Le Mans 24 Hours final qualifying day
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There's a rumble of engines underneath us in the pitlane as cars begin to head back towards the pit exit in anticipation of a restart.
Autosport
At the sharp end of the LMP1 order, the #7 looks in decidedly better shape right now than it did in the final hour of last night's session - when Mike Conway collided with the LMP2 DragonSpeed ORECA at the Ford Chicane as Roberto Gonzales attempted to get going after a spin.
Toyota was able to get the car back on track after less than half an hour back in the garage, but it elected to a change the car's monocoque overnight after detecting damage.
Toyota was able to get the car back on track after less than half an hour back in the garage, but it elected to a change the car's monocoque overnight after detecting damage.
LMP2
The improvement for Richelmi in the #38 DC Racing ORECA means the quickest Dunlop is now only three tenths off the fastest Michelin, after concerns last night that the Dunlops would struggle for pace over a single lap. The Monegasque's team-mate Ho-Pin Tung revealed to Autosport earlier that the Jota Sport run team had confidence in its package.
"We’re not too worried, even if Michelin would still appear to have that one-lap advantage, we do believe that we’ve closed that gap quite significantly", he said. "We’ll have to see in qualifying tonight obviously, but I don’t believe that there’s only combination that is the golden combination."
"We’re not too worried, even if Michelin would still appear to have that one-lap advantage, we do believe that we’ve closed that gap quite significantly", he said. "We’ll have to see in qualifying tonight obviously, but I don’t believe that there’s only combination that is the golden combination."
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Update from race control, which expects the session to restart at 7.50pm local time (in around 10 minutes).
Spot that puff of smoke midway up the left-hand side of the frame? That's the Rebellion
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Here's the state of play in LMP1 while the session is stopped: 1 #7 Toyota; 2 #8 Toyota; 3 #11 SMP; 4 #17 SMP; 5 #3 Rebellion; 6 #1 Rebellion; 7 #10 DragonSpeed; 8 #4 ByKolles
LMP1
Lots of head-shaking going on at Rebellion as a concerned Gustavo Menezes looks on from the pitwall.
Crash
Replays of the #8 Toyota going past the #3 show there was a not insignificant amount of smoke coming from the rear of the Rebellion.
Crash
Race control adds more with a subsequent message, reporting oil on track between the second chicane and the exit of Mulsanne corner - where Laurent has stopped the #3 car.
Red flag
Jani has just got the #1 Rebellion back on the board in sixth, but there's an issue for the sister car - which is "smoking hard" according to race control. Red Flag.
Here is Laurent pirouetting in the #3 Rebellion a few minutes ago
LMP2
Nyck De Vries has moved up to fourth in LMP2 in his #29 Racing Team Netherlands Dallara. That's a good lap from the Dutchman on the team's swansong with the troubled P217 chassis.
LMP1
Thomas Laurent is the latest LMP1 driver to spin at the Dunlop chicane, moments after improving the #3 Rebellion's time to a 3m18.884s.
GTE AM
Remember the #99 Porsche that Tracy Krohn demolished against the barriers on the Mulsanne Straight yesterday afternoon in practice? We've just seen it being wheeled down the pitlane on dolly-jacks, so it might get into the race after all.
GTE AM
Movement towards the top of the GTE Am times. Giancarlo Fisichella has broken up the all-Porsche top three in that class by putting the Spirit of Race Ferrari third on a 3m53.348s. That's a little under a second off the pace set by Matteo Cairoli last night in the #88 Dempsey-Proton Porsche.
LMP2
Andrea Pizzitola is another driver to improve in LMP2, his 3m28.457s taking the Algarve Pro Racing ORECA up to eighth. Pizzitola won the race on the road last year as part of the G-Drive lineup, but was unable to stay with the team this year as his driver grading was bumped up from Silver to Gold.
LMP1
Like the SMP cars, both Toyotas have returned to the pits after their fast laps at the start of the session. Just the #3 Rebellion and the DragonSpeed car out on track in class now.
Yellow flag
Yellow flags briefly come out for a slow Anders Fjordbach in the #20 High Class Racing ORECA. Replays show the Dane skipping over the grass at the Ford Chicane before coming to a halt and getting going again, fortunately without hitting anything.
Here is that moment for Sarrazin, who is now back in the pits (as is team-mate Aleshin)
GTE PRO
The only other car in Pro to improve besides Westbrook so far is another Ford, the #66 of Stefan Mucke - which moves up from 17th and last in class to 11th.
LMP2
Another car to improve is the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA of Stephane Richelmi, who has just taken second with a 3m26.821.
LMP1
Kobayashi's time is 0.120s away from the fastest time set by Kazuki Nakajima in qualifying for last year's race.
LMP2
New quickest time in LMP2, but it's the same man as yesterday setting the pace. Pastor Maldonado lowers his benchmark time in the #31 DragonSpeed ORECA by half a little under half a second, clocking a 3m26.490.
GTE PRO
Slightly gentler start to proceedings in GTE Pro than the other classes. The only improvement to speak of that time round was Richard Westbrook in the #69 Ford, who is up to ninth on a 3m51.404s, still two seconds off the times being set last night.
Crash
Sarrazin, who is down to fourth despite improving his time, went for a spin at the Dunlop chicane but is back up and running now.
Stopwatch
We have a 3m15s lap! Aleshin briefly went fastest in the #11 SMP car, but was quickly bumped down by the Toyotas. Kobayashi has top spot with a 3m15.497s, while Nakajima is 0.411s back in the sister car.
LMP1
Personal bests immediately from Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota - including a fastest second-sector time of all - Sarrazin in the #17 SMP BRE-AER BR1 and Nakajima in the #8 Toyota.
LMP1
Plenty of work going on in the ByKolles garage right now. That car doesn't appear to be going anywhere fast.
Of course, the DragonSpeed car did get hit - in a sense - by Mike Conway's #7 Toyota when Roberto Gonzalez misjudged his re-entry to the track following a spin at the Ford Chicane. Keep your eyes peeled for an update on that Toyota chassis coming shortly...
LMP2
In LMP2, it's the #31 DragonSpeed ORECA that leads the way courtesy of Pastor Maldonado, although team boss Elton Julian told Autosport that he was surprised that time hadn't been eclipsed later in the session, so don't be surprised to see his 3m26.804s benchmark to fall tonight.
"Last year we did a ’24.9 or something like that, so we know there’s more pace in the car," he said. "That lap was done when there was a little bit of drizzle at Arnage and Mulsanne was a bit funky, so we’re more surprised that we didn’t get hit later on by everybody else when there was no comeback."
"Last year we did a ’24.9 or something like that, so we know there’s more pace in the car," he said. "That lap was done when there was a little bit of drizzle at Arnage and Mulsanne was a bit funky, so we’re more surprised that we didn’t get hit later on by everybody else when there was no comeback."
LMP1
Six of the eight LMP1s are out straight away. Just the #4 ByKolles and the #1 Rebellion remain in the pitlane for now.
Green flag
Green light at the end of the pitlane - the second qualifying session is underway.
Information
That order, you may have noticed, excludes the #1 Rebellion. That's because it had its times from Wednesday excluded for a technical irregularity relating to its fuel-flow meter.
LMP1
Here's a full run down of the LMP1 order: 1 #7 Toyota; 2 #17 SMP; 3 #3 Rebellion; 4 #8 Toyota; 5 #10 DragonSpeed; 6 #11 SMP; 7 #4 ByKolles.
News
Toyota's #7 TS050 HYBRID sits on provisional pole after Wednesday evening's qualifying session, with the sister car only fourth in the order - although Fernando Alonso said that was due to the #8 drivers experiencing bad luck in qualifying. 
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Good evening, and welcome back to live coverage of Le Mans 24 Hours qualifying. A pair of two-hour sessions complete the pre-weekend schedule this evening, starting in around 10 minutes' time.
By: Geoff Creighton
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