Le Mans 24 Hours 2015 Wednesday: Practice and qualifying
Live Text
Sort by
Jani is also quickest through the second sector, so it looks like he will be the early benchmark.
The #18 Porsche of Jani is quickest through the first sector on these opening attempts for the big-hitters.
Bernhard in the #17 Porsche (that was fastest in practice in Webber's hands) and the #8 Audi of Duval will be the first LMP1 cars to complete a flying lap.
Mardenborough is the first Nissan driver to emerge. The #21 and #22 cars stay in the pits.
Buemi and Wurz head out for Toyota, while Audi sends out Duval and Bonanomi immediately.
At Porsche, Bernhard and Jani take to the track. So that's one Porsche (#19) and one Audi (#7) being held back for the moment.
At Porsche, Bernhard and Jani take to the track. So that's one Porsche (#19) and one Audi (#7) being held back for the moment.
And who's going to be fighting for LMP2 supremacy? KCMG was comfortably on top in practice, but Bradley found a window where he had good track conditions to himself.
The Honda-powered OAK entry will be in the mix as well, while the two G-Drive entries and Jota Sport have also looked quick.
It's a tough pack, and that's by no means the full list of contenders. What odds Vanthoor's impressive prototype debut continuing with provisional pole for OAK?
The Honda-powered OAK entry will be in the mix as well, while the two G-Drive entries and Jota Sport have also looked quick.
It's a tough pack, and that's by no means the full list of contenders. What odds Vanthoor's impressive prototype debut continuing with provisional pole for OAK?
Green flag
Qualifying is up and running, and the cars stream out of the pits.
In GTE, Aston Martin Racing led the way in practice. But expect a fierce challenge from Porsche, Ferrari and Corvette for Pro qualifying honours.
Richie Stanaway's time was very good in the #99 Vantage but it's difficult to read too much into practice form. While it sounds like a classic bit of fence-sitting, it really is too close to call.
In GTE Am, it's difficult to look past the #98 car in the hands of Pedro Lamy.
Richie Stanaway's time was very good in the #99 Vantage but it's difficult to read too much into practice form. While it sounds like a classic bit of fence-sitting, it really is too close to call.
In GTE Am, it's difficult to look past the #98 car in the hands of Pedro Lamy.
Five minutes to go until the start of first qualifying for the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours.
Twitter
@Audi__Sport: "Marcel Fassler, @loicduval and @MarcoBonanomi will start qualifying for #Audi."
All signs so far seem to be pointing to any pole position battle boiling down to Porsche vs Audi.
Toyota was off the pace at the test day 10 days ago, and while it believes it has fixed some of the areas where it was losing time, neither of its cars were within three seconds of the pace in practice earlier today.
The Japanese cars will surely have slightly more in reserve, but Toyota already seems reserved to the fact that it will not be competing with its rivals for pace this weekend.
Toyota was off the pace at the test day 10 days ago, and while it believes it has fixed some of the areas where it was losing time, neither of its cars were within three seconds of the pace in practice earlier today.
The Japanese cars will surely have slightly more in reserve, but Toyota already seems reserved to the fact that it will not be competing with its rivals for pace this weekend.
Nissan is very confident it will outpace all of the LMP2 cars in qualifying this year - even though it will not be going all-out for a single lap. It was ahead of all-but one of the LMP2 cars in practice, so we'll soon get an indication of how much more is in the tank when the cars head out at the top of the hour.
Romain Dumas also beat the 2014 pole in practice, but his lap was deleted after stewards investigated him for cutting the final chicane.
To be fair to Dumas he was only trying to avoid a GTE Ferrari, but it was the correct decision from officials to not let the lap stand, and it was removed from the timing screens shortly after the end of the session.
To be fair to Dumas he was only trying to avoid a GTE Ferrari, but it was the correct decision from officials to not let the lap stand, and it was removed from the timing screens shortly after the end of the session.
Last year's pole position time has already been beaten today, with Mark Webber's low 3m21s surpassing Kazuki Nakajima's best lap from 2014 qualifying. There's sure to be more to come from the frontrunning cars as well, so the question is how low will the laptimes be when everyone goes for it?
The sky is clearer than it was for much of free practice earlier, so with a bit of lingering sunshine around we could have very good conditions for everyone to turn things up and see what they're really made of.
The sun is slowly setting at Le Mans and we are 20 minutes away from the first qualifying session of the week ahead of the 2015 edition of the 24 Hours.
Here's our report from free practice at Le Mans, where Mark Webber set the pace for Porsche ahead of qualifying later tonight:
REPORT: Webber tops Le Mans practice
Qualifying starts in a little over an hour and a half (22:00 local time), and we'll be back in the run-up to that session before covering the first battle for pole across all of the classes. See you then.
REPORT: Webber tops Le Mans practice
Qualifying starts in a little over an hour and a half (22:00 local time), and we'll be back in the run-up to that session before covering the first battle for pole across all of the classes. See you then.
Twitter
@CorvetteRacing: "The #63 #Corvette stopped out on course w/ no power. It is being brought back to the garage."
Aston Martin Racing will be very happy with that, comfortably on top of both GTE categories. The Pro times:
1. #99 Aston Martin 3m55.895s
2. #64 Corvette 3m57.539s
3. #99 Aston Martin 3m58.448s
4. #92 Porsche 3m58.469s
5. #63 Corvette 3m58.501s
And in Am:
1. #98 Aston Martin 3m58.783s
2. #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche 4m01.611s
3. #88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing 4m02.029s
1. #99 Aston Martin 3m55.895s
2. #64 Corvette 3m57.539s
3. #99 Aston Martin 3m58.448s
4. #92 Porsche 3m58.469s
5. #63 Corvette 3m58.501s
And in Am:
1. #98 Aston Martin 3m58.783s
2. #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche 4m01.611s
3. #88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing 4m02.029s
A session of contrast for KCMG - its ORECA-Nissan 05 stopped in the opening minutes but finished fastest, thanks to Bradley's mid-session 3m39.897s.
Vanthoor went second-fastest late for OAK Racing in its Honda-powered entry, 1.414 seconds off the benchmark, ahead of Thiriet by TDS Racing and Greaves Motorsport.
Vanthoor went second-fastest late for OAK Racing in its Honda-powered entry, 1.414 seconds off the benchmark, ahead of Thiriet by TDS Racing and Greaves Motorsport.
Breaking news
The fastest time set by Dumas in the #18 Porsche has been deleted. This relegates the car to third place and puts the #17 car up front.
Checkered flag
The chequered flag is out. That brings the four-hour free practice session to an end. Here's the top times:
1 #18 Porsche, 3m21.164s
2 #17 Porsche, 3m21.362s
3 #8 Audi, 3m21.950s
4 #19 Porsche, 3m22.819s
5 #7 Audi, 3m23.051s
6 #9 Audi, 3m23.480s
7 #1 Toyota, 3m24.763s
8 #2 Toyota, 3m25.537s
9 #12 Rebellion, 3m28.441s
10 #13 Rebellion, 3m33.176s
11 #47 ORECA, 3m39.897s (LMP2)
12 #21 Nissan, 3m40.332s
13 #23 Nissan, 3m40.429s
14 #22 Nissan, 3m41.302s
15 #34 Ligier, 3m41.311s (LMP2)
1 #18 Porsche, 3m21.164s
2 #17 Porsche, 3m21.362s
3 #8 Audi, 3m21.950s
4 #19 Porsche, 3m22.819s
5 #7 Audi, 3m23.051s
6 #9 Audi, 3m23.480s
7 #1 Toyota, 3m24.763s
8 #2 Toyota, 3m25.537s
9 #12 Rebellion, 3m28.441s
10 #13 Rebellion, 3m33.176s
11 #47 ORECA, 3m39.897s (LMP2)
12 #21 Nissan, 3m40.332s
13 #23 Nissan, 3m40.429s
14 #22 Nissan, 3m41.302s
15 #34 Ligier, 3m41.311s (LMP2)
This means that we are unlikely to see any improvements, with the #18 Porsche fastest on a 3m21.164s. Even though that lap is being investigated by stewards and might be deleted, it will still be Porsche up top at the end of free practice, with the #17 Porsche second fastest courtesy of Webber's 3m21.362s.
Yellow flag
A slow zone has been declared in the vicinity of Mulsanne Corner to allow the BRE to be dealt with.
The #19 Porsche has stopped early after encountering rim damage. The team doesn't want to eat into the tyres it has allocated for qualifying and parked the car.
...in GTE Pro, Stanaway is on fire. His latest lap is a stunning effort - 3m55.895s. Hooked the lap up beautifully.
That's significantly quicker than anything from the test day, although a couple of seconds shy of last year's pole time.
That's significantly quicker than anything from the test day, although a couple of seconds shy of last year's pole time.
Yellow flag
Apparently, it's the #27 BRE-Nissan BR01 driven by Markozov that has stopped and caused the yellow.
Yellow flag
Race control informs us there is a yellow flag in the vicinity of Mulsanne corner. No sign of why yet, though.
The #64 Corvette improves, Tommy Milner taking the Chevy to second in GTE Pro on a 3m57.539s. That briefly takes him a few tenths off Stanaway...
Vanthoor has improved again, he's put the OAK Racing Ligier-Honda JSP2 in second place, 1.414s behind Bradley's earlier time in the KCMG entry.
The shuffling continues as the #92 Porsche jumps to third, Pilet setting a 3m58.469s.
Even quicker from Stanaway that time through, personal-best first and second sectors lowering the #99 car's time to a 3m57.302s.
Unsurprisingly, the stewards are taking a look at the lap on which Dumas set the fastest time in the #18 Porsche as he cut the chicane while passing a GTE car. There has to be a good chance that lap will be deleted.
Stanaway's getting in the groove, and posts the first time in the 3m57s today.
The #99 Vantage's best is now a 3m57.547s atop GTE Pro, that's almost a second clear of the #97.
The #99 Vantage's best is now a 3m57.547s atop GTE Pro, that's almost a second clear of the #97.
As the track dries again, we have movement in LMP2. Lancaster has moved Greaves Motorsport up to third, albeit still 2.266 seconds behind KCMG, while the Honda-powered OAK Racing Ligier is now fifth, thanks to Vanthoor.
And Pedro Lamy has further cemented the #98 Aston Martin's position at the top of GTE Am. He goes fifth overall in GTE on a 3m58.783s.
Bruni's on track and improving the #51 Ferrari's times. Last year's winner not yet showing its hand, but then it is only practice.
Movement from the #92 Porsche though - Pilet goes fourth on a 3m58.702s.
Movement from the #92 Porsche though - Pilet goes fourth on a 3m58.702s.
The #18 Porsche is back out on track, with Jani having taken over from Dumas.
With just over 15 minutes of the four-hour free practice session remaining, here's how things stand:
1 #18 Porsche, 3m21.164s
2 #17 Porsche, +0.198s
3 #8 Audi, +0.786s
4 #19 Porsche, +1.655s
5 #7 Audi, +1.887s
6 #9 Audi, +2.316s
7 #1 Toyota, +3.599s
8 #2 Toyota, +4.373s
9 #12 Rebellion, +7.277s
10 #13 Rebellion, +14.154s
1 #18 Porsche, 3m21.164s
2 #17 Porsche, +0.198s
3 #8 Audi, +0.786s
4 #19 Porsche, +1.655s
5 #7 Audi, +1.887s
6 #9 Audi, +2.316s
7 #1 Toyota, +3.599s
8 #2 Toyota, +4.373s
9 #12 Rebellion, +7.277s
10 #13 Rebellion, +14.154s
Dumas returns to the pits in the #18 Porsche.
By: Glenn Freeman, Edd Straw, Scott Mitchell, Mitchell Adam, AUTOSPORT staff, Gary Watkins
Published:
Page:
