Collard Tops Qualifying Session 1
The 73rd Le Mans 24 Hours meeting got underway at 19:00 local time on Wednesday evening with the first of two qualifying sessions, with Emmanuel Collard topping the timesheets in the faster of the Pescarolo entries, with a best time of 4m13.526s
Tom Kristensen was second fastest, lapping just 0.095s slower on the final lap in the first of the Champion Racing Audis.
The works Dome topped the timesheets for much of the session, with Ryo Michigami setting the time. However, he later blotted his copybook by spinning into a gravel trap, but he was able to escape its clutches and return to the pits, but the Japanese hybrid chassis slipped back to third place on 4m13.748s, emphasising just how close the top three had been on a damp but drying track.
Andy Wallace's Creation Autosportif DBA4 was fourth fastest, in 4m15.396s, with Michael Krumm's Rollcentre Racing Dallara (4m20.862s), Soheil Ayari in the second Pescarolo (4m1.306s) and Allan McNish in the second Champion Racing Audi (4m21.919s) next in the order.
One of the drives of the session came from Christophe Bouchut who vaulted up the order on the final lap to lead the GT1 class in the Cirtek Motorsport Ferrari 550 Maranello, lapping in 4m23.885s to head the previously predominant Aston Martins by fully a dozen seconds, emphasising how quickly the track was drying.
A fraction slower, in ninth overall, was the quickest of the LMP2 entries, with Didier Andre lapping in 4m25.823s in one of the Paul Belmondo Racing Courages.
Marc Lieb distinguished himself in the junior class, GT2, riding as high as the tail of the top-10 for a while before being bumped back to 15th in the Alex Job Racing Porsche, with 4m37.574s.
The session had been a tough one, though, as an initially damp track soon turned wet as rain arrived right at the start of the two-hour session and soon led to an accident that brought out the red flag. The car that stumbled was Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport's LMP2 Lola, with Peter Owen at the wheel, hitting the barriers on the exit of the second Mulsanne chicane. He was uninjured, which was more than could be said of the car, with damage down one side and to the suspension.
"Just as I was changing up from fourth gear to fifth," he explained, "the rear-end locked up and it went around on me." This won't have helped the team in its quest to qualify all three of its drivers, something that requires each of them to complete three laps in daylight and three after dark in the second session, either today or tomorrow.
Conditions had certainly been tricky on track, as White Lightning GT2 Porsche racer Jorg Bergmeister elaborated: "The visibility was pretty bad out there, with a lot of spray." Fortunately for all, the rain eased off while the accident was cleared up and the sun broke through for the final 45 minutes.
With a break of an hour before the second two-hour qualifying session, time aplenty for a dry line to appear around the 13.65km circuit, expect the times to tumble.
Pos | # | Team | Drivers | Car | Class | Time | Gap |
.1 | 16 | Pescarolo Sport | Collard E Boullion JC Comas E |
Pescarolo Judd | LM1 | 4:13.526 | |
.2 | 3 | Champion Racing | Lehto JJ Werner M Kristensen T |
Audi R8 | LM1 | 4:13.621 | + 0.095 |
.3 | 5 | Jim Gainer International | Michigami R Ara S Kaneishi K |
Dome Mugen | LM1 | 4:13.748 | + 0.222 |
.4 | 7 | Creation Autosportif | Minassian N Campbellwalter Wallace A |
DBA Judd | LM1 | 4:15.396 | + 1.870 |
.5 | 8 | Rollcentre Racing | Verdoen Roe RG Krumm M Primat H |
Dallara Nissan | LM1 | 4:20.862 | + 7.336 |
.6 | 17 | Pescarolo Sport | Loeb S Helary E Ayari S |
Pescarolo Judd | LM1 | 4:21.306 | + 7.780 |
.7 | 2 | Champion Racing | Biela F Pirro E Mc Nish A |
Audi R8 | LM1 | 4:21.919 | + 8.393 |
.8 | 61 | Cirtek Motorsport | Fomenko N Vasiliev A Bouchut CH |
Ferrari 550Mar | GT1 | 4:23.885 | + 10.359 |
.9 | 37 | Paul Belmondo Racing | Belmondo P Andre D Sutherland R |
Courage C65 Fo | LM2 | 4:24.832 | + 11.306 |
.10 | 9 | Team Jota - Zytek | Hignett S Stack J Kurosawa H |
Zytek 04S | LM1 | 4:25.823 | + 12.297 |
.11 | 32 | Intersport Racing | Fisken G Halliday E Hancok S |
Lola AER | LM2 | 4:28.007 | + 14.481 |
.12 | 4 | Audi Playstation Oreca | Montagny F Gounon JM Ortelli S |
Audi R8 | LM1 | 4:30.071 | + 16.545 |
.13 | 10 | Racing For Holland | Lammers J Julian E Bosch J |
Dome Judd | LM1 | 4:34.951 | + 21.425 |
.14 | 59 | Aston Martin Racing | Brabham D Sarrazin S Turner D |
Aston Martin D | GT1 | 4:35.992 | + 22.466 |
.15 | 71 | Alex Job Racing | Hindery L Rockenfeller M Lieb M |
Porsche 911 GT3 Rsr | GT2 | 4:37.574 | + 24.048 |
.16 | 58 | Aston Martin Racing | Enge T Kox P Lamy P |
Aston Martin D | GT1 | 4:38.075 | + 24.549 |
.17 | 13 | Courage Competition | Cochet J Nakano S Jouanny B |
Courage Judd | LM1 | 4:39.498 | + 25.972 |
.18 | 51 | BMS Scuderia Italia | Pescatori C Gollin F Ramos M |
Ferrari 550Mar | GT1 | 4:39.997 | + 26.471 |
.19 | 90 | White Lightning Racing | Bergmeister J Long P Bernhard T |
Porsche 911 GT | GT2 | 4:40.711 | + 27.185 |
.20 | 33 | Intersport Racing | Zlobin S Briere B Barazi J |
Courage AER | LM2 | 4:42.282 | + 28.756 |
.21 | 52 | BMS Scuderia Italia | Bartyan M Malucelli M Seiler T |
Ferrari 550Mar | GT1 | 4:43.609 | + 30.083 |
.22 | 30 | Kruse Motorsport | Bennett P Mitchell I Mullen T |
Courage Judd | LM2 | 4:44.485 | + 30.959 |
.23 | 12 | Courage Competition | Schwager D Frei A Vann C |
Courage Judd | LM1 | 4:45.084 | + 31.558 |
.24 | 76 | Raymon Narrac | Dumas R Dumez S Narac R |
Porsche 911 GT | GT2 | 4:46.064 | + 32.538 |
.25 | 69 | JMB Racing | De Fournoux Jr Daoudi S Matthews J |
Ferrari 575 GT | GT1 | 4:47.684 | + 34.158 |
.26 | 93 | Scuderia Ecosse | Kinch N Kirkaldy A Reid A |
Ferrari 360 Mo | GT2 | 4:47.741 | + 34.215 |
.27 | 85 | Spyker Squadron | Coronel T Crevels D Van Merksteijn |
Spyker C8 Spyd | GT2 | 4:48.224 | + 34.698 |
.28 | 25 | RML | Erdos T Newton M Hughes W |
Lola MG | LM2 | 4:48.529 | + 35.003 |
.29 | 72 | Luc Alphand Aventures | Policand J Campbell CH Alphand L |
Porsche 911 GT | GT2 | 4:49.351 | + 35.825 |
.30 | 39 | Chamberlain Synergy Motor | Evans R Berridge R Owen P |
Lola AER | LM2 | 4:51.514 | + 37.988 |
.31 | 91 | T2M Motorsport | Pompidou X Blanchemain JL Yamagishi Y |
Porsche 911 GT | GT2 | 4:54.618 | + 41.092 |
.32 | 20 | Bruneau Pierre | Rostan M Haezebrouck P Bruneau P |
Pilbeam JPX | LM2 | 4:55.786 | + 42.260 |
.33 | 36 | Paul Belmondo Racing | Gosselin CY Ojjeh K Sharpe A |
Courage C65 Fo | LM2 | 4:56.714 | + 43.188 |
.34 | 89 | Sebah Automotive | Nielsen L E Thyrring T Ehret P |
Porsche 911 GT | GT2 | 4:57.257 | + 43.731 |
.35 | 35 | G-Force Racing | Hillebrand V Hahn F Pickering G |
Courage C65 Ju | LM2 | 4:59.086 | + 45.560 |
.36 | 34 | Miracle Motorsports | Macaluso J James I Lally A |
Courage AER | LM2 | 5:07.592 | + 54.066 |
.37 | 83 | Seikel Motorsport | Collin P Felbermayr H Shep D |
Porsche 911 GT | GT2 | 5:07.949 | + 54.423 |
.38 | 78 | Panoz Motor Sports | Sellers B Franchitti M Bourdais P |
Panoz Elan | GT2 | 5:07.955 | + 54.429 |
.39 | 92 | Cirtek Motorsport | Macari J Ericsson S Wilson R |
Ferrari 360 Mo | GT2 | 5:12.693 | + 59.167 |
.40 | 31 | Del Bello Noel | Amorin N Iannetta R Pillon CH |
Courage - CG | LM2 | 5:19.534 | + 1:06.008 |
.41 | 95 | RaceSport Peninsula TVR | Hartshorne J Stanton R Johnson P |
TVR Tuscan T40 | GT2 | 5:20.267 | + 1:06.741 |
.42 | 80 | Flying Lizard Motorsports | Van Overbeek J Pechnik L Neiman S |
Porsche 911 GT | GT2 | 5:21.883 | + 1:08.357 |
.43 | 23 | Gerard Welter | Bouvet JB Boulay S Julien R |
WR | LM2 | 5:30.049 | + 1:16.523 |
.44 | 50 | Larbre Competition | Goueslard P Dupard O Vosse V |
Ferrari 550Mar | GT1 | ||
.45 | 24 | Rachel Welter | Terada Y Roussel P Binnie W |
Wr Peugeot | LM2 | ||
.46 | 63 | Corvette Racing | Fellows R O'connel J Papis M |
Corvette C6-R | GT1 | ||
.47 | 64 | Corvette Racing | Gavin O Beretta O Magnussen J |
Corvette C6-R | GT1 | ||
.48 | 77 | Panoz Motor Sports | Auberlen B Liddell R Maxwell SC |
Panoz Elan | GT2 |
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