Le Mans 24 Hours: Audi on provisional pole, Toyota fastest in the wet

More than 40 minutes remained on the clock when LMP2 driver Matt Downs crashed the #40 Boutsen Ginion ORECA-Nissan into the barriers just before the section that leads into Indianapolis.

With lengthy repairs essential, race officials opted not to restart the session, which had started on a wet circuit after a burst of rain arrived shortly before it commenced.

The initial benchmark times were around 45 seconds off Loic Duval's provisional pole time from Wednesday, although these soon began to improve as track conditions got progressively better.

With the Audis completing little running before the track was good enough for intermediate rubber, Toyota drivers came to the fore.

Both Wurz and fellow Toyota man Anthony Davidson gradually chipped away, with the former's 3m40.924s the best time of the session once the Austrian had fitted slicks.

This was still 18 seconds slower than the best of the dry times and so made no difference to the look of the provisional grid.

Lucas di Grassi was the best Audi driver in second place - less than a tenth of a second slower than Wurz - while Marcel Fassler, driving the #1 R18 e-tron quattro, was third.

Nissan-engined cars dominated in LMP2 with provisional polesitter John Martin again fastest in the #26 G-Drive/Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan.

Tom Kimber-Smith put the #41 Greaves Zytek-Nissan, which missed first qualifying after a major practice crash, second, although his time means he is still only 19th on the provisional class grid.

The sister car of Jann Mardenborough/Michael Krumm/Lucas Ordonez was third while Tony Burgess had a spin during the worst of the conditions in the HVM-Status Lola-Judd.

Corvette driver Jan Magnussen set the pace in GTE Pro, while the sister car was spun by Richard Westbrook - without damage - at the first Mulsanne chicane early on.

GTE Am honours went to Stuart Hall in the works Aston Martin with the sister car of Kristian Poulsen second.

Race officials indicated that final qualifying will start half an hour early in order to make up for the lost time.

Second qualifying - top five:
Pos Cl  Drivers                        Team/Car               Time       Gap
 1. P1  Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima         Toyota                 3m40.924s
 2. P1  di Grassi/Gene/Jarvis          Audi                   3m40.990s  +0.066s
 3. P1  Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler      Audi                   3m41.954s  +1.030s
 4. P1  Prost/Jani/Heidfeld            Rebellion Lola-Toyota  3m42.261s  +1.337s
 5. P1  Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin        Toyota                 3m42.507s  +1.583s

Provisional Grid:
Pos Cl  Drivers                        Team/Car               Time       Gap
 1. P1  Kristensen/McNish/Duval        Audi                   3m22.349s
 2. P1  di Grassi/Gene/Jarvis          Audi                   3m24.341s  +1.992s
 3. P1  Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler      Audi                   3m25.474s  +3.125s
 4. P1  Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima         Toyota                 3m26.676s  +4.327s
 5. P1  Prost/Jani/Heidfeld            Rebellion Lola-Toyota  3m30.423s  +8.074s
 6. P1  Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin        Toyota                 3m30.841s  +8.492s
 7. P1  Belicchi/Beche/Cheng           Rebellion Lola-Toyota  3m32.167s  +9.818s
 8. P1  Kane/Watts/Leventis            Strakka HPD            3m36.547s  +14.198s
 9. P2  Rusinov/M.Martin/Conway        Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan 3m39.535s  +17.186s
10. P2  Gachnang/Mailleux/Lombard      Morand Morgan-Judd     3m40.741s  +18.392s
11. P2  Pla/Heinemeier Hansson/Brundle OAK Morgan-Nissan      3m40.780s  +18.431s
12. P2  Graves/Nakano/Hamilton         Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan 3m40.925s  +18.576s
13. P2  Baguette/Gonzalez/Plowman      OAK Morgan-Nissan      3m42.387s  +20.038s
14. P2  Perez Companc/Minassian/Kaffer Pecom ORECA-Nissan     3m43.420s  +21.071s
15. P2  Thiriet/Badey/M.Martin         TDS ORECA-Nissan       3m43.494s  +21.145s
16. P2  Panciatici/Ragues/Gommendy     Signatech ORECA-Nissan 3m43.835s  +21.486s
17. P2  Hartley/Patterson/Chandhok     Murphy ORECA-Nissan    3m44.538s  +22.189s
18. P2  Dolan/Turvey/Luhr              Jota Zytek-Nissan      3m44.835s  +22.486s
19. P2  Frey/Niederhauser/Bleekemolen  Race Perf' ORECA-Judd  3m45.244s  +22.895s
20. P2  Imperatori/Tung/Howson         KCMG Morgan-Nissan     3m45.500s  +23.151s
21. P2  Weeda/Rossiter/Bouchut         Lotus-Praga            3m47.920s  +25.571s
22. P2  Nicolet/Merlin/Mondolot        OAK Morgan-Nissan      3m48.196s  +25.847s
23. P2  Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe      Level 5 HPD            3m48.597s  +26.248s
24. P2  Giroix/Haezebrouck/Ihara       Gulf Lola-Nissan       3m49.096s  +26.747s
25. P2  Mardenborough/Ordonez/Krumm    Greaves Zytek-Nissan   3m49.421s  +27.072s
26. P2  Mowlem/Burgess/Hirschi         HVM Status Lola-Judd   3m49.805s  +27.456s
27. GTP Bell/Makowiecki/Senna          Aston Martin           3m55.658s  +33.309s
28. GTP Bruni/Fisichella/Malucelli     AF Corse Ferrari       3m55.909s  +33.560s
29. GTP Dumbreck/Mucke/Turner          Aston Martin           3m56.004s  +33.655s
30. GTP Auberlen/Dalla Lana/Lamy       Aston Martin           3m56.336s  +33.987s
31. GTP Lieb/Lietz/Dumas               Manthey Porsche        3m56.457s  +34.108s
32. GTP Beretta/Kobayashi/Vilander     AF Corse Ferrari       3m56.471s  +34.122s
54. P2  Kimber-Smith/Rossi/Lux         Greaves Zytek-Nissan   3m56.487s  +34.138s
33. GTP Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard     Manthey Porsche        3m56.573s  +34.224s
34. P2  Porta/Raffin/Brandela          DKR Lola-Judd          3m56.905s  +34.556s
35. P2  Downs/Dagoneau/Younessi        Boutsen ORECA-Nissan   3m57.139s  +34.790s
36. GTA Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen       Aston Martin           3m58.661s  +36.312s
37. GTA Ried/Roda/Ruberti              Proton Porsche         3m59.246s  +36.897s
38. GTP Magnussen/Garcia/Taylor        Corvette               3m59.526s  +37.177s
39. GTP Westbrook/Gavin/Milner         Corvette               3m59.860s  +37.511s
40. GTA Milesi/Gibon/Henzler           Imsa Porsche           4m00.503s  +38.154s
41. GTA Hall/Goethe/Campbell-Walter    Aston Martin           4m01.035s  +38.686s
42. GTA Narac/Bourret/Vernay           Imsa Porsche           4m01.713s  +39.364s
43. GTA Gerber/Griffin/Cioci           AF Ferrari             4m02.815s  +40.466s
44. GTP Dalziel/Farnbacher/Goossens    SRT Viper              4m03.127s  +40.778s
45. GTA Dempsey/Foster/Long            Dempsey Porsche        4m03.378s  +41.029s
46. GTP Bomarito/Kendall/Wittmer       SRT Viper              4m03.461s  +41.112s
47. GTA Perazzini/Case/O'Young         AF Corse Ferrari       4m03.966s  +41.617s
48. GTA MacNeil//Rodrigues/Dumas       Larbre Corvette        4m04.512s  +42.163s
49. GTA Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor        Larbre Corvette        4m04.873s  +43.524s
50. GTA Potolicchio/Aguas/Bright       8star Ferrari          4m07.625s  +45.276s
51. GTA Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank       AF Ferrari             4m09.064s  +46.715s
52. GTP Collard/Perrodo/Crubile        Prospeed Porsche       4m11.719s  +49.370s
53. P2  Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz       Lotus-Praga            4m12.327s  +49.978s
55. GTA Krohn/Jonsson/Mediani          Krohn Ferrari
56. GTP Bertolini/Al Faisal/Al Qubaisi JMW Ferrari