Le Mans 24 Hours 2014 Wednesday: Practice and qualifying
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Breaking news
Ligier's P2, atop the class times with Jann Mardenborough's OAK example, is a lone beast at present – it's the only coupe in the class.
We know that'll change next season, with ORECA and HPD committed to building closed-top P2 cars, and now British constructor Zytek will join them as well.
GARY WATKINS has the story:
Zytek announces LMP2 coupe for 2016
We also now have a full-house of LMP1 cars in the top nine positions on the timesheets. The Rebellion R-Ones have now both set times, albeit over 15s off the pace.
Porsche made some cooling tweaks to the #20 car and has now sent Webber back out.
Mirko Venturi makes it an AF Ferrari one-two at the top of the GTE-Am times, but falls 0.001s shy of Bird's benchmark.
Only five of the 55 cars have yet to complete flying laps: The Nissan ZEOD (which stopped on track with a 'drive' issue), the #26 OAK Morgan, the #43 Morand Morgan, the #72 SMP Ferrari and the #92 Manthey Porsche.
According to race control, the #3 Audi driven by Bonanomi has had a trip through the gravel at the first Mulsanne chicane
Stopwatch
Davidson retakes top spot for Toyota, putting in a 3m23.897s lap. That's just under nine-tenths slower than the fastest time on the test day.
Twitter
Jurgen Barth
@gazzasportscars has just run into 1977 Le Mans winner Jurgen Barth. Their chat centred on two things: the Porsche 908/3 (obviously) and food (rather less obviously).
Jurgen is writing a cook book. Is there no end to the man's talents? He's been a driver, rule maker, series boss, race official and author over the years, and now it turns out he's a bit of a dab hand in the kitchen.
Stopwatch
Davidson improves again to 3m23.652s, over a second up on Duval's #1 Audi.
Interesting that it took only an hour for the P1 boys to get into the same second as the quickest times at the Test Day. Davidson is now only six tenths off team-mate Buemi's table-topping time from earlier this month
After one hour, here are the leading LMP1 runners:
LMP1:
1. #8 Toyota 3m23.652s
2. #1 Audi +0.832s
3. #7 Toyota +1.566s
4. #2 Audi +2.248s
5. #20 Porsche +3.273s
And the top three from the other classes:
LMP2:
1. #35 OAK Ligier-Nissan 3m40.11s
2. #48 Murphy ORECA-Nissan
3. #47 KCMG ORECA-Nissan
GTE Pro:
1. #71 AF Corse Ferrari 3m58.263s
2. #91 Manthey Porsche
3. #51 AF Corse Ferrari
GTE Am:
1. #81 AF Corse Ferrari 3m59.497s
2. #61 AF Corse Ferrari
3. #77 Dempsey Porsche
LMP1:
1. #8 Toyota 3m23.652s
2. #1 Audi +0.832s
3. #7 Toyota +1.566s
4. #2 Audi +2.248s
5. #20 Porsche +3.273s
And the top three from the other classes:
LMP2:
1. #35 OAK Ligier-Nissan 3m40.11s
2. #48 Murphy ORECA-Nissan
3. #47 KCMG ORECA-Nissan
GTE Pro:
1. #71 AF Corse Ferrari 3m58.263s
2. #91 Manthey Porsche
3. #51 AF Corse Ferrari
GTE Am:
1. #81 AF Corse Ferrari 3m59.497s
2. #61 AF Corse Ferrari
3. #77 Dempsey Porsche
Red flag
Session stopped for a huge accident.
It's the #1 Audi driven by Duval at the Porsche Curves.
We haven't seen the accident itself, but the Audi has suffered substantial damage.
This looks like it will be a very lengthy stoppage.
The Audi is being loaded onto a truck and has a cover over it. An ambulance is driving away from the scene.
The garage door of the #1 Audi pit has been closed. Work is continuing to load the car onto a truck. Looks like there will also need to be some barrier repairs.
The truck carrying the #1 Audi has made it back to the pits.
While the car has been cleared up, the session will not get back underway any time soon. Significant work needs to be done to repair the fencing. There's currently two hours 20 minutes remaining in this free practice session.
Radio Le Mans has spoken to Audi Sport boss Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, who said that Duval is talking and has been taken away for checks after his massive accident.
Breaking news
Race control estimates that the session will restart at 1755, which is in nine minutes.
Twitter
From Audi Sport: "Duval is alert. He will be transported from the Medical Center to the hospital for further examinations."
Should the session resume when estimated, there will be just over two hours left on the clock.
Green flag
Free practice is back underway.
Dumas in the #14 Porsche 919 leads the cars onto the track.
Audi is getting back to work. Both of its cars are on the pit apron, getting ready to return to the track.
The #62 GTE Am AF Ferrari has spun at the first Mulsanne chicane.
Breaking news
If you're just joining our coverage, here is what we know about #1 Audi driver Loic Duval after that massive accident at the Porsche Curves:
Duval conscious after huge crash
Duval conscious after huge crash
Chatin is the first driver to improve since the resumption of the session, jumping to second on a 3m41.096s.
We're past halfway on the clock now, and at the front the order is #8 Toyota, #1 Audi, #7 Toyota, #2 Audi, #3 Audi, #20 Porsche, #14 Porsche, followed by the two Rebellion R-Ones.
The #35 OAK Ligier leads LMP2, while the #71 AF Corse Ferrari leads GTE Pro. Another AF Ferrari, the #81 car, leads the way in GTE Am.
The #35 OAK Ligier leads LMP2, while the #71 AF Corse Ferrari leads GTE Pro. Another AF Ferrari, the #81 car, leads the way in GTE Am.
Twitter
From @NissanZEODRC: "ZEOD back in the garage. We had a gearbox issue. We're swapping out the entire rear. Hope to get back out tonight."
The #43 Morand Morgan-Judd/BMW and the #92 Manthey Porsche are the only other cars yet to register a time.
The #43 Morand Morgan-Judd/BMW and the #92 Manthey Porsche are the only other cars yet to register a time.
Nicolas Minassian moves into second in LMP2 in the #37 SMP Racing Oreca, moving ahead of Signatech Alpine's Paul-Loup Chatin, who had improved just a few seconds prior.
Nakajima improves in the #7 Toyota, but he stays third and is now 1.7s off the sister TS040 HYBRID at the front.
A change at the top of GTE Pro now, but still an AF Corse Ferrari leads the way.
Toni Vilander has put the #51 car ahead of its #71-badged sibling, and by some distance too – a 3m57.322s. That's only a tenth shy of the best class time from the Test Day.
Toni Vilander has put the #51 car ahead of its #71-badged sibling, and by some distance too – a 3m57.322s. That's only a tenth shy of the best class time from the Test Day.
The Astons have yet to feature at the sharp end of either GTE class so far, but its best Pro and Am representatives have both just improved to fourth in each category.
Fernando Rees' 3m59.041s and Pedro Lamy's 4m00.729s are the best respective times for the #99 and #98 Aston Martin Vantages.
Fernando Rees' 3m59.041s and Pedro Lamy's 4m00.729s are the best respective times for the #99 and #98 Aston Martin Vantages.
A new benchmark for Beche puts the lead Rebellion 10.3s adrift of the leading #8 Toyota.
Well, Lamy was fourth in GTE Am. Paolo Ruberti has just nipped ahead in the #90 8Star...Ferrari. The 458s look quick early doors.
What of the Corvettes in GTE Pro? They are line astern in class, sixth (#73) and seventh (#74) respectively.
First we see of the #92 Manthey Porsche and Marco Holzer's leapt to fourth in GTE Pro on a 3m58.905s. Rees looked set to improve in the #99 Aston but pit after two personal-best sectors.
Dumas sets a new personal best for the #14 Porsche, which is still the slowest of the seven works LMP1 cars and sits 4.9s off the pace.
By: Glenn Freeman, Edd Straw, Scott Mitchell, Gary Watkins
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