Aston Martin focussing on race pace

The two cars, driven by David Brabham/Antonio Garcia/Darren Turner and Heinz-Harald Frentzen/Karl Wendlinger/Andrea Piccini, provisionally qualified fifth and sixth in Wednesday's qualifying sessions. They were around three seconds behind the No.63 polesitting General Motors Chevrolet Corvette.

But Prodrive sportscar boss George Howard-Chappell confirmed that both Aston crews decided to focus on a race set-up.

"It was a conscious decision, particularly with the potential for some dodgy weather [in Thursday's qualifying sessions], to concentrate on making sure we had a good dry set-up and not waste time doing a qualifying lap," he said.

Howard-Chappell did not rule out a qualifying effort in one of tonight's sessions. He said: "Today's a bit different. If we have 15 minutes spare in either of the two hours today we'll bolt a set of tyres and have a go, but it's not that important.

"Comparing ourselves with GM, we're not doing a race series as a team in GT and a lot of the drivers are new to the team or the car. Inevitably we're coming from a little bit of a step back. But we've come from a lot further back than this and still won."

Turner also confirmed that Wednesday's running had been used to help the drivers familiarise themselves with the car and to assess latest modifications on the DBR9.

"I didn't do the [pre-race] test, so the first hour [on Wednesday] was given to me to get back into the groove," he said. "We're just trying to dial the car in to make the most of the different tyres and the developments they've made on the car."

"At the end of yesterday we found a balance in the car that is race-able. But is it quick enough yet? No, so we now need to play around with the set-up, get some more grip in the car, and then find a balance with it again."

But Turner did concede that the Corvettes had improved significantly since last year, when they were narrowly beaten by Aston Martin. "The performance we've had over the Corvette has either been reduced or is the other way, so it's very close on lap times," he said.

"I believe they have a slight advantage at this stage."