Pescarolo Still on Provisional Pole

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