Peugeot, Audi battle in the wet

The start of the qualifying session was delayed for 30 minutes as the historic support race laid a sheet of oil on the circuit which became ever more treacherous when a light shower of rain hit the circuit shortly before 7:00 pm.

The green flag waved at 7:30 pm, but just five minutes into the session the rain hit in earnest and many of the competitors stayed in their garages, though a few brave souls ventured out, including Jacques Villeneuve in the Peugeot 908.

As the rain eased off the times started to tumble, though they were still minutes slower than Wednesday's best.

It was Villeneuve who emerged as the fastest of the Peugeot drivers, setting a 4:07.586 during a long run, just three tenths of a second slower than Rinaldo Capello's Audi.

However, the track continued to dry and the times continued to improve at the end of the session.

Marco Werner posted fastest time in the final half hour with a lap of 4:05.008, and that was followed by Allan McNish with 4:05.479 on his final lap as darkness began to fall around the circuit.

McNish had battled with Sebastien Bourdais, whose best of 4:06.485 was good enough for third fastest on the night, while Villeneuve's best stood to the end of the session.

The best of the petrol cars was Emmanuel Collard with 4:14.213, set earlier in the session and not when the track was at its fastest, but the session highlighted the advantage of diesel power.

Not only can the Audi and Peugeot cars deliver the 650bhp and 1200Nm of torque on to the track, even in wet conditions, they can also benefit from fuel economy on partial throttle that the wet weather commands.

The two Barazi Epsilon Zyteks headed the LM P2 class, with Adrian Fernandez setting a best of 4:18.095, ahead of Juan Barazi.

In GT1, Antonio Garcia set a best of 4:28.580 in the Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9. However, none of the times so far today mean anything, with the times for most cars still standing from Wednesday.

With the rain easing off, though, there is a possibility of a dry track towards midnight.

Qualifying 2 (part 1) times: