News
Pescarolo Still on Provisional Pole
Published

Soheil Ayari set the ball rolling by being fastest in the first part of tonight's final qualifying. He propelled the number 17 Pescarolo around the Sarthe circuit in 3m35.555s to claim the provisional pole position for the 73rd running of the 24-hour race that will get underway at 16:00 on Saturday.
This marked an improvement of more than 26 seconds over the quickest time set by Ayari on Wednesday when the wet track was at its least damp as midnight brought the second part of the first qualifying session to a close. This lap compared with Emmanuel Collard's best of 3m32.468s in pre-event testing a fortnight ago.
Collard ought to have been second fastest, but his time of 3m36.273s was taken away from him for a rules infringement in the pits. This came when Jean-Christophe Boullion made the mistake of firing up the engine before Collard had fully left the car, being spotted with his knee still in contact with the bodywork. This dropped number 16 Pescarolo to 13th in the timesheets.
As a taste of things to come when the second half of the session starts at 22:00, a flurry of fastest laps were set in the final 10 minutes as track and temperatures dropped from 29 to 25 degrees, to a level of cool that was welcome after a warm day.
Franck Montagny gave the Oreca team reason to smile by being best of the Audi runners with his final lap right at the end of the session, lapping in 3m38.281s in the R8 he's sharing with Jean-Marc Gounon and Stephane Ortelli, some 2.726s away from Ayari's quickest time. This late sprint moved him just ahead of Allan McNish who lapped in 3m38.494s in the faster of the Champion Racing Audis in which he's partnered by Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro, with the sister car of JJ Lehto/Tom Kristensen/Marco Werner five places further back.
Jonathan Cochet was a late improvement, moving the works Courage he's sharing with Bruce Jouanny and Shinji Nakano up to fourth overall with a best of 3m38.825s. Just a fraction slower was the Creation Autosportif DBA4 of Nicolas Minassian, Jamie Campbell-Walter and Andy Wallace, this managing a lap of 3m39.098s. The works Dome was sixth fastest, with Ryo Michigami the pick of its crop, lapping in 3m39.541s. The Joao Barbosa/Vanina Ickx/Martin Shoert Rollcenter Dallara-Judd lapped seventh quickest.
Ian James got his head down to steer the Team Miracle Motorsports Courage to the head of LMP2 with a best of 3m48.819s, toppling the RML Lola in which Warren Hughes had long sat atop the class.
The Aston Martins monopolised GT1, lapping 16th and 17th fastest, with the Tomas Enge/Peter Kox/Pedro Lamy DBR9 lapping in 3m,50.311s to outpace the David Brabham/Stephane Sarrazin/Darren Turner sister car right at the end, with Enge setting the lap at the close and with the best of the rest, the two works Corvettes, five seconds adrift.
GT2 currently belongs to the Alex Job Racing Porsche of Mike Rockenfeller, Marc Lieb and Leo Hindery who were 29th fastest of the 49 runners in 4m05.326s, heading the Flying Lizard entry by just over a second.
Pos | # | Team | Drivers | Car | Class | Qual 1 | Qual 2 | Gap |
.1 | 17 | Pescarolo Sport | Loeb S Helary E Ayari S |
Pescarolo Judd | LM1 | 4:01.197 | 3:35.555 | |
.2 | 4 | Audi Playstation Oreca |
Montagny F Gounon JM Ortelli S |
Audi R8 | LM1 | 4:05.770 | 3:38.281 | + 2.726 |
.3 | 2 | Champion Racing | Biela F Pirro E Mc Nish A |
Audi R8 | LM1 | 4:02.027 | 3:38.494 | + 2.939 |
.4 | 13 | Courage Competition |
Cochet J Nakano S Jouanny B |
Courage Judd | LM1 | 4:26.247 | 3:38.825 | + 3.270 |
.5 | 7 | Creation Autosportif |
Minassian N Campbellwalter Wallace A |
DBA Judd | LM1 | 4:02.992 | 3:39.098 | + 3.543 |
.6 | 5 | Jim Gainer International |
Michigami R Ara S Kaneishi K |
Dome Mugen | LM1 | 4:08.745 | 3:39.541 | + 3.986 |
.7 | 18 | Rollcentre Racing | Short M Barbosa J Ickx V |
Dallara Judd | LM1 | 4:28.852 | 3:40.906 | + 5.351 |
.8 | 3 | Champion Racing | Lehto JJ Werner M Kristensen T |
Audi R8 | LM1 | 4:07.643 | 3:41.104 | + 5.549 |
.9 | 12 | Courage Competition |
Schwager D Frei A Vann C |
Courage Judd | LM1 | 4:45.084 | 3:42.859 | + 7.304 |
.10 | 8 | Rollcentre Racing | Verdoen Roe RG Krumm M Primat H |
Dallara Nissan | LM1 | 4:20.862 | 3:43.377 | + 7.822 |
.11 | 9 | Team Jota - Zytek |
Hignett S Stack J Kurosawa H |
Zytek 04S | LM1 | 4:09.578 | 3:43.795 | + 8.240 |
.12 | 10 | Racing For Holland |
Lammers J Julian E Bosch J |
Dome Judd | LM1 | 4:15.816 | 3:43.949 | + 8.394 |
.13 | 34 | Miracle Motorsports | Macaluso J James I Lally A |
Courage AER | LM2 | 4:12.754 | 3:48.819 | + 13.264 |
.14 | 25 | RML |
Erdos T Newton M Hughes W |
Lola MG | LM2 | 4:28.869 | 3:49.069 | + 13.514 |
.15 | 58 | Aston Martin Racing | Enge T Kox P Lamy P |
Aston Martin D | GT1 | 4:31.022 | 3:50.311 | + 14.756 |
.16 | 59 | Aston Martin Racing |
Brabham D Sarrazin S Turner D |
Aston Martin D | GT1 | 4:22.600 | 3:51.251 | + 15.696 |
.17 | 37 | Paul Belmondo Racing | Belmondo P Andre D Sutherland R |
Courage C65 Fo | LM2 | 4:14.406 | 3:51.570 | + 16.015 |
.18 | 33 | Intersport Racing |
Zlobin S Briere B Barazi J |
Courage AER | LM2 | 4:29.217 | 3:51.844 | + 16.289 |
.19 | 30 | Kruse Motorsport | Bennett P Mitchell I Mullen T |
Courage Judd | LM2 | 4:31.127 | 3:52.940 | + 17.385 |
.20 | 32 | Intersport Racing |
Fisken G Halliday E Hancock S |
Lola AER | LM2 | 4:11.719 | 3:54.772 | + 19.217 |
.21 | 31 | Del Bello Noel | Amorin N Iannetta R Pillon CH |
Courage - CG | LM2 | 4:21.562 | 3:55.271 | + 19.716 |
.22 | 64 | Corvette Racing |
Gavin O Beretta O Magnussen J |
Corvette C6-R | GT1 | 4:36.209 | 3:55.457 | + 19.902 |
.23 | 63 | Corvette Racing | Fellows R O'connel J Papis M |
Corvette C6-R | GT1 | 4:36.309 | 3:56.130 | + 20.575 |
.24 | 36 | Paul Belmondo Racing | Gosselin CY Ojjeh K Sharpe A |
Courage C65 Fo | LM2 | 4:27.268 | 3:58.238 | + 22.683 |
.25 | 24 | Rachel Welter | Terada Y Roussel P Binnie W |
Wr Peugeot | LM2 | 4:42.403 | 3:59.103 | + 23.548 |
.26 | 51 | BMS Scuderia Italia |
Pescatori C Gollin F Ramos M |
Ferrari 550Mar | GT1 | 4:30.973 | 3:59.230 | + 23.675 |
.27 | 52 | BMS Scuderia Italia | Bartyan M Malucelli M Seiler T |
Ferrari 550Mar | GT1 | 4:24.686 | 4:01.683 | + 26.128 |
.28 | 71 | Alex Job Racing | Hindery L Rockenfeller M Lieb M |
Porsche 911 GT3 Rsr | GT2 | 4:32.235 | 4:05.326 | + 29.771 |
.29 | 20 | Bruneau Pierre | Rostan M Haezebrouck P Bruneau P |
Pilbeam JPX | LM2 | 4:39.059 | 4:05.364 | + 29.809 |
.30 | 23 | Gerard Welter |
Bouvet JB Boulay S Julien R |
WR | LM2 | 4:51.163 | 4:05.855 | + 30.300 |
.31 | 80 | Flying Lizard Motorsports |
Van Overbeek J Pechnik L Neiman S |
Porsche 911 GT | GT2 | 4:44.434 | 4:06.658 | + 31.103 |
.32 | 77 | Panoz Motor Sports |
Auberlen B Liddell R Maxwell SC |
Panoz Elan | GT2 | 4:32.904 | 4:08.422 | + 32.867 |
.33 | 90 | White Lightning Racing |
Bergmeister J Long P Bernhard T |
Porsche 911 GT | GT2 | 4:33.107 | 4:11.105 | + 35.550 |
.34 | 78 | Panoz Motor Sports |
Sellers B Franchitti M Bourdais P |
Panoz Elan | GT2 | 5:07.955 | 4:12.088 | + 36.533 |
.35 | 93 | Scuderia Ecosse | Kinch N Kirkaldy A Reid A |
Ferrari 360 Mo | GT2 | 4:28.724 | 4:13.237 | + 37.682 |
.36 | 72 | Luc Alphand Aventures |
Policand J Campbell CH Alphand L |
Porsche 911 GT | GT2 | 4:41.065 | 4:13.517 | + 37.962 |
.37 | 16 | Pescarolo Sport | Collard E Boullion JC Comas E |
Pescarolo Judd | LM1 | 4:13.526 | 5:58.699 | + 37.971 |
.38 | 89 | Sebah Automotive | Nielsen L E Thyrring T Ehret P |
Porsche 911 GT | GT2 | 4:43.150 | 4:16.930 | + 41.375 |
.39 | 91 | T2M Motorsport | Pompidou X Blanchemain JL Yamagishi Y |
Porsche 911 GT | GT2 | 4:47.922 | 4:17.184 | + 41.629 |
.40 | 61 | Cirtek Motorsport |
Fomenko N Vasiliev A Bouchut CH |
Ferrari 550Mar | GT1 | 4:23.885 | 4:18.801 | + 43.246 |
.41 | 50 | Larbre Competition |
Goueslard P Dupard O Vosse V |
Ferrari 550Mar | GT1 | 4:20.688 | + 45.133 | |
.42 | 92 | Cirtek Motorsport |
Macari J Ericsson S Wilson R |
Ferrari 360 Mo | GT2 | 4:53.019 | 4:22.056 | + 46.501 |
.43 | 95 | RaceSport Peninsula TVR |
Hartshorne J Stanton R Johnson P |
TVR Tuscan T40 | GT2 | 4:48.379 | 4:24.558 | + 49.003 |
.44 | 76 | Raymon Narrac |
Dumas R Dumez S Narac R |
Porsche 911 GT | GT2 | 4:25.598 | 4:34.483 | + 50.043 |
.45 | 83 | Seikel Motorsport |
Collin P Felbermayr H Shep D |
Porsche 911 GT | GT2 | 4:49.404 | 4:26.435 | + 50.880 |
.46 | 35 | G-Force Racing | Hillebrand V Hahn F Pickering G |
Courage C65 Ju | LM2 | 4:31.453 | + 55.898 | |
.47 | 85 | Spyker Squadron |
Coronel T Crevels D Van Merksteijn |
Spyker C8 Spyd | GT2 | 4:36.539 | 4:32.043 | + 56.488 |
.48 | 69 | JMB Racing | De Fournoux Jr Daoudi S Matthews J |
Ferrari 575 GT | GT1 | 4:33.600 | 59:51.191 | + 58.045 |
.49 | 39 | Chamberlain Synergy Motor | Evans R Berridge R Owen P |
Lola AER | LM2 | 4:51.514 | + 1:15.959 |
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Subscribe now
Already subscribed? Sign in here