Le Mans 24 Hours 2015 Wednesday: Practice and qualifying

Just prior to that accident we had a shake-up in the GTE order, which now looks like this:

1. #99 Aston Martin 3m58.106s
2. #97 Aston Martin 3m58.448s
3. #64 Corvette 3m58.880s
4. #91 Porsche 3m59.892s
5. #98 (Am) Aston Martin 4m00.307s

MacDowall and Turner have put Astons one and two.

Imperatori has stopped out on track as well in the #13 Rebellion. It was on an outlap, and it's being reported the car is missing a wheel.

The Murphy car was the cause of the stoppage though, and it's sustained some pretty big damage front and rear by the looks of the CCTV footage we've seen.

All three Audis (with Fassler, Duval and Bonanomi in action) were on course to improve when the red flags came out.

Mark Patterson in the Murphy Prototypes LMP2 entry has crashed at the Porsche Curves.

Webber returns to the pits and jumps out of the #17 Porsche after that lively run that featured several new fastest laps for the ex-grand prix driver.

Fassler's Audi is the car that has done the most laps so far in this session. It's currently on its 31st time round.

Fassler was on course to improve in the fourth-placed #7 Audi, but a wobble in the Porsche Curves and some GT traffic in the final chicane cost him too much time.

The #26 G-Drive Racing (OAK) and Strakka Racing entries improve to second and fourth in LMP2 respectively.

In G-Drive's Ligier-Nissan JSP2, Roman Rusinov had to avoid Vincent Capillaire in the Signatech Alpine, who had a trip over the final chicane.

GARY WATKINS: Now we have a time quicker than last year's pole from Webber. His 3m21.382 is now only three tenths slower than the test day best from team-mate Hartley.

You've got to think that was going to be a sub-3m21s for Webber without that delay at the end of the lap.

Remember, it was in this session last year that Duval, who is currently on track in the #8 Audi, had this horrific accident.

Webber is lighting up the timing screens again. Let's see what he does this time.

Lieb was on course to improve his time in second (though it didn't look to be a threat to Webber), but he lost a lot of time in the final sector and ended up heading for the pits.

GARY WATKINS: Another fastest time from Webber puts him within a tenth of Nakajima's 2014 pole for Toyota.

Lietz brings the #91 Porsche into the mix properly for the first time in practice with a 3m59.892s. That's about a second off the Aston and Corvette in front.

The Thiriet by TDS Racing entry has just jumped up to second in LMP2, although Ludovic Badey's effort is 3.647 seconds off Bradley's lap a couple of minutes ago.

Halfway through the session, the #37 SMP Racing entry is third, ahead of Extreme Speed Motorsport's #30 and Team SARD Morand's #18. All bar two cars are currently on track.

Plenty of LMP1 cars are setting faster sector times at the moment. Duval moves the #8 Audi into fifth, having set a new overall best in the first sector. And Webber is on a quick lap at the moment...

While this is the first time running at Le Mans since the official test day two weeks ago for many teams, some cars did hit the track in the middle of last week.

All four of the works LMP1 teams were among those to participate in a special test day on the Bugatti circuit. More here.

Bradley has improved in the KCMG entry, to a 3m39.897s. The LMP2 pacesetter has jumped ahead of the three LMP1 Nissans with that effort.

Lieb makes it a Porsche 1-2-3, splitting Webber and Tandy to slot the #18 machine into second place.

Only the #7 Audi is within a second of the leading Porsche pace at the moment, as we pass the halfway stage of this four-hour practice session.

Track limits warning for, well everyone really. Sarrazin, Tandy, Rusinov, Minassian, K Ladygin, Bradley, Bachler and Lietz have all been warned for exceeding the bounds of the track at the final chicane.

GARY WATKINS: That Webber time is within half a second of Nakajima's 2014 pole mark - and just over a second behind Porsche team-mate Hartley's test day best.

If you are wondering what the Gibson LMP2 chassis is, it's actually an upgraded version of the Zytek Z11SN that won LMP2 at Le Mans in the hands of Jota last year.

Gibson Technology is the new name for Zytek Engineering, with the change happening late last year. Click here for more.

GARY WATKINS: Bradley's 3m41.4s in the KCMG ORECA is half a second quicker than the class best from the Test Day. That suggests that we should be expecting some quick times at the top of the order — unless the threatening dark skies yield the promised rain before that can happen.

All three Nissans are now within a second of each other, sitting in positions 11-13:

#21 3m40.332s
#23 3m40.429s
#22 3m41.302s

Webber's LMP1 benchmark in the #17 Porsche is currently 3m23.126s.

Circuit information notes that the #37 SMP Racing entry, second in LMP2, spun at the first Mulsanne chicane and has continued. Kirill Ladygin is behind the wheel at the moment.

Scrutineering for the Le Mans 24 Hours took place at the Place de la Republique in Le Mans town centre in front of big crowds on Sunday and Monday. Starting at 1430 on Sunday, with the Strakka Dome S103 first up, the technical experts ran the rule over all 56 cars.

There are three parts to scrutineering. First, the car is placed on a horizontal platform to measure its width, length, overhangs, wheelbase, wing and fin height and various other parameters. It also weighed.

Then, it is hoisted to allow the underside to be checked, including measuring the underbody plank.

The final stage involves removing some of the bodywork to examine all safety equipment. This includes belts, fire extinguishers, safety systems relating to electrical components of hybrid systems and the fuel tank.

There, the transponder is also checked, as well a the data-acquisition system and marshalling system, which supplies drivers with information from trackside marshals.

The drivers also have to be checked. They are weighed and all of their equipment (helmet, overalls etc) are inspected to ensure they comply with current FIA standards.

Le Mans scrutineering

And Tincknell follows it up with a time just a second slower.

GARY WATKINS: Progress is being made at Nissan — Matsuda has just gone almost exactly three seconds faster than the GT-R LM's best time from the test day, posting a 3m40.332s to move up to P11 overall.

Current LMP1 leaders:

1 #17 Porsche
2 #7 Audi
3 #18 Porsche
4 #9 Audi
5 #1 Toyota
6 #19 Porsche
7 #2 Toyota
8 #8 Audi

After the car's earlier problems, KCMG is now on top in LMP2. Bradley has just recorded a 3m41.422s, some three seconds faster than the previous SMP Racing benchmark.

Worth noting that the earlier rain arrived just as many teams were swapping over to slicks, but it's still half-a-second faster than the best time recorded in the class during the test day.

Gaetan Paletou is on track in the #41 Greaves Gibson. He got a late call-up to make his Le Mans 24 Hours debut in place of former International F3000 champion Bjorn Wirdheim.

The winner of last year's Nissan GT Academy will be starting only his 19th race, but he did sample the Le Mans track during the test day in a Ginetta LMP3. Click here for full story.

Bell sets personal bests in the first two sectors and despite a slightly slower end to the lap, he goes quickest so far in GTE.

The #97 Aston leads the way on a 3m58.847s – that's 0.033s faster than the #64 Corvette.

Congratulations to sportscar legend Vic Elford. The Targa Florio winner turns 80 today. He's probably the driver who raced most iterations of the Porsche 917.