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WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans 24 Hours 2014 Thursday: final qualifying

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A replay suggests that Roussel, who was driving the Pegasus car, wasn't at fault. He was bearing down on di Grassi rapidly when the touring Brazilian moved left, so he jinked onto the grass in avoidance and spun, hitting the wall head on.
Unsurprisingly, di Grassi has been summoned to race control to explain what happend...
Just before the red flag, Lotterer moved the #4 Audi up to fourth place, banging in a 3m24.276s.
Roussell has also been called to race control for the incident. While di Grassi moved over on him, will face questions about whether he was not exercising sufficient caution.
Here's how things stand:

Overall Times
1 #20 Porsche, 3m23.157s
2 #14 Porsche, 3m23.322s
3 #8 Toyota, 3m23.963s
4 #2 Audi, 3m24.276s
5 #7 Toyota, 3m24.420s
6 #3 Audi, 3m265.445s
7 #1 Audi, 3m26.490s
8 #12 Rebellion, 3m31.180s
9 #13 Rebellion, 3m32.556s.
Breaking news
Race control has announced that the final qualifying session, scheduled to start at 2200, will now start half-an-hour early and be extended. This is because of the time lost to red flags.

And this red flag is going to last a while longer yet. The Pegasus Morgan is still sat at the side of the track with a truck waiting to recover it.
LMP2 Times
1 #48 Murphy ORECA, 3m38.207s
2 #36 Signatech ORECA, 3m38.769s
3 #26 OAK Morgan, 3m38.843s
GTE Pro Times
1 AF Corse Ferrari, 3m54.754s
2 AMR Aston Martin, 3m55.067s
3 #92 Manthey Porsche, 3m55.609s
GTE Am Times
1 #72 SMP Ferrari, 3m56.787s
2 #61 AF Corse Ferrari, 3m56.919s
3 #95 AMR Aston Martin, 3m56.994s
Breaking news
Estimated restart at 2045, in four minutes.
Green flag
Session restarts
With only 13 minutes remaining and no time for long runs, expect a few qualifying runs here. In LMP1 Bernhard, Buemi, Treluyer, Nakajima, Jarvis and Gene are out.
The #1 Audi is back on track, which is good news. Only cosmetic damage there clearly.
We should also see some LMP2 qualifying attempts. Chandhok is on track in the Murphy ORECA, so it would be no surprise to see that improve. Webb is out in the Signatech ORECA, with Mardenborough in the #35 Ligier. All are serious pole threats.
It will also be interesting to see if the KGMC ORECA, in the hands of Howson, can improve.
Bernhard improves the #20 Porsche's advantage in first place. He's done a 3m22.908s.
Nakajima, third, has also improved to a 3m23.398s, with Jarvis in the #3 Audi putting in a 3m23.710s in fourth place.
In LMP2, Gommendy has improved to a 3m39.242s in the TDS Ligier. That car is fourth in class.
Yellow flag
Yellow flag.
Crash
We've had a GT collision at the Ford Chicane. The #60 AF Corse Ferrari was being passed by the #98 Aston, but the pair made contact and both spun.
Nakajima goes second in the #7 Toyota on a 3m23.286s.
The #60 Ferrari was driven by Gianmaria, while Dalla Lana was driving the #98 Aston.
Stopwatch
Nakajima takes pole with a minute to go in the #7 Toyota on a 3m22.589s.
We've also seen improvements from Jarvis in the #3 Audi (fourth on a 3m23.330s) and Buemi in the #8 Toyota (fifth on 3m23.661s).
Stopwatch
Gommendy goes fastest in LMP2 driving the TDS-run #46 Ligier. He's put in a 3m38.094s.
Checkered flag
The chequered flag is out, but there are still some cars on flying laps.
Leimer improves in the #13 Rebellion. But he stays ninth on a 3m31.608s.
Chandhok, in the #48 Murphy ORECA, had a fast second sector, but lost time in the final sector. The car is second in LMP2.
Jarvis improves again in the #3 Audi. He set a 3m23.271s lap and is fourth.
Checkered flag
Everyone has now finished their laps in this second qualifying session. There's one more session, now extended to two-and-a-half hours, which starts at 2130. That's less than 30 minutes away.
So, during that session Toyota knocked Porsche off top spot with just one minute to go courtesy of Nakajima's late effort.
Overall standings:
1 #7 Toyota, 3m22.589s
2 #14 Porsche, 3m22.708s
3 #20 Porsche, 3m22.908s
4 #3 Audi, 3m23.271s
5 #8 Toyota, 3m23.661s
6 #2 Audi, 3m26.490s
7 #1 Audi, 3m26.490s
8 #12 Rebellion, 3m31.180s
9 #13 Rebellion, 3m31.608s
LMP2 standings:
1 #46 Ligier, 3m38.094s
2 #48 ORECA, 3m38.207s
3 #36 ORECA, 3m38.769s
GTE Pro standings:
1 #51 Ferrari, 3m54.754s
2 #73 Chevrolet, 3m55.038s
3 #97 Aston, 3m55.067s
GTE Am standings:
1 #72 Ferrari, 3m56.787s
2 #61 Ferrari, 3m56.917s
3 #95 Aston Martin, 3m56.994s
The next session will be designated as a night session from the start, even thought it will still be relatively light. All drivers must complete five laps in the dark to qualifying and many didn't yesterday thanks to the red flags. So plenty need to get some laps in tonight.
The #1 Audi at least managed to get a time on the board in that session courtesy of di Grassi's 3m26.490s. He did sufferer a minor off, nosing the car into the barriers, but it was nothing compared to what happened to team-mate Duval yesterday.


While there was progress for the #1 Audi in that it was rebuilt, but if the first crash was unfortunate the second crash was definitely avoidable.

Here's the result. Not good.
So, after all this, we're just a couple of minutes from the final part of qualifying. Bit mental, but we do have an update (and comprehensive) qualifying report imminent.

By: Scott Mitchell, Edd Straw, Glenn Freeman, Gary Watkins

Published: