Le Mans 2017: Wednesday
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LMP1
Improvements from Lapierre and Jani that time around to put them third and fourth. So it's Porsche #2, Toyota #8, Toyota #9, Porsche #1 and Toyota #7 at the moment.
Stopwatch
Vergne goes fastest in the #24 Manor ORECA with a 3m30.847s.
LMP1
The early state of play in LMP1 qualifying
LMP2
Menezes goes fourth fastest in the #36 Signatech ORECA.
LMP2
Petrov makes it a Manor one-two by going second in the #25 ORECA.
Stopwatch
Kobayashi goes fastest, almost a whole second quicker than Bernhard with the #7 Toyota putting in a 3m18.793s.
Driver Change
Graves is now out in the #24 Manor ORECA that currently holds top spot in LMP2. He will not be bettering team-mate Vergne's time.
GTE AM
Lamy leads GTE Am with a 3m55.134s in the #98 Aston, from Cairoli in the #77 Porsche on 3m55.692s and Hankey on 3m55.953s in the #90 Aston.
LMP2
Belicchi's stranded car before it was pushed into the pits:
Driver Change
We have our first LMP1 driver change of qualifying with Lopez replacing Lapierre in the fourth-placed #9 Toyota.
Slow Zone
We've got our first slow zone of qualifying in the final part of Mulsanne Straight.
Crash
The #39 Graff ORECA is in the gravel with Trouillet at the wheel.
LMP1
Just before the yellow flags, Nakajima improved in the #8 Toyota to go second with a 3m19.431s.
GTE PRO
Here's how the front of the super-competitive GTE Pro field looks at the moment:
Driver Change
Thiim in for Sorensen, Molina in for Bird in GTE Pro frontrunners.
Driver Change
Driver changes in LMP1 too during this caution period with Conway replacing Kobayashi in the pacesetting #7 Toyota.
LMP2
The #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA is in the pits. The team is checking out an oil-pressure spike that was picked up.
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GTE AM
Lauda in for Lamy and Dienst in for Ried in the frontrunning cars, but they haven't improved their times yet. Action is shaping up behind as Bell puts in a 3m55.953s in the #90 Aston.
LMP2
It's currently ORECAs in positions one to eight. The best non-ORECA is the #32 Untied Autosports Ligier, in which Albuquerque set the time. but it's still 3.319s off the pace.
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GTE PRO
Serra has done a 3m53.296s in the #97 Aston, improving on Adam's earlier time, but that car remains fourth in class – it's not enough to vault the third-placed #51 Ferrari that Rugolo is now driving.
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Yellow flag
There's a yellow in the vicinity of Mulsanne Corner, apparently for debris.
Slow Zone
A slow zone is about to kick in.
LMP2
The ORECA-fest in the second prototype class:
Crash
The #27 SMP Dallara has stopped by Mulsanne and is apparently on fire.
LMP2
Aleshin is at the wheel of the #27 SMP Dallara. But we have'n't seen it on the screen as yet.
Driver Change
More LMP1 driver changes with Tandy replacing Jani in the #1 Porsche and Davidson in for Nakajima in the #8 Toyota.
Radio Comms
Race Director on the incident: “Car 27 stopped at zone 20 with a fire. The car is totally out of the track, the marshals have extinguished the fire, and we are going to remove the car to a safe place."
Driver Change
To complete the LMP1 driver changes, Bamber is in the #2 Porsche.
LMP2
Rubens Barrichello, a 45-year-old Le Mans rookie, is on a quick one.
Green flag
The stricken SMP car has now been cleared and the track goes green again.
LMP2
Aleshin's car is spotted on CCTV being recovered by marshals:
GTE PRO
Let's recap the top GTE Pro cars as we go green: Sorensen is fastest so far in the #95 Aston with a 3m52.117s, Bird second in the #71 Ferrari (Molina now driving) on 3m52.235, Calado third in the #71 Ferrari (Rugolo now driving) on 3m53.123, Serra fourth in the #97 Aston on 3m53.296, Christensen fifth in the #92 Porsche on 3m54.243, Fischella sixth in the #82 Ferrari on 3m54.429.
Information
Remember, this is not only about fastest laps and the grid. Every driver must qualify individually and that means they have to complete three night laps. That's why teams generally rapidly cycle through their drivers to get it done.
LMP1
There have yet to be any improvements since the track went green so we still have Kobayashi topping the times in the #7 Toyota from Nakajima in the sister #8 car. Top Porsche is Bernhard's #2 machine in third.
Crash
The #34 Tockwith Ligier, with Chandhok at the wheel, is going very very slowly on the run out of Tertre Rouge.
LMP2
Barrichello puts the #29 RTN Dallara ninth fastest with a lap of 3m33.796s. That's the best non-ORECA.
By: Matt Beer
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