Le Mans 24 Hours: Duval leads Audi practice lockout

Frenchman Duval's 3m25.514s lap, set in the #2 R18 e-tron quattro he shares with Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen, came with less than an hour of the session remaining.

It bettered the previous benchmark, set by Benoit Treluyer in the #1 car, by one second.

Marcel Fassler took over from Treluyer and improved on the #1 car's best time, but still ended up 0.645s adrift of Duval.

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Faster times looked likely heading into the final hour, but the session was halted when Krohn crashed his own team's GTE Am Ferrari heavily at the downhill Dunlop Esses.

Although the American was able to walk away from the impact, the damage done to the tyre barriers could not be repaired in time to stage the final 30 minutes.

There had been an earlier red flag when Eric Lux crashed Greaves Motorsport's #41 Zytek-Nissan at the second Mulsanne chicane. The car did not return to the track.

The factory Toyotas were fourth and fifth, Anthony Davidson's #8 machine faster than the #7 of Kazuki Nakajima.

Nick Heidfeld was the fastest of the LMP1 drivers without hybrid machinery. The German recovered from early contact with the spun LMP2 OAK Morgan-Nissan driven by David Heinemeier Hansson.

LMP2 was topped by Bertrand Baguette, the OAK Morgan-Nissan driver nearly a second faster than Maxime Martin's TDS ORECA-Nissan.

The lead of GTE Pro changed constantly, despite the onset of rain in the second hour. Richard Lietz ended up quickest in the factory Porsche, two tenths ahead of Kamui Kobayashi's AF Corse Ferrari.

The GTE Am class was led by the #95 Aston Martin of Christoffer Nygaard, Kristian Poulsen and Allan Simonsen.

The sister #96 Vantage, fifth in class, narrowly avoided a heavy collision with the oncoming Murphy Prototypes LMP2 machine of Mark Patterson as Roald Goethe recovered from a spin.

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Pos Cl  Drivers                        Team/Car                Time       Cl gap
 1. P1  Kristensen/Duval/McNish        Audi                    3m25.415s
 2. P1  Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler      Audi                    3m26.060s  +0.645s
 3. P1  di Grassi/Gene/Jarvis          Audi                    3m28.458s  +3.043s
 4. P1  Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin        Toyota                  3m29.573s  +4.158s
 5. P1  Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima         Toyota                  3m30.866s  +5.451s
 6. P1  Prost/Jani/Heidfeld            Rebellion Lola-Toyota   3m32.116s  +6.701s
 7. P1  Belicchi/Beche/Cheng           Rebellion Lola-Toyota   3m33.706s  +8.291s
 8. P1  Leventis/Watts/Kane            Strakka HPD             3m39.638s +14.223s
 9. P2  Baguette/Gonzalez/Plowman      OAK Morgan-Nissan       3m42.813s
10. P2  Thiriet/Badey/M. Martin        TDS ORECA-Nissan        3m43.503s  +0.690s
11. P2  Rusinov/J. Martin/Conway       Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan  3m43.918s  +1.105s
12. P2  Dolan/Turvey/Luhr              Jota Zytek-Nissan       3m44.131s  +1.318s
13. P2  Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe      Level 5 HPD             3m44.756s  +1.943s
14. P2  Pla/Heinemeier Hansson/Brundle OAK Morgan-Nissan       3m45.215s  +2.402s
15. P2  Perez Companc/Minassian/Kaffer Pecom ORECA-Nissan      3m45.512s  +2.699s
16. P2  Panciatici/Ragues/Gommendy     Alpine ORECA-Nissan     3m48.570s  +5.757s
17. P2  Mardenborough/Ordonez/Krumm    Greaves Zytek-Nissan    3m49.160s  +6.347s
18. P2  Gachnang/Mailleux/Lombard      Morand Morgan-Judd      3m49.447s  +6.634s
19. P2  Frey/Niederhauser/Bleekemolen  Race Perf'ce ORECA-Judd 3m50.074s  +7.261s
20. P2  Graves/Nakano/Hamilton         Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan  3m50.111s  +7.298s
21. P2  Imperatori/Tung/Howson         KCMG Morgan-Nissan      3m50.129s  +7.316s
22. P2  Mowlem/Burgess/Hirschi         Status Lola-Judd        3m50.460s  +7.647s
23. P2  Hartley/Patterson/Chandhok     Murphy ORECA-Nissan     3m50.554s  +7.741s
24. P2  Weeda/Rossiter/Bouchut         Lotus-Praga             3m51.880s  +9.067s
25. P2  Giroix/Haezebrouck/Ihara       Gulf Lola-Nissan        3m54.798s +11.985s
26. P2  Downs/Dagoneau/Younessi        Boutsen ORECA-Nissan    3m55.078s +12.265s
27. P2  Kimber-Smith/Lux/Rossi         Greaves Zytek-Nissan    3m55.542s +12.729s
28. P2  Nicolet/Merlin/Mondolot        OAK Morgan-Nissan       3m56.776s +13.963s
29. GTP Lieb/Lietz/R.Dumas             Porsche                 3m58.347s
30. GTP Beretta/Kobayashi/Vilander     AF Ferrari              3m58.574s  +0.227s
31. GTP Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard     Porsche                 3m58.797s  +0.450s
32. GTP Dumbreck/Mucke/Turner          Aston Martin            3m59.494s  +1.147s
33. GTP Bruni/Fisichella/Malucelli     AF Corse Ferrari        3m59.559s  +1.212s
34. GTP Auberlen/dalla Lana/Lamy       Aston Martin            3m59.809s  +1.462s
35. GTA Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen       Aston Martin            4m00.650s
36. GTA Gerber/Griffin/Cioci           AF Corse Ferrari        4m01.338s  +0.688s
37. GTA Ried/Roda/Ruberti              Proton Porsche          4m01.583s  +0.933s
38. GTP Bell/Makowiecki/Senna          Aston Martin            4m02.173s  +3.826s
39. GTP Dalziel/Farnbacher/Goosens     SRT Viper               4m02.383s  +4.036s
40. P2  Porta/Raffin/Brandela          DKR Lola-Judd           4m02.429s +19.616s
41. GTA Potolicchio/Aguas/Bright       8 Star Ferrari          4m02.625s  +1.975s
42. GTP Magnussen/Garcia/Taylor        Corvette                4m02.918s  +4.571s
43. GTA Campbell-Walter/Goethe/Hall    Aston Martin            4m03.027s  +2.377s
44. GTA Gibon/Milesi/Henzler           IMSA Porsche            4m03.169s  +2.519s
45. GTP Gavin/Milner/Westbrook         Corvette                4m03.213s  +4.866s
46. GTA Narac/Bourret/Vernay           IMSA Porsche            4m03.323s  +2.673s
47. GTA Perazzini/Case/O'Young         AF Corse Ferrari        4m03.805s  +3.155s
48. GTA Dempsey/Foster/Long            Dempsey Porsche         4m04.987s  +4.337s
49. GTP Bomarito/Kendall/Wittmer       SRT Viper               4m05.973s  +7.626s
50. GTA Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor        Larbre Corvette         4m06.142s  +5.492s
51. GTP Collard/Perrodo/Crubile        Prospeed Porsche        4m06.828s  +8.481s
52. GTA MacNeil/Rodrigues/P.Dumas      Larbre Corvette         4m06.949s  +5.492s
53. GTA Krohn/Jonsson/Mediani          Krohn Ferrari           4m07.554s  +6.299s
54. GTA Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank       AF Corse Ferrari        4m14.112s +13.462s
55. GTP Bertolini/Al Faisal/Al Qubaisi JMW Ferrari             4m16.860s +18.513s
56. P2  Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz       Lotus-Praga             No time