All-British Audi on pole

Herbert went out immediately in the final session and found a further two tenths of a second to better his time from earlier in the evening. The sister car did not go out with the pack, as it sat in the pits with some minor technical problems. Although McNish finally went out late in the session and looked mildly threatening on the time screens, Herbert always looked safe at the top.

Herbert's co-driver Guy Smith said: "Johnny was awesome and very determined to get pole this time. Its just the first part of the weekend though - obviously the most important part is the race. We are in good shape."

The Zytek did relatively little running and also came out late, but did not improve its time from the first session. The car, driven by David Brabham/Hayanari Shimoda/Andy Wallace will start the 24 Hours from third, with two of the Audi R8s behind it.

The Team Goh Audi improved its times in the opening minutes in the hands of Tom Kristensen, but remained in fourth for the duration of the session. The last Audi (that of Champion Racing) will start sixth, apparently struggling a little more than the other R8 privateers. However, it is known that the Champion Team is not normally very concerned with the fight for pole.

The only position change in the top six was the Pescarolo-Judd jumping past the champion car into fifth place. This also happened in the first moments of the final session. The car's Judd engine and improved aerodynamics has clearly given it a major leap in performance.

The rest of the top ten was unchanged from the earlier session. The misfire on the second Racing for Holland Dome (Justin Wilson/Ralph Firman/Tom Coronel) turned out to be terminal and the car spent the session in pieces in the garage. The sister car, led by team owner Jan Lammers, was hit by traffic problems.

"I think I could have done a time good enough for sixth place," said Lammers. "But I haven't had a clear lap here for about three years! I think that the other car will be OK although they have had very few laps. The drivers are very experienced."

The major drama of the session was in the GTS class, where Ferrari showed Corvette what it could do by snatching pole in the final minutes. Last year's winner Tomas Enge went out after the team repaired a car he damaged earlier in the evening, and pipped the Oliver Gavin-driven Corvette that had looked so dominant before.

"They've done the same as they did for Petter Solberg in the Corsica Rally last year," said Enge, who found a huge chunk of time to take the Corvette. "I shunted the car quite badly. They have made it so good that I could go out and take pole, so it's a big thank you to the team! Hopefully this is just the small part of the weekend and we'll be able to get on top of the podium on Sunday."

LMP2 pole remains in the hands of Courage-AER of Sam Hancock, Jean-Marc Gounon and Alexander Frei. The GT category was also unchanged, where the White Lightning/Petersen Motorsport team car will start at the front.

Davies/Herbert/Smith Audi 3m32.838s
Biela/Kaffer/McNish Audi 3m33.233s
Wallace/Brabham/Shimoda Zytek 3m33.923s
Ara/Capello/Kristensen Audi 3m34.038s
Collard/Bourdais/Minassian Pescarolo-Judd 3m36.525s
Lehto/Werner/Pirro Audi 3m34.927s
Katoh/Michigami/Fukuda Dome-Mugen 3m36.285s
Lammers/Dyson/Kaneishi Dome-Judd 3m36.353s
Short/Barff/Barbosa Dallara-Judd 3m39.260s
Coronel/Wilson/Firman Dome-Judd 3m40.261s
Ayari/Comas/Treluyer Pescarolo-Judd 3m40.399s
Newton/Erdos/Kinch Lola-MG 3m42.298s
Stirling/Lupberger/McGarrity Nasamax-Judd 3m42.429s
Nielsen/Elgaard/Moller Lister 3m43.760s
Field/Dayton/Connor Lola-Judd 3m48.670s
Andre/Leuenberger/Vanni Lola-Judd 3m50.703s
Maurylaribiere/Boulay/Besson Reynard-Lehman 3m53.640s
Bourdais/Blanchemain/Berville Panoz 3m57.816s
Andrews/Lockie/Kumpen Lola-Caterpillar 4m14.380s


Frei/Gounon/Hancock Courage-AER 3m41.126s
Belmondo/Gosselin/Saviozzi Courage-AER 3m51.862s
Jeanette/Pickering/Derlot Courage-Willman 3m57.850s
Binnie/Field/Sutherland Lola-Judd 3m59.984s
Bouvet/Gommendy/Briere WR 4m05.163s
Terada/Roussel/Porta WR 4m05.852s


Enge/Kox/Menu Ferrari 550 3m49.438s
Gavin/Beretta/Magnussen Corvette 3m49.750s
Fellows/O'Connell/Papis Corvette 3m51.378s
McRae/Rydell/Turner Ferrari 550 3m51.755s
Bouchut/Goueslard/Dupard Ferrari 550 3m55.500s
Hezemans/Deletraz/Barde Ferrari 575 4m00.714s
Bosch/Sullivan/Biagi Ferrari 575 4m06.375s


Maasen/Bergmeister/Long Porsche 4m07.394s
Melo/Daoudi/de Fournoux Ferrari 360 4m08.484s
Hindery/Lieb/Rockenfeller Porsche 4m09.079s
Kelleners/Ortelli/Dumas Porsche 4m10.011s
Rosa/van Merkstein/Caffi Porsche 4m11.490s
Kurosawa/Nishizawa/Oriodo Porsche 4m12.949s
Khan/Smith/Sugden Porsche 4m13.009s
Berridge/Caine/Stockton TVR 4m13.368s
Burgess/Collin/Bagnalli Porsche 4m13.943s
Alphand/Laveille/Almeras Porsche 4m14.785s
Wilson/Montain/Hugenholtz Ferrari 360 4m18.768s
Vasiliev/Fomenko/Nearn Porsche 4m18.973s
Tomlinson/Greensall/Evans TVR 4m19.980s
Donaldson/Fisken/Nielsen Porsche 4m20.010s
Warnock/Matthews/Daniels Porsche 4m21.277s
Sharpe/Hyde/Cunningham Morgan 4m24.080s