Sarrazin fastest again for Peugeot

Having been stopped once 10 minutes in, when Laurent Groppi thumped the wall at Indianapolis with the No.5 Oreca, the session was closed for good after 90 minutes when Stuart Hall had a big accident exiting the Dunlop complex.

The Englishman climbed unaided from the No.14 Creation AIM but appeared shaken and was taken to hospital for a precautionary check after the heavy front-end impact significantly damaged the car he shares with Johnny Mowlem and Marc Goosens.

Sarrazin, working on the No.8 908 HDi's race set-up, lapped in a 3:20.566, just over two seconds off his astounding pole lap from yesterday.

Second fastest in the session was the Jacques Villeneuve/Marc Gene/Nic Minassian Peugeot, although it was more than 2.5s further back.

Third quickest overall in the session was Allan McNish, who ran a 3:23.182 lap - the fastest ever by an Audi at Le Mans - to get among the Peugeots for the first time.

The No.9 Peugeot was fourth fastest but was another car to crash. About the same time as Hall stopped the session, Ricardo Zonta speared into the wall on the exit of the Porsche Curves.

The Brazilian was uninjured but the car is another that will require significant remodelling before it can return to the track.

"We think he got hit by another car, but we don't know who or how," said co-driver Christian Klien. "The front right is damaged but we don't know how much yet.

"Hopefully we will get it back soon so we can repair it and get it out in time for the second session."

The only significant improvement in the LMP1 class came from the Charouz Lola Aston Martin, which jumped to eighth overall when Stefan Mucke lapped in 3:29.273.

Jos Verstappen pushed the Van Merksteijn Racing Porsche RS Spyder into the 3:33 bracket to take provisional pole in the LMP2 class, ahead of the similar Team Essex car, which did not complete a flying lap in the session.

The fastest runner in GT1 was factory Aston Martin driver Darren Turner who set a 3:51.015 lap, which was good enough to move the 009 Gulf car up to fourth in class behind the factory Corvettes and the Larbre Saleen, none of which improved on their times from yesterday.

Similarly, there were no significant improvements in GT2. Raymond Narac was quickest in the session for the IMSA Performance Porsche team, but the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche remains on top in the class.