Le Mans 24 Hours: Porsche starts defence with Jani-led practice 1-2
Neel Jani led a Porsche one-two in free practice for the Le Mans 24 Hours on Wednesday afternoon with a lap set just before a red flag ended the session
Jani's 3m22.011s with 10 minutes left on the clock moved the #2 919 Hybrid half a second clear of the #1 machine, which led the way thanks to Brendon Hartley until the closing stages.
The session was brought to an early end when Stephane Sarrazin crashed the #6 Toyota TS050 on the exit of Indianapolis, while Ines Taittinger also lost the #28 Pegasus Morgan at the Porsche Curves around the same time.
A couple of laps before his off, Sarrazin had moved up to fourth overall, 1.1 seconds slower than Jani's eventual best, slotting in behind the fastest Audi of Lucas di Grassi, which went third with 45 minutes left on the clock.
Before the Porsches picked up the pace in the final hour, di Grassi's #8 R18 e-tron quattro led the way thanks to a lap by Loic Duval set early in the session before rain started to interfere just before the one-hour mark.
However Di Grassi hit a kerb at the first Mulsanne chicane with 90 minutes remaining, damaging the drivetrain and finishing the car's afternoon.
The #7 Audi, which ended the session sixth thanks to not improving once the track dried out again, also had a spin just before the rain intensified, with Benoit Treluyer losing control after catching the gravel on the exit of the Porsche Curves.
Treluyer, who set the car's fastest lap, managed to come to a stop before hitting anything, and shortly after he returned to the pits heavy rain hit most of the circuit.
Splitting the Audis was the #5 Toyota on a 3m24.031s set by Sebastien Buemi with 39 minutes left on the clock.
Behind the six works cars, reigning Formula E champion Nelson Piquet Jr set the fastest privateer lap in the #12 Rebellion, two tenths faster than Alexandre Imperatori in the #13 car.
The final LMP1 entrant, the ByKolles CLM, exited the session early after Pierre Kaffer was forced to stop on the Mulsanne Straight when the car caught fire.
Kaffer's attempts to help the marshals get to the flames included reaching through the smoke to detach the rear bodywork, and the charred machine was returned to the pits on a truck during the session.
LMP2
Richard Bradley put defending winner KCMG's ORECA 05 on top in LMP2 with a late lap.
Bradley turned a 3m39.133s with 10 minutes remaining, to beat his 2015 team-mate Nicolas Lapierre by nearly six tenths.
Lapierre, now with the Signatech Alpine outfit, moved to the top inside the final hour, displacing Eurasia Motorsport, which led through Tristian Gommendy until the track dried completely.
Panis Barthez Competition was third with Paul-Loup Chatin, and Eurasia fourth after Gommendy improved again.
Bruno Senna caused the second red flag of the session with just over 35 minutes left, when he crashed the RGR by Morand Ligier at Indianapolis.
The car wound up 16th in the class order with the team confident it would be back on track for Wednesday evening's qualifying session.
Pegasus Racing also faces repair work, after Taittinger crashed its Morgan at Porsche Curves.
GTE
Ferrari set the pace in both GT classes, with Gianmaria Bruni quickest in the #51 AF Corse-run 488 GTE.
The double world champion set a 3m53.833s to go one second quicker than last year's class pole time and 1.3s faster than the best effort from the test day earlier this month.
Toni Vilander made it a Ferrari one-two, three tenths slower in the #82 Risi Competizione car he usually races in the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
Ford took a significant step forward from the test day, locking out third, fourth and fifth.
The #68 GT, shared by Sebastien Bourdais, Dirk Muller and Joey Hand, ended up quickest of that trio on a 3m54.893s, with the #66 and #67 next in line.
Frederic Makowiecki put the lead Porsche eighth in GTE Pro, one place behind the last of the Fords and ahead of the #64 and #63 Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs respectively, which improved late on in the hands of Oliver Gavin and Antonio Garcia.
The lead Aston Martin Racing Vantage GTE was 12th in class and almost three seconds off the pace.
Ferrari's form continued in GTE Am, where the older 458 Italia is still in use.
Rob Bell put the AF Corse-run Clearwater Racing version quickest on a 3m57.543s, 1.6s quicker than the #62 Scuderia Corsa entry.
Follow first qualifying for the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours live with Autosport from 9pm UK time on Wednesday.
PRACTICE RESULTS:
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | R.Dumas, N.Jani, M.Lieb | Porsche Team | Porsche | 3m22.011s | - | 44 |
2 | LMP1 | T.Bernhard, M.Webber, B.Hartley | Porsche Team | Porsche | 3m22.550s | 0.539s | 47 |
3 | LMP1 | L.di Grassi, L.Duval, O.Jarvis | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 3m22.985s | 0.974s | 37 |
4 | LMP1 | S.Sarrazin, M.Conway, K.Kobayashi | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 3m23.158s | 1.147s | 42 |
5 | LMP1 | A.Davidson, S.Buemi, K.Nakajima | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 3m24.031s | 2.020s | 40 |
6 | LMP1 | M.Fassler, A.Lotterer, B.Treluyer | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 3m25.526s | 3.515s | 38 |
7 | LMP1 | N.Prost, N.Heidfeld, N.Piquet Jr. | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/AER | 3m28.036s | 6.025s | 43 |
8 | LMP1 | M.Tuscher, A.Imperatori, D.Kraihamer | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/AER | 3m28.291s | 6.280s | 42 |
9 | LMP1 | S.Trummer, O.Webb, P.Kaffer | ByKOLLES Racing Team | CLM/AER | 3m33.232s | 11.221s | 15 |
10 | LMP2 | T.Matsuda, M.Howson, R.Bradley | KCMG | ORECA/Nissan | 3m39.133s | 17.122s | 34 |
11 | LMP2 | G.Menezes, N.Lapierre, S.Richelmi | Signatech Alpine | Alpine/Nissan | 3m39.721s | 17.710s | 30 |
12 | LMP2 | F.Barthez, P-L.Chatin, T.Buret | Panis Barthez Competition | Ligier/Nissan | 3m40.308s | 18.297s | 42 |
13 | LMP2 | P.Jun Jin, T.Gommendy, N.de Bruijn | Eurasia Motorsport | ORECA/Nissan | 3m40.321s | 18.310s | 39 |
14 | LMP2 | P.Thiriet, M.Beche, R.Hirakawa | Thiriet by TDS Racing | ORECA/Nissan | 3m40.455s | 18.444s | 40 |
15 | LMP2 | N.Leventis, D.Watts, J.Kane | Strakka Racing | Gibson/Nissan | 3m40.976s | 18.965s | 31 |
16 | LMP2 | S.Sharp, E.Brown, J.van Overbeek | Extreme Speed Motorsports | Ligier/Nissan | 3m41.327s | 19.316s | 37 |
17 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, W.Stevens, R.Rast | G-Drive Racing | ORECA/Nissan | 3m41.410s | 19.399s | 48 |
18 | LMP2 | R.Dalziel, P.Derani, C.Cumming | Extreme Speed Motorsports | Ligier/Nissan | 3m42.116s | 20.105s | 37 |
19 | LMP2 | J.Pew, O.Negri, L.Vanthoor | Michael Shank Racing | Ligier/HPD | 3m42.119s | 20.108s | 39 |
20 | LMP2 | D.Cheng, H-Pin Tung, N.Panciatici | Baxi DC Racing Alpine | Alpine/Nissan | 3m42.143s | 20.132s | 25 |
21 | LMP2 | T.Graves, M.Rao, R.Merhi | Manor | ORECA/Nissan | 3m42.866s | 20.855s | 32 |
22 | LMP2 | N.Minassian, M.Mediani, M.Aleshin | SMP Racing | BR Engineering/Nissan | 3m43.407s | 21.396s | 37 |
23 | LMP2 | S.Dolan, J.Dennis, G.van der Garde | G-Drive Racing | Gibson/Nissan | 3m43.455s | 21.444s | 42 |
24 | LMP2 | V.Petrov, V.Shaytar, K.Ladygin | SMP Racing | BR Engineering/Nissan | 3m43.828s | 21.817s | 30 |
25 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, B.Senna, F.Albuquerque | RGR Sport by Morand | Ligier/Nissan | 3m44.086s | 22.075s | 34 |
26 | LMP2 | I.Taittinger, R.Striebig, L.Roussel | Pegasus Racing | Morgan/Nissan | 3m44.118s | 22.107s | 28 |
27 | LMP2 | M.Munemann, C.Hoy, A.Pizzitola | Algarve Pro Racing | Ligier/Nissan | 3m44.983s | 22.972s | 26 |
28 | LMP2 | B.Keating, J.Bleekemolen, M.Goossens | Murphy Prototypes | ORECA/Nissan | 3m45.817s | 23.806s | 26 |
29 | LMP2 | N.Leutwiler, S.Nakano, J.Winslow | Race Performance | ORECA/Judd | 3m46.130s | 24.119s | 39 |
30 | LMP2 | M.Rojas, J.Canal, N.Berthon | Greaves Motorsport | Ligier/Nissan | 3m47.135s | 25.124s | 37 |
31 | LMP2 | V.Capillaire, E.Maris, J.Coleman | So24 ! By Lombard Racing | Ligier/Judd | 3m48.953s | 26.942s | 28 |
32 | LMP2 | T.Krohn, N.Jonsson, J.Barbosa | Krohn Racing | Ligier/Nissan | 3m49.988s | 27.977s | 21 |
33 | GTE Pro | G.Bruni, J.Calado, A.P.Guidi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 3m53.833s | 31.822s | 33 |
34 | Innov | F.Sausset, C.Tinseau, J-B.Bouvet | SRT41 By Oak Racing | Morgan/Nissan | 3m53.893s | 31.882s | 18 |
35 | GTE Pro | G.Fisichella, T.Vilander, M.Malucelli | Risi Competizione | Ferrari | 3m54.180s | 32.169s | 21 |
36 | GTE Pro | J.Hand, D.Muller, S.Bourdais | Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA | Ford | 3m54.893s | 32.882s | 32 |
37 | GTE Pro | O.Pla, S.Mucke, B.Johnson | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 3m55.081s | 33.070s | 30 |
38 | GTE Pro | M.Franchitti, A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 3m55.436s | 33.425s | 31 |
39 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, S.Bird, A.Bertolini | AF Corse | Ferrari | 3m55.502s | 33.491s | 32 |
40 | GTE Pro | R.Briscoe, R.Westbrook, S.Dixon | Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA | Ford | 3m55.510s | 33.499s | 30 |
41 | GTE Am | F.Makowiecki, E.Bamber, J.Bergmeister | Porsche Motorsport | Porsche | 3m55.661s | 33.650s | 29 |
42 | GTE Pro | O.Gavin, T.Milner, J.Taylor | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet | 3m56.131s | 34.120s | 26 |
43 | GTE Pro | J.Magnussen, A.Garcia, R.Taylor | Corvette Racing | Chevrolet | 3m56.490s | 34.479s | 28 |
44 | GTE Am | P.Pilet, K.Estre, N.Tandy | Porsche Motorsport | Porsche | 3m56.506s | 34.495s | 31 |
45 | GTE Pro | N.Thiim, M.Sorensen, D.Turner | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 3m56.618s | 34.607s | 46 |
46 | GTE Pro | R.Lietz, M.Christensen, P.Eng | Dempsey Racing - Proton | Porsche | 3m56.996s | 34.985s | 27 |
47 | GTE Pro | R.Stanaway, F.Rees, J.Adam | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 3m57.457s | 35.446s | 47 |
48 | GTE Am | Mok W.S., K.Sawa, R.Bell | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari | 3m57.543s | 35.532s | 40 |
49 | GTE Am | B.Sweedler, T.Bell, J.Segal | Scuderia Corsa | Ferrari | 3m59.103s | 37.092s | 28 |
50 | GTE Am | F.Perrodo, E.Collard, R.Aguas | AF Corse | Ferrari | 3m59.294s | 37.283s | 33 |
51 | GTE Am | K.Al Qubaisi, D.H.Hansson, P.Long | Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing | Porsche | 3m59.592s | 37.581s | 37 |
52 | GTE Pro | C.Ried, W.Henzler, J.Camathias | KCMG | Porsche | 4m00.418s | 38.407s | 28 |
53 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 4m00.853s | 38.842s | 44 |
54 | GTE Am | Y.Yamagishi, P.Ragues, J-P.Belloc | Larbre Competition | Chevrolet | 4m01.177s | 39.166s | 26 |
55 | GTE Am | D.Cameron, M.Griffin, A.Scott | AF Corse | Ferrari | 4m01.200s | 39.189s | 39 |
56 | GTE Am | C.MacNeil, L.Keen, M.Miller | Proton Competition | Porsche | 4m02.191s | 40.180s | 35 |
57 | GTE Am | J.Laursen, M.Mac, C.Nielsen | Formula Racing | Ferrari | 4m02.432s | 40.421s | 34 |
58 | GTE Am | M.Wainwright, A.Carroll, B.Barker | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 4m03.783s | 41.772s | 24 |
59 | GTE Am | J.O'Connell, O.Bryant, M.Patterson | Team AAI | Chevrolet | 4m04.526s | 42.515s | 30 |
60 | GTE Am | A.Howard, L.Griffin, G.Hirsch | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 4m07.679s | 45.668s | 31 |
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