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Peugeot top testing with lap record

Sebastien Bourdais drew first blood for Peugeot in the battle of the diesels when the 28-year-old Frenchman set a new lap record around the re-profiled 13.629km circuit in the 908 shared with Pedro Lamy and Stephane Sarrazin

The triple Champ Car champion set a time of 3:26.707s - more than 1.5 seconds clear of Frank Biela's Audi, with Allan McNish close behind in the sister car.

There may have been time for one more try at fastest lap with the R10 TDIs, but yet another red flag brought an early end to proceedings.

The two manufacturers running diesel engines had a clear advantage over the rest of the field, filling five of the top six places.

Jean-Christophe Boullion was the interloper, putting in a heroic lap in the Pescarolo near the end of the day to set fourth fastest time, just 1.8 seconds off the front-running pace, but Jan Lammers was the second fastest gasoline-powered car, seventh overall and 7.3 seconds slower than Bourdais.

Both Audi and Peugeot introduced their new drivers to the circuit, Jacques Villeneuve getting his first taste of sportscar racing and setting a personal best time of 3:31.566s.

"Once the tack was learned it was very interesting to drive," said the 1997 Formula One World Champion. "There were a lot of fun corners, high speed.

"The most surprising and different thing I had to get used to was the traffic, and there were some cars that were quite slow compared to us.

"There were drivers with some very interesting lines, and it is something that we have to juggle with. It will be a key to the race and the result."

Some of the teams that were expected to set representative times never had the chance.

Stefan Johansson set eighth fastest time overall in the Arena Motorsport Zytek, but was suffering from a steering problem, which made the car "almost steer itself" during his fastest lap.

The car finished the day in the wall at the Porsche Curves after Hayanari Shimoda found himself with armfuls of understeer and he crashed heavily.

The wall in the daunting series of curves had a few visitors, the worst of which was Guillaume Moreau, who crashed the Courage Competition LC70 in the morning, causing the first of the red flags as the medics worked to remove the Frenchman, who later had no recollection of the accident at all.

Vitaly Petrov crashed the Noel del Bello Courage in the similar spot, though the team was able to repair the car in time for them to return to the action during the afternoon.

Jamie Campbell-Walter gave the new Creation Judd CA07 a solid debut when the British driver set ninth fastest time in the car that he shares with Felipe Ortiz and Shinji Nakano.

The two Barazi Epsilon Zyteks set precisely the same time to lead the LM P2 category, Michael Vergers setting his 3:39.016 lap ahead of Adrian Fernandez in the sister car.

 Warren Hughes was third fastest in the ASM team Lola having lost much of the afternoon running due to a misfire.

The GT1 battle fell to Corvette, with Jan Magnussen breaking the magic 3:50 barrier in the C6R that he shares with Johnny O'Connell and Ron Fellows. The Dane set a time of 3:49.207, ahead of Tomas Enge's Aston Martin and reported absolutely no problems. The pace of the GT1 category

Patrick Long returned to Le Mans with a fastest lap in the GT2 class. The American set a time of 4:01.598 in the IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche, half a second faster than the Autorlando Porsche of Allan Simonsen.

Johannes van Overbeek was third fastest in the Flying Lizard Porsche.

Official testing day - full results:

Pos Class Drivers Team Car Time Gap
1. LMP1 Lamy
Sarrazin
Bourdais
Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 3:26.707   
2. LMP1 Biela
Pirro
Werner
Audi Sport North America Audi R10 3:28.277 + 1.570
3. LMP1 Capello
Rockenfeller
McNish
Audi Sport North America Audi R10 3:28.406 + 1.699
4. LMP1 Collard
Boullion
Dumas
Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo Judd 3:28.574 + 1.867
5. LMP1 Gene
Minassian
Villeneuve
Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 3:30.314 + 3.607
6. LMP1 Luhr
Ekstrom
Premat
Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R10 3:30.613 + 3.906
7. LMP1 Lammers
Hart
Bleekemolen
Racing For Holland Dome Judd S101 3:34.035 + 7.328
8. LMP1 Johansson
Shimoda
Arena Motorsports Zytek 07S 3:34.340 + 7.633
9. LMP1 Campbell-Walter
Ortiz
Nakano
Creation Autosportif Ltd Creation Judd CA07 3:34.398 + 7.691
10. LMP1 Primat
Tinseau
Treluyer
Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo Judd 3:34.941 + 8.234
11. LMP1 Deletraz
Fassler
Alexander
Swiss Spirit Lola Audi B07 - 10 3:35.672 + 8.965
12. LMP1 Barbosa
Hall
Short
Rollcentre Racing Pescarolo Judd 3:35.896 + 9.189
13. LMP1 Yoong
Mucke
Charouz
Charouz Racing Lola Judd B07 - 17 3:36.267 + 9.560
14. LMP1 Frei
Cochet
Besson
Courage Competition Courage AER LC70 3:36.373 + 9.666
15. LMP1 Evans
Berridge
Owen
Chamberlain Synergy Lola AER B06 - 10 3:36.567 + 9.860
16. LMP2 Barazi
Vergers
Ojjeh
Barazi Epsilon Zytek 07S/2 3:39.016 + 12.309
17. LMP2 Fernandez
Kurosawa
Kerr
Barazi Epsilon Zytek 07S/2 3:39.016 + 12.309
18. LMP1 Gounon
Moreau
Courage Competition Courage AER LC70 3:40.520 + 13.813
19. LMP2 Amaral
De Castro
Hughes
Quifel ASM Team Lola AER B05 - 40 3:40.613 + 13.906
20. LMP2 Erdos
Newton
Wallace
RML Lola AER B05 - 40 3:41.025 + 14.318
21. LMP2 Binnie
Timpany
Buncombe
Binnie Motorsports Lola Zytek B05 - 40 3:43.867 + 17.160
22. LMP2 Greaves
Moseley
Liddell
Bruichladdich Radical Radical AER SR9 3:43.985 + 17.278
23. LMP2 Burgess
De Pourtales
Siedler
Kruse Motorsport Pescarolo Judd 3:47.145 + 20.438
24. LMGT1 O'Connell
Magnussen
Fellows
Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R 3:49.207 + 22.500
25. LMP2 Rostan
Pickering
Macallister
Pierre Bruneau Pilbeam Judd MP93 3:49.418 + 22.711
26. LMGT1 Enge
Herbert
Kox
Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin DBR9 3:50.848 + 24.141
27. LMGT1 Beretta
Gavin
Papis
Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R 3:51.628 + 24.921
28. LMGT1 Prost
Ayari
Lapierre
Team Oreca Saleen S7R 3:51.721 + 25.014
29. LMGT1 Bouchut
Gollin
Elgaard
AMR Larbre Comp. Aston Martin DBR9 3:51.822 + 25.115
30. LMP2 Jouanny
Nicolet
Filhol
Saulnier Racing Courage AER LC75 3:52.023 + 25.316
31. LMGT1 Babini
Davies
Malucelli
AMR BMS Aston Martin DBR9 3:52.028 + 25.321
32. LMGT1 Brabham
Rydell
Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin DBR9 3:52.170 + 25.463
33. LMGT1 Garcia
Menten
Fittipaldi
Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9 3:52.295 + 25.588
34. LMGT1 Policand
Goueslard
Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R 3:52.938 + 26.231
35. LMGT1 Hallyday
Gosselin
Peter
PSI Experience Corvette C6-R 3:53.527 + 26.820
36. LMP2 Petrov
Halliday
Ianetta
Noel Del Bello Courage - AER LC75 3:53.955 + 27.248
37. LMGT1 Groppi
Prost
Belloc
Team Oreca Saleen S7R 3:54.176 + 27.469
38. LMGT1 Blanchemain
Vosse
Andre
Alphand Aventures Corvette C5-R 3:54.625 + 27.918
39. LMGT1 Bornhauser
Berville
Fisken
AMR Larbre Comp. Aston Martin DBR9 3:58.935 + 32.228
40. LMGT1 Apicella
Atsushi
JLOC Isao Noritake Lamborghini Murcielago 3:59.355 + 32.648
41. LMGT1 Vasiliev
Kostka
Convers Menx Team Ferrari 550 Maranello 4:01.593 + 34.886
42. LMGT2 Narac
Lietz
Long
Imsa Performance Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 4:01.598 + 34.891
43. LMGT2 Nielsen
Simonsen
Autorlando Sport Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 4:02.192 + 35.485
44. LMGT2 Van Overbeek
Bergmeister
Neiman
Flying Lizard Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 4:02.668 + 35.961
45. LMGT2 Salo
Melo
Mowlem
Risi Competizione Ferrari F 430 GT 4:03.422 + 36.715
46. LMGT2 Niarchos
Kirkaldy
Mullen
Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari F 430 GT 4:04.635 + 37.928
47. LMGT2 Kimber-Smith
Watts
Milner
Team LNT Panoz Esperante 4:06.838 + 40.131
48. LMGT2 Krohn
Jonsson
Braun
Risi Competizione Ferrari F 430 GT 4:07.529 + 40.822
49. LMGT2 Tomlinson
Dean
Bell
Team LNT Panoz Esperante 4:08.961 + 42.254
50. LMGT2 Janis
Hezemans
Kane
Spyker Squadron Spyker C8 Spyder 4:09.236 + 42.529
51. LMGT2 Collin
Felbermayr Sr
Felbermayr Jr
Seikel Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 4:09.347 + 42.640
52. LMGT2 Belicchi
Caffi
Chiesa
Spyker Squadron Spyker C8 Spyder 4:09.904 + 43.197
53. LMGT2 Marsh
Villarroel
Rosenblad
GPC Sport Ferrari F 430 GT 4:11.629 + 44.922
54. LMGT2 Macari
Aucott
Newey
AF Corse Ferrari F 430 GT 4:13.722 + 47.015
55. LMP2 Longechal
Yamagishi
Terada
T2M Motorsport Dome Mader S101-5 4:24.078 + 57.371

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