Will it rain during qualifying?

It has been hot and humid at the French track for several days, and forecasters have been predicting that thunderstorms are likely this evening (Thursday).

"The weather forecasters say it might rain tonight," said Pescarolo Sport driver Nicolas Minassian. "It's really stick around here, so there could be a really big thunderstorm."

However, the French driver reckoned that some rain tonight might prove beneficial come the race. "If it does rain it's not bad," said Minassian, who has confessed his team is concentrating on it race set-up over qualifying. "It will mean that you can get some running done in the rain, which could be really useful if it starts falling in the race."

Another crew that won't mind a spot of rain is the Bentley trio of Tom Kristensen, Guy Smith and Rinaldo Capello, who currently sit on provisional pole position. In his Le Mans diary for autosport.com, Smith admitted the team pushed extra-hard in yesterday's session because of the weather forecast.