24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans 24 Hours- First qualifying report

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

At 19:00 local time in Le Mans the first qualifying session for the Le Mans got underway and it quickly turned into a Peugeot show. The lap time ‘limit’ for the LMP1 cars of 3:30.000 was quickly broken by the French squad as the Peugeot 908s went round the track with blistering pace.

Soon after the session had started the #9 Peugeot was already getting close to the lap time set during the test day almost two weeks ago. The first one to break that ‘unofficial lap record’ was the number 8 Peugeot setting a 3:20.099, but it would not stay like that.

As the sun started to set behind the ACO grandstand it was Stephane Sarrazin that broke the 3 minute 20 seconds barrier and set a lap time of 3:18.513. Moments later it was Nicolas Minassian who took the number 7 Peugeot 908 to second place in 3:20.451. Still it was not over and as the session had only fifteen minutes remaining on the clock it was Montagny who took over second place 0.169s behind Sarrazin’s time.

In the final minutes of the session the Audi’s did improve their lap times but still they were only fourth, fifth and sixth fastest with the quickest of the Audi R10s almost seven seconds slower than the

In the LMP2 class it was a battle between the Team Essex and Van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche RS Spyders as Sascha Maassen and Jos Verstappen kept pushing each other to fastest times. But with less than ten minutes to go it was an other Dutchman snatching fastest time in the class as Michael Vergers setting a 3:35.344 in the Barazi-Epsilon Zytek. Verstappen was second fastest in 3:36.324 and Maassen was third fastest in 3:36.853.

Christophe Bouchut in the Larbre Competition Saleen S7R set his fastest lap in the final minutes of the first qualifying session and the 3:50.920 was enough to beat all the other GT1 cars. Throughout the session it had been the two Corvette Racing C6.Rs and the Larbre car that had been fighting for first place, but the Frenchman was eventually half a second quicker than the number 64 Corvette and almost a second and a half quicker than the second Corvette.

In GT2 two Porsches were on top of the timing sheets as Patrick Long was the only one to go into the 4:00s. His quickest lap time of 4:00.793 was only three tenths of a second quicker than the Flying Lizard Motorsport Porsche 997 GT3 RSR but it secured provisional pole position for the IMSA Performance Matmut team. Having been at the front for a while Virgo Motorsport had to be happy with third place as the chequered flag came out.

The second part of the session saw several cars improving as temperatures dropped, the Audis got in the 3.24 range, not close enough to the Peugeot trio though which had two cars in the 3.18 and the third one (number 7) in 3.220. LMP2 became a battle real quick as the Porsches attacked the Barazi Zytek time and managed 3.34 (Verstappen on the van Merksteijn car) and a very good 3.33.441 from Sascha Maassen on the Team Essex RS Spyder.

With a 3.35 the Speedy-Sebah Lola managed to get close to the lead group (4th in class) in what promises to be a very good LMP2 confrontation during the race. In GT1 the Corvettes got an early 1-2 with Magussen in 3.49.406 1.3 seconds ahead of team mate Oliver Gavin. GT2 was also a Porsche 1-2, Lizards and IMSA leading the Virgo Ferrari. Less than an hour into the session however the team Modena Aston caused a red flag by apparently leaking oil and causing a severe crash of the 16 Pescarolo at the very fast Porsche curves. The French car was brought back to the pits on a flatbed truck covered in a black canvas and is in doubt for the rest of the event.

The session was restarted at 23:06 and almost every car made it to the track without improving times. The last minute entered second Epsilon Euskadi car was struggling with handling on the straights (same issue as their team mates) a 22nd and 25th position was all they were managing while the debutant Dome was up in 8th, second petrol car with 3.29.532.

Other teams needing improvement after the restart: Charouz Lola 19th in 3.36, Autocon, 41st in 3.56 and Tokai University 38th in 3.53. With 14 minutes to go Muecke improved to 3.34.211 moving the Charouz Lola up to 15th overall. With just over 8 minutes to go another very heavy accident: Hideki Noda on the Kruse-Schiller Lola-Mazda went straight at the esses before Dunlop and flipped over several times before a heavy landing. The session ended therefore with a red flag. We’ll update you asap on the state of Noda san, he seesm to be doing fine but the car seems to be destroyed.

Top times per class:

LMP1
8 Peugeot 3.18.513
9 Peugeot 3.18.682
7 Peugeot 3.20 451
2 Audi 3.24.105
3 Audi 3.24.287

LMP2
31 Essex Porsche 3.33.441
34 van Merksteijn Porsche 3.34.078
32 Barazi Zytek 3.35.344
33 Speedy-Sebah Lola 3.35.401
45 Embassy 3.39.926

GT1
63 Corvette 3.49.406
64 Corvette 3.50.766
50 Larbre Saleen 3.50.920
55 IPB Lamborghini 3.52.175
009 Aston Martin 3.52.266

GT2
80 Flying Lizard Porsche 4.00.106
76 IMSA Porsche 4.00.793
96 Virgo Ferrari 4.01.293
82 Risi Ferrari 4.01.598
97 BMS Ferrari 4.02.080