Le Mans 24 Hours 2014 Thursday: final qualifying
Live Text
Sort by
Newest first
That's it for our coverage of qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Interesting, wasn't it? Plenty to be intrigued about ahead of the race. Remember to keep checking autosport.com throughout Friday for the latest from the Le Mans paddock.
See you on Saturday morning for build-up to the start of the 2014 edition of the classic French enduro. Until then, we'll leave you with this:
Toyota beats Porsche to pole
Interesting, wasn't it? Plenty to be intrigued about ahead of the race. Remember to keep checking autosport.com throughout Friday for the latest from the Le Mans paddock.
See you on Saturday morning for build-up to the start of the 2014 edition of the classic French enduro. Until then, we'll leave you with this:
Toyota beats Porsche to pole
GTE Am standings
1 #81 Ferrari, 3m54.665s
2 #98 Aston Martin, 3m55.644s
3 #95 Aston Martin, 3m55.944s
4 #61 Aston Martin, 3m55.977s
5 #72 Ferrari, 3m56.063s
6 #88 Porsche, 3m56.974s
1 #81 Ferrari, 3m54.665s
2 #98 Aston Martin, 3m55.644s
3 #95 Aston Martin, 3m55.944s
4 #61 Aston Martin, 3m55.977s
5 #72 Ferrari, 3m56.063s
6 #88 Porsche, 3m56.974s
GTE Pro standings
1 #51 Ferrari, 3m53.700s
2 #73 Chevrolet, 3m54.777s
3 #97 Aston Martin, 3m54.891s
4 #74 Chevrolet, 3m55.190s
5 #52 Ferrari, 3m55.347s
6 #92 Porsche, 3m55.516s
1 #51 Ferrari, 3m53.700s
2 #73 Chevrolet, 3m54.777s
3 #97 Aston Martin, 3m54.891s
4 #74 Chevrolet, 3m55.190s
5 #52 Ferrari, 3m55.347s
6 #92 Porsche, 3m55.516s
LMP2 standings
1 #46 Ligier, 3m37.609s
2 #38 Zytek, 3m37.674s
3 #35 Ligier, 3m37.892s
4 # 26 OAK Morgan, 3m38.000s
5 #36 Signatech ORECA, 3m38.089s
6 #48 Murphy ORECA, 3m38.207s
1 #46 Ligier, 3m37.609s
2 #38 Zytek, 3m37.674s
3 #35 Ligier, 3m37.892s
4 # 26 OAK Morgan, 3m38.000s
5 #36 Signatech ORECA, 3m38.089s
6 #48 Murphy ORECA, 3m38.207s
Twitter
Disappointment for the KCMG ORECA, which ended up seventh in class after slow zones ruined Matt Howson's final qualifying run. @MHowsonRacing: "Well, the slow zones ruined our last minute charge on the 'super' soft so we qualify a solid 7th, top 7 covered by 1 second over a 4 min lap!"
Breaking news
Race control indicates that "several cars" are being investigated for speeding in slow zones.
The Nissan ZEOD RC got its time down to 3m50.185s in that session. It was parked itself in the no-man's land between the LMP2s and the GTE cars.
Overall standings
1 #7 Toyota, 3m21.789s
2 #14 Porsche, 3m22.146s
3 #8 Toyota, 3m22.523s
4 #20 Porsche, 3m22.908s
5 #3 Audi, 3m23.271s
6 #2 Audi, 3m24.276s
7 #1 Audi, 3m25.814s
8 #12 Rebellion, 3m29.763
9 #13 Rebellion, 3m31.608s
1 #7 Toyota, 3m21.789s
2 #14 Porsche, 3m22.146s
3 #8 Toyota, 3m22.523s
4 #20 Porsche, 3m22.908s
5 #3 Audi, 3m23.271s
6 #2 Audi, 3m24.276s
7 #1 Audi, 3m25.814s
8 #12 Rebellion, 3m29.763
9 #13 Rebellion, 3m31.608s
Trophy
Fastest in the subordinate classes are:
LMP2 - Tristan Gommendy (#46 TDS Ligier)
GTE Pro - Gianmaria Bruni (#51 AF Corse Ferrari)
GTE Am - Sam Bird (#81 AF Corse Ferrari)
LMP2 - Tristan Gommendy (#46 TDS Ligier)
GTE Pro - Gianmaria Bruni (#51 AF Corse Ferrari)
GTE Am - Sam Bird (#81 AF Corse Ferrari)
Trophy
So, Kazuki Nakajima takes pole position for the #7 Toyota. That's Toyota's first pole at Le Mans since Martin Brundle back in 1999.
Checkered flag
Session over
Still busy on track. All of the factory LMP1 cars are circulating.
Lotterer does the fastest first sector of all in the #2 Audi. But no chance of improving his time because of the slow zone.
Yellow flag
Unfortunately, seems that the slow zone will be in place until the end of the session, so looks like that's it as far as qualifying goes.
ProSpeed has two heavily damaged cars in its pit after Curtis and Collard crashed in the Porsche Curves in the first session today. Curtis has been taken to hospital after his crash and must be doubtful for the race.
Some fresh rubber going on some interesting frontrunning cars. Could get interesting.
Yellow flag
Marshals are sweeping up some debris from the Chandhok shunt.
Yellow flag
Race control is preparing to instigate a slow zone.
Chandhok has got out of the car. The front bodywork has come off but difficult to see how much damage there is.
Yellow flag
And Chandhok has put the #48 Murphy ORECA off at Indianapolis.
Yellow flag
Dolan has put the JOTA Zytek off at the Ford chicane. He's recovered.
The #46 TDS Ligier, which currently has LMP2 pole, just locked up and cut the Ford chicane.
Green flag
Right on cue, the track is clear again.
Yellow flag
We've still got marshals on the track at the Porsche Curves, so the yellow flags are still out. Race control says that the slow zone will be cleared at 23:33 local time (very soon, then).
Very few cars on track at the moment. That's either a coincidence, or a lot of the teams have been put off by the implementation of the slow zone through the Porsche Curves.
The #90 Ferrari has been pulled out of the gravel and has returned to the pits under its own steam, looking a little bit worse for wear.
The #20 919 is heading back on track, and the #14 is now wheeled out of the garage. Welcome back to the action, Porsche.
The idea of these 'slow zones' is to reduce the amount of time the safety car is required during the race. Let's hope they're successful.
Yellow flag
On-board pictures from the #8 Toyota show a queue of cars touring through the Porsche Curves. That is going to take some getting used to when it's first used in the race!
Yellow flag
We're getting a peak at the new 'slow zone' yellow flag rules now, with the first three turns of the Porsche Curves running under the speed-limited conditions.
Yellow flag
CCTV pictures show a tractor is currently retrieving the #90 car, which is up against the tyre barrier on the left hand side of the first right-hander in that sequence of corners.
Yellow flag
Reports are coming in that the #90 Ferrari, with Montecalvo at the wheel, has crashed at the beginning of the Porsche Curves.
Wheels are being bolted onto the #20 Porsche, so the 919s should be back in action soon after a long time spent in the pits.
We've had our first improvement in a long time. Many thanks to Pla for doing the honours in the #26 G-Drive Morgan. He's P4 in LMP2 with a 3m38.000s.
Fisichella hands the #51 Ferrari over to Vilander, and there's a quick change (possibly aero?) at the rear of the car.
Toyota sends both of its cars back out, with Sarrazin in the pole-sitting #7, and Davidson (plus his customary seat 'inner') taking over the #8.
The #41 Greaves Zytek is reported to be running slowly on the Mulsanne straight at the moment.
Breaking news
Race organisers confirm that Pierre Kaffer will replace Calado following the Brit's big shunt earlier on. AF Corse has also received clearance to run a new chassis.
As both Toyotas make their way into the garage, the Audis are the only LMP1s in ation at the moment. All three were on track, but Fassler has just brought the #2 R18 in to hand it over to Lotterer.
By: Scott Mitchell, Edd Straw, Glenn Freeman, Gary Watkins
Published:
Page:
