
Radio Comms
"The conditions are changing very quickly and are unstable so don't take the risk" is the message to Buemi in the #5 Toyota.
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LMP1
Right now, Webber is the fastest driver on the track, lapping in the mid 3m30s bracket. That's five seconds off the car's best. The conditions are largely OK, but there's some tricky areas thanks to the odd patch of drizzle. But apparently, there will be no rain for the next 30 minutes.
By: Geoff Creighton
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