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WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans 24 Hours 2015 Wednesday: Practice and qualifying

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That's it for AUTOSPORT Live from the first day of track action in 2015 Le Mans race week. We'll be back tomorrow evening with coverage of both Thursday qualifying sessions, the first of which starts at 19:00 local time. We'll see you then, to find out if Porsche can go any faster (or if it wants to) after a stunning first attempt tonight.
Breaking news
Our full report on that qualifying session is now live. Check out what happened in every class in detail, as Porsche blitzed the field:

REPORT: Porsche dominates Le Mans qualifying

Porsche pole

Porsche pole

Here's a longer LMP1 rundown:

1 #18 Porsche, 3m16.887s
2 #17 Porsche, +0.8s
3 #19 Porsche, +2.4s
4 #8 Audi, +2.9s
5 #9 Audi, +4.1s
6 #7 Audi, +4.9s
7 #2 Toyota, +6.6s
8 #1 Toyota, +6.8s
9 #12 Rebellion, +9.9s
10 #13 Rebellion, +15.0s

12 #23 Nissan, +21.5s

18 #4 CLM, +23.4s

21 #22 Nissan, +24.5s

31 #21 Nissan, +28.9s
This is how the sharp end of GTE looks. Nice work if you're part of AMR...

1. #99 Aston 3m54.928s – Stanaway
2. #98 Aston 3m55.102s – Lamy*
3. #51 Ferrari 3m55.306s – Bruni
4. #97 Aston 3m55.466s – Mucke
5. #95 Aston 3m55.783s – Sorensen

*GTE Am provisional pole

Lead Corvette: 6th
Lead Porsche: 9th
Here's how it looks at the top of LMP2:

1 #47 KCMG ORECA-Nissan, 3m38.032s
2 #41 Greaves Motorsport Gibson-Nissan, 3m38.958s
3 #38 Jota Sport Gibson-Nissan, 3m39.004s

The Jota time was a late improvement from Oliver Turvey, while Sam Bird put G-Drive Racing (OAK) in fourth with a 3m39.867s after the chequered flag.
Treluyer's #7 Audi is still stuck in the gravel at the first Mulsanne chicane. That's going to be a while getting back to the pits, which will delight his mechanics.
A few late improves in GTE, namely among the Pro cars – Mucke and Sorensen making it a very good evening's work for Aston Martin by going fourth and fifth, and a late (but limited) salvage job from Calado to grab 10th.
So here's how it looks at the front:

1 #18 Porsche, 3m16.887s
2 #17 Porsche, 3m17.767s
3 #19 Porsche, 3m19.297s
Yellow flag
There is also potentially something off on the run out of Mulsanne Corner. Race control indicates there is a yellow flag. Unclear why though.
Yellow flag
That's at the first chicane on Mulsanne. He hasn't hit anything though.
Yellow flag
Treluyer is in the gravel in the #7 Audi.
Checkered flag
The chequered flag is out and, although we've still got cars circulating, there doesn't look to be too much room for improvements. Bird is on a flier in the #26 Ligier in LMP2 though.
Just two minutes remaining here at Le Mans.
Jani still holds pole position in the #18 Porsche on a 3m16.887s. Nobody looking like doing anything about that in the last five minutes of qualifying.
And Treluyer again improves in the #7 Audi, he's now into the 3m21s with a 3m21.839s. Still sixth.
Tincknell puts the #22 Nissan into 20th place with a 3m41.400s. That's still three seconds slower than the lead car, the #23 machine that Mardenborough set a 3m38.468s lap in.
Treluyer improves again in the #7 Audi, but remains in sixth place. Needs to find more than a second to move up a position.
The #4 ByKolles CLM car, driven by Monteiro, has been caught speeding in the pits.
Predictably, a big gain for Berthon on his second flying lap. It's a 3m44.513s. They'll be looking to extract as much as possible out of these last few laps.
Chilton is out in the #23 Nissan, which is comfortably the fastest of the three GT-R LM NISMOs.
The repaired Murphy entry logs its first time of the session, a 3m45.531s. And now that the timing screens have updated, we can see it's Berthon in the car, not Chandhok.
GARY WATKINS: Repairs to the Murphy car have taken longer than expected. It is interesting to note that race engineer Dave Benbow is a former winner of this race with the TWR Jaguar squad in 1990 and first worked here as a weekend warrior in the old signaling pits at Mulsanne Corner as long ago as 1969.
Treluyer improves the fastest time for the #7 Audi. He's set a 3m22.456s, but that makes no difference to its position and the car remains in sixth.
Clash between the Signatech Alpine and one of the GT Ferraris. The right-rear of the LMP2 car clipped the front-left of the Ferrari as they went under the Dunlop bridge. Both seem to be continuing, without a lot of trouble.
Nothing in the way of improvements of any kind in GTE. The order as it stands:

1. #99 Aston 3m54.928s (Stanaway)
2. #98 Aston 3m55.102s (Lamy)*
3. #51 Ferrari 3m55.306s (Vilander)
4. #63 Corvette 3m55.963s (Garcia)
5. #97 Aston 3m56.364s (Mucke)

* GTE Am provisional pole

The #71 Ferrari currently lies 19th in GTE, and a distant last of the Pros. Calado's track-limits offence(s) proving costly at this stage. AF Corse will hope for dry running tomorrow.
Ordonez gets the slowest Nissan into the top 30 with a 3m45.8s.
Formation flying at the front. The top 10 is Porsche, Porsche, Porsche - Audi, Audi, Audi - Toyota, Toyota - Rebellion, Rebellion.
With 22 minutes remaining, the Murphy entry has just entered the fray. Chandhok is behind the wheel.
Ordonez improves the #21 Nissan's best - it's up to 31st overall now.

The #23 remains 12th, while the #22 is 25th.
A shot on circuit TV confirms front-end damage for the Greaves Motorsport Gibson-Nissan, following the crash that caused the earlier red flag. It still sits second in the LMP2 standings, though.

Chatin in the Signatech Alpine has improved by half a second since the restart and moved up from seventh to sixth in the class.
Sarrazin moves the #2 Toyota ahead of its sister car, taking seventh.
GARY WATKINS: A 3m26.8s from Beche in the Rebellion goes a long way to justifying the Anglo-Swiss team's decision to swap from Toyota to AER engines. That time is 1.6s quicker than the best lap the car managed last year, and it was set in the dark.
Improvements lower down the LMP1 order: Trelyuer, Nakajima, Sarrazin and Beche have all improved, but their cars continue to occupy positions 6-9.
For those checking-in late with us, the provisional order at the front is a Porsche 1-2-3, with Jani's early lap in this session aboard the #18 Porsche holding firm - a stunning 3m16.887s.
The #12 Rebellion and #27 #BRE are under investigation for overtaking under the red flag.
Green flag
Here we go, the pits are open.
And everyone starts heading to the end of the pits (again).

By: Glenn Freeman, Edd Straw, Scott Mitchell, Mitchell Adam, AUTOSPORT staff, Gary Watkins

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