Le Mans: 'Pesage' day one.

Under unexpectedly clear blue sky, the first cars of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2019 began made the slow lap of the place de La République during the process of driver sign-on and scrutineering that is known in French as 'pesage' (literally 'weighing').

The #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca was the first to go through scrutineering on Sunday

In years gone by there was a risk that some cars may fall foul of the scrutineer's inspection but these days with Test Day only two weeks before the race, and consequently the cars having all been recently inspected, the chance of failure is very low. The worst we can expect is a rookie driver or two turning up with incomplete documentation, but even those problems will most likely be ironed out before the cars hit the track for the first free practice session on Wednesday afternoon.

The spectacle of 'pesage' is mainly for the local people of Le Mans.  Only the most intrepid race fans turn up a full week before the race.  That said, the party atmosphere in the square is well worth experiencing of you can make it. It is free to attend and you get as close to the cars at any time during the run-up to the 24 Hours. The traditional location in the city used to be the square in front of the cathedral, but in the last few years scrutineering has been in the nearby Place de la République.

While we were walking through from the underground parking to the square, Tony Light noticed with moderate alarm that the bronze hand-prints of winning drivers that have decorated the pedestrian streets in the area for decades were (mostly) missing and the scars filled with tarmac. It appears that the streets are in the process of re-paving and the bronze plates have been removed for safe-keeping (phew).

Despite the sky clouding over at about 3pm, the proceedings remained dry for the entire event, y with the sun peeking through the clouds late in the afternoon.  The rain that had been forecasted for the day apparently waited until late at night to fall down over Le Mans.

© Craig Robertson - www.racephotography.net

14 teams, with a total of 22 cars went through scrutineering today, including a few of the "big" teams in the paddock.  Last year's overall winners Toyota and LMGTE Pro winners were popular, but one of the more exciting novelties of the day was the "art car" livery on both Rebellion Racing LMP1's.

Calim Bouhadra, CEO of Rebellion Racing gave us an insight on the rather colourful designs on both the R13's: “We have immediately liked the true contemporary artist flair of RocketByz. When we get started talking about our Le Mans collaboration, everything was going fast and very strong between us, as we share this Rebel DNA with RocketByz. It is so exciting and challenging to introduce our art car and all our new artistic branding in the motorsport playground and make it happen during the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. I hope we will talk about REBELLION Racing not only for this fantastic artistic collaboration but also for our race results.”

“This bright sense of “having great time” is where we found out our synergy with REBELLION. Why fit when you are born to stand out is a description that is spot on in regard to RocketByz as well as Rebellion. Making no compromises in creating and designing unique and limited art is the common underlying force that puts the extra in this extraordinary partnership. Creativity is the greatest rebellion in existence.” explains Tomboy, the artist who created the livery on the cars.

Amongst the other teams presenting their cars today were Racing Team Nederland, in their final race with the Dallara LMP2 before switching to the Oreca 07 next season and Corvette celebrating its 20th anniversary at La Sarthe with many more come as Doug Fehan said "as long as we keep getting this kind of support of the people in Le Mans, we'll keep coming back"

Kessel Racing was also present with both Ferrari's in their special Le Mans livery, including the #83 FIA Women in Motorsport all female line-up, as was Villorba Corse who will be running their Dallara in the FIA WEC as from September on.  Local team Graff headed the French teams who went through scrutineering today, followed by Larbre Competition, Panis-Barthez Competition and IDEC Sport.

© Craig Robertson - www.racephotography.net

Part 2 of Scrutineering is set for Monday, including the likes of SMP Racing, AF Corse, BMW, Aston Martin, Dragonspeed and Dempsey-Proton Racing.  First car in will be the ARC Bratislava Ligier at 10 am. The whole day of scrutineering will be streamed live on the ACO youtube channel or below:

Text: Dave Davies & Kristof Vermeulen

Pictures: Kristof Vermeulen, JellyBaby.Media and Craig Robertson

Updated entry list

ELMS: Nico Lapierre & Cool Racing quickest on day 2 at Le Castellet

The ELMS official test ended Tuesday afternoon after a very busy end of the final session.  Where as the final hours of a 2 day test usually seem to be rather quiet, Tuesday was just the opposite. The final hour was a frantic one, with almost all cars venturing out on track.  

Nicolas Lapierre was the quickest man of the day, putting his #37 Cool Racing Oreca on top of each session. Unlike on Monday, the differences between the teams in LMP2 were much smaller yesterday. At the end of the morning session, the first 12 cars set their best laptimes within a second from eachother.  Lapierre's best effort of 1.41.179 was exactly 0.998 seconds faster than Filipe Albuquerque in the #22 United Autosports Ligier. Job Van Uitert seems to have adopted real fast to the speed of the LMP2 machinery, setting the second quickest time in the morning session, 0.120 seconds behind Lapierre in the #26 G-Drive Aurus. 

The afternoon session saw larger gaps between the LMP2 protypes. Ben Hanley (1.40.457) did nearly manage to beat Lapierre (1.40.432) in the #21 Dragonspeed Oreca but was 0.025 seconds short. Laptimes dropped further down in the afternoon, but the fastest of the weekend was Anders Fjordbach in the #20 Highclass Racing Oreca 07.  Fjordbach set a new lap record during Monday's night session, going round the 5,842 km track in 1.40.404 with an average speed of 207.6 km/h. The #35 BHK Oreca 07 eventually also made it out for its initiak roll-out, managing 19 laps but well off the pace of all other LMP2 cars.

More lap records were set Monday evening in the LMP3 class when Damiani Fioravanti set a 1.49.400 in the #10 Oregon Norma. Fiorevante kept leading the LMP3 class on Tuesday with his Norma, setting the fastest time in both sessions (1.49.887 and 1.50.184).  Colin Noble, who was a vast top 3 runner on Monday continued to perform strongly in another Norma: #7 Nielsen Racing,  with a third (morning) and second (afternoon) time.  Mikkel Jensen was quickest of the non Norma drivers again, climbing up to second in the final session of the day in his #11 Eurointernational Ligier JSP3.

In LMGTE the Ferrari's topped the timetable again with Claudio Schiavoni in the #60 Kessel Racing fastest in the morning session (1.53.977) and Alessandro Pier Guidi in the afternoon session with the #51 Luzich F488 GTE (1:53.603).  The official lap record in GTE was also broken on Monday evening by Andrea Piccini in the Kessel Ferrari with a 1.53.977.  The Ebimotors Porsche drove in both sessions on Tuesday Fabio Babini posting a 1.54.870 as best time over both sessions. 

Track action for the opening race of the season here in Le Castellet starts tomorrow morning at 11.05h with the first practice session and the Bronze driver collective test at 15.05h. 

Results Tuesday morning session

Results Tuesday afternoon session

Kristof Vermeulen.   

ELMS: Recap of the first testday at Le Castellet

IDEC Sport, Cool Racing and High Class racing were the fastest cars on track yesterday during the ELMS first day of testing at Paul Ricard.   In the LMP3 class, the Norma's outpaced the Ligiers, while Ferrari was quickest in the LMGTE class in all three sessions. 

LMP2

Oreca dominated the morning session, with 5 cars fastest after 4 hours running.  Paul Loup Chatin set the fastest time in the #28 IDEC Sport with a 1.40.747, beating his qualifying time he set last year for the 4 Hours of Le Castellet (1.41.194).  Nicolas Jamin was second fastest in the #30 Duqueine Engineering Oreca, just over a second slower than Chatin.  Bruno Senna in the #43 RLR Msport rounded out the top 3.  The first non Oreca car was the #22 United Autosports Ligier of Filipe Albuquerque in sixth place. 

Nico Lapierre put the #37 Cool Racing Oreca on top of the afternoon session in 1.40.725, slightly faster than Chatin. The #32 United Autosports Ligier now went up to second quickest with Ryan Cullen behind the wheel with Jean Eric Vergne in the G-Drive Aurus behind him in third. 

LMP3

Where Oreca dominated the LMP2 class in the morning session, Norma did so in LMP3 all day long.  The #17 Ultimate Norma was as quick as they have been all season last year, Mathieu Lahaye on top of the morning session in 1:51.062, an improvement of almost a second of last year's pole time. Colin Noble in the #7 Nielsen Racing Norma M30 was right on Lahaye's heels, 9 thousands of a second slower than the Frenchman. David Droux in the #9 Realteam Racing was third fastest. 

Times dropped further down in the afternoon session, Mathie Lahaye improving down to a 1.50.240. Colin Noble in the #7 was second fastest again, but now just under 0.4 seconds behind the Ultimate.  The #10 Oregon Norma of Gustas Grinbergas moved up to third fastest by the end of the session.  Mikkel Jensen in the #11 Eurointernational Ligier was the fastest non-Norma driver in both sessions, his best time a 1.51.423 which put him on fourth place in the afternoon session. 

LMGTE 

The Ferrari's were fastest in both 4 hours sessions yesterday, and it's the new teams in the championship who were in command.  Andrea Piccini put the #60 Kessel Racing 488 GTE on top in the first session with a 1:53.288.  He was followed by Nicklas Nielsen in the #51 Luzich Racing and Matteo Cressoni in the #66 JMW Ferrari. Just one Porsche made it to the track in the morning session, the #88 "Felbermayr" which ended up in P4. 

Luzich Racing claimed the top time in the afternoon session, again with Niclas Nielsen who set a time of 1.53.411.  Claudio Schiavone in the #60 Kessel Racing Ferrari was over half a second slower to finish in second place, followed by Manuela Gostner who put the all female #83 Ferrari in third place.  The shiny Project1 Porsche drove his first laps of the week and went up to fourth place with a 1.54.531 by Egidio Perfetti. 

NIGHT SESSION

The 2 hour "night session" ended yesterday's action on track at 21h.  Just 17 out of the 41 cars got out on track for the session into sunset.  Anders Fjordbach in the #20 High Class Racing was quickest of the 12 LMP2's who made it out on track Monday evening.  His laptime of 1.40.404 was just over a second faster than Arjun Marni in the #43 RLR Msport Oreca. Tristan Gommendy in the #39 Graff made it another top 3 for Oreca.  

Only five LMP3 cars came out of their pitbox last night.    None of the LMGTE contenders set a laptime in the nightsession. Damiani Fioravanti set the best time in his #10 Oregon Team Norma (1.49.5000), beating 4 Ligiers.  None of the contenders in LMGTE made it out of the pitlane in the evening.  

Two cars haven't been out on track in any of the three sessions yesterday: the BHK Motorsport Oreca 07 and the Ebimotors Porsche 911 RSR.

Track action resumes today with a four hour session in the morning and a three hour session in the afternoon.  Weather forecasts are changing daily around here, but with the track bathing in sunshine at this time, it seems like we'll have another dry day of testing ahead of us. 

Results session 1

Results session 2

Results night session

Kristof Vermeulen. 

Historics: Mercedes-Benz 540K and Ferrari 335 S best in show at the Amelia Concours

The 24th Amelia Island Concours d’élegance was held March 7-10th at the Amelia Island Golf Club and the Ritz-Carlton in Florida. With a packed program that stretches now on over four days, the Amelia Concours has grown into one the world most anticipated and best organised concours te be found. Auctions, seminars, cars & coffee on Saturday morning up to the concours itself on Sunday, Amelia has become an event not to be missed for the (classic) car enthousiast.

This year’s honoree was Belgian Jacky Ickx, “Monsieur Le Mans” was reunited with 12 extraordinary racecars, spanning the whole of his career from Le Mans over to Can Am, Formula 1 and Paris-Dakar.  More about the cars of Jacky Ickx at the Amelia concours and the 300+ other stunning cars on display on Sunday is to follow in another write up.  But first we take a closer look to both 2019 award winners in the Best of show and Best of show concours de sport class.

At the Amelia Concours, 2 cars receive the best in show award every year: the Best in Show Concours d’Elegance and the Best in Show Concours de Sport award. Two extraordinary cars received the awards on March 10th: the 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Autobahnkurier and the 1957 Ferrari 335 S. 

The 540 K “Autobahnkurier”

Mercedes debuted a new car at the 1934 Berlin Car Show: the Typ 500K “Autobahnkurier”.  Only one model existed and the brochures informed the public that the car was designed for incredibly high speeds on the Autobahn. It was built on the outstanding W29 chassis and immediately stood out with its elegant design, long hood, gentle curves and specially designed tail end. It set a new design benchmark with its appearance, even so that Jean Bugatti went back home after his first encounter with the 540K and apparently designed the infamous Atlantic. 

Only six 540K Autobahnkuriers were built, this particular car is the only one believed to survive. Out of these six cars, only two 540K’s have been built to this specification with the 5.4 Liter supercharged engine, which makes it - if possible - even more exclusive. With a top speed of 115 mph, the 540K was one of the fastest cars available at the time, but also one of the most expensive ones.  

This car is the second (and final) one that went into production has originally been bought by Dr. Ignacio Barraquer, a doctor from Barcelona. He undertook journeys with it from Libya to Egypt prior to World War II, and later through Austria and Switzerland. It remained in the family’s possession until 2004 when it was sold to Arturo Keller who had it restored completely.  Since then it has won several concours titles at Pebble Beach, Villa d’Este and now also Amelia Island. The first car has been gifted by Mercedes to the shah of Iran, and was last seen in the 1960s.  Up until now it’s unclear if that car still exists or not.   

The Ferrari 335 S Scaglietti

For the second year in a row, a Ferrari wins the best in show concours de Sport award. The 1957 Ferrari 335S Spider Scaglietti is only one of four built and carries an impressive racing history with it. With its breathtaking race results, continuous history and prestigious provenance, this Ferrari symbolises the myth and masterpiece from the 1950’s motorsport era. 

The Scuderia Ferrari factory car started its life as a 290 MM, was upgraded to a 315 S and later transformed into a 335 S.  The 335 S was the most technologically advanced Ferrari in 1957. With a 60-degree V12 engine with 24 plugs, two valves per cylinder and twin overhead camshafts it produced 360 hp.  In Le Mans trim, the engine was tuned up to 400 hp, and got to top steeds at Le Mans up to 300 km/h. 

This particular car has an impressive racing history and was driven by some of the greatest pilots in its era. Peter Collins and Maurice Trintignant drove it at the 1957 Sebring 12 Hours, Wolfgang von Trips in the Mille Miglia and Mike Hawthorn and Luigi Musso competed at Le Mans later that year.  Hawthorn set the first 200 km/h lap record at Le Mans with this car (203.015 km/h), but couldn’t finish the race due to mechanical problems. Other drivers racing this car were Juan Manuel Fangio, Phil Hill, Olivier Gendebien, Stirling Moss ….

Kristof Vermeulen. 

FIA WEC: Pole postion for Toyota and Aston Martin in Fuji

After a dramatic qualifying session, Fernando Alonso and Sebastien Buemi in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid claimed pole position for their home race in Fuji tomorrow. 

© Joao Filipe/AdrenalMedia.com

Initially, the #7 Toyota of Jose Maria Lopes and Kamui Kobayashi earned pole position when Sebastian Buemi saw his best time being deleted due to track limits violation. But when Lopes entered the pitlane too fast after his flying lap, his only laptime was deleted, forcing them to the back end of the LMP1 grid. An average laptime of 1.23.648 put the #8 on pole then for tomorrow’s race. 

© Rebellion Racing

Quickest of the non-Hybrids and on front row tomorrow was the #1 Rebellion R13 of André Lotterer and Neel Jani with an average time of 1.24.359, 0.711 seconds shy of the Toyota. The #3 sister car of Thomas Laurent and Gustavo Menezes will be third on the grid and ova the #17 SMP Racing BR1 of Egor Ordhzev and Stephane Sarrazin next to them. Row three will be filled by the #11 SMP Racing and the #4 ByKolles Eens CLM/P1 while Dragonspeed will have the second Toyota next to them on the fourth row of the grid. 

After the free practice sessions, the non-hybrid LMP1’s have been given an extra EoT break in a new attempt to make them more competitive against the Toyota’s. The normally aspirated cars (Rebellion, Dragonspeed) now have an increased fuel weight per stint (55,5 kg vs 54,4 kg), the turbo powered LMP1’s (ByKolles, SMP Racing) also got an increased amount of fuel up to 50,3 kg. Also the maximum amount of petrol energy per lap has been increased for all non hybrid cars. 

© Joao Filipe/AdrenalMedia.com

In the LMP2 class, Anthony Davidson and Roberto Gonzalez scored the first pole position in the FIA WEC for Dragonspeed. Their average laptime of 1.28.906 in the #31 Oreca held off both Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca’s; the #38 of Stephane Richelmi and Gabriel Aubry and the #37 of Jazeman Jafaar and Nabil Jeffri.  Championship leaders Signatech Alpine were fourth fastest, TDS Racing completing the top 5 for Oreca once again.  Racing Team Nederland (Dallara) and Larbre Competition (Ligier) took sixth and seventh place. 

© Aston Martin Racing

Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen claimed pole position in the LMGTE Pro class with their #95 Aston Martin,  the first pole position for the new Aston Martin Vantage. With an average laptime of 1.36.093, the “Dane train” outpaced the surprising #82 BMW M8 GTE of Tom Blomqvist and Antonio Felix Da Costa (1.36.275). The second Aston Martin (#97) of Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn took the third sport on the grid and will have the #67 Ford GT of Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell next to them.  Rounding out the top 5 was the first Ferrari, #71 of Davide Rigon and Sam Bird. The Porsches who had been top runners in all practice sessions had a bit a disappointing session, only managing 8th and 10th place on the grid. Qualifying in the Pro class was very close again with all ten cars in just over a second.   

© Porsche

Dempsey Proton Competition scored its second pole in the Super season with the #88  of Matteo Cairoli and Satoshi Hoshino. Quite a debut for the 57 year old Hoshino in the FIA WEC. Their combined average laptime of  1.38.366 was just 0.064 seconds quicker than Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana in the #98 Aston Martine Vantage. Third fastest was the second Proton Porsche of Matt Campbell and Christian Ried. 

The start for the 6 Hours of Fuji will be given at 11h00 on Sunday morning local time, that’s 4h00 CET so an early morning wake up call if you want to watch the race in Europe (or a short night if you’ve survived Petit Le Mans on Saturday evening/night). 

Friday practice sessions

© Toyota Gazoo Racing

Toyota also set yesterday’s pace with Fernando Alonso (#7) on top of both free practice sessions. Alonso set a best time of 1.23.973 in the afternoon session, just over a second faster than Jose Maria Lopez in the #7 TS050 Hybrid. 

All laptimes in the second session were significantly faster as the morning session was driven on a damp and drying track. Issues with some of the kers disrupted both practice sessions though, both sessions being red flagged for some time to deal with damage to some kerbs which had to be removed. The quickest non-hybrid LMP1 was the #3 Rebellion of Thomas Laurent.  Despite the new BoP which was introduced for the race weekend in Fuji, the gap with the leading Toyota was still just over 1.7 seconds (1.25.697). Jenson Button put his #11 SMP Racing BR1 on fourth place. 

© TDS Racing

In LMP2, Matthieu Vaxiviere set the quickest time over both 90 minute sessions with a 1.30.630.  Vaxiviere’s time was the only one from the first practice session which wasn’t improved in the afternoon session. Freshly crowned Le Mans champions Signatech Alpine Matmut were second fastest, Andre Negrao just 0.050 seconds off the TDS Oreca. Third quickest was Silverstone winner Ho-Pin Tung in the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing.  Nyck De Vries in the #29 Racing Team Nederland was the fastest non-Oreca driver in sixth place overall. 

© Aston Martin Racing

Nicki Thiim in the #95 Aston Martin Vantage was the man to beat in LMGTE Pro yesterday. His time of 1.37.659 was 0.162 seconds faster than Harry Tincknell in the #67 Ford GT who held off Davide Rigon in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari.  Both Porsches followed in fourth and fifth. Despite their BoP adjustments, the BMW’s didn’t get any further than 8th and 10th on Friday, although all GTE Pro cars were within a margin of 0.845 seconds. 

© Joao Filipe/AdrenalMedia.com

Dempsey-Proton racing set the pace in the LMGTE Am class, with the #77 of Matteo Cairoli quickest in 1.38.989 ahead of Matt Campbell in the #88 sister car. The #61 Ferrari F488 GTE of Keita Sawa was third fastest in the shadow of Mount Fuji, leading the two other Ferrari’s of Spirit of Race and MR Racing. 

Qualifying results LMP1/LMP2
Qualifying results GTE

Results Free Practice 1
Results Free Practice 2
Results Free Practice 3


Kristof Vermeulen.

Le Mans: Nakajima takes provisional pole for Toyota

Kazuki Nakajima was the fastest man on track yesterday evening in his #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, claiming provisional pole position after the first of three qualifying sessions.  The Japanese driver set a quickest time of 3.17.270, just over 0.1 seconds faster than last year’s pole sitter Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota. 

With the difference between the hybrids and fastest non-hybrid LMP1 under a second in yesterday’s practice session, it seemed that the Rebellions might be reasonable close to the Toyota’s. Qualifying denied all hope for a somewhat close battle though.  Stéphane Sarrazin was “best of the rest” in his #17 SMP Racing BR1 but already 2.213 seconds behind Nakajima in 3.19.483. Bruno Senna in the #1 Rebellion R13 was second fastest in the non Hybrid cars, giving in 0.179 seconds to the BR1. 

SMP Racing’s #17 BR1 was seventh fastest with Egor Orudhzev at the wheel, in front of the #11 SMP Racing BR1 and the #4 ByKolles Enso CLMP1/01. The ByKolles clocked off a 3.22.505 but lost all of its fastest laps due to “exceeded instantaneous fuel flow limit”, as did the #17 SMP Racing.  The Toyota #8 also saw several laptimes deleted; exceeding the fuel/lap quantity limit.   

Both Ginetta’s are closing the order in LMP1, setting lap times in the middle of the LMP2 class and over 13 seconds adrift from pole position. Electrical gremlins halted Ginetta’s progress during both of yesterday’s sessions, and forced the team to an engine swap between sessions in the #6 car. 

In LMP2 it’s the #48 IDEC Sport of Paul Loup Chatin which was quickest overall last night in a record setting laptime of 3.24.956, almost half a second faster than last year’s pole time. Chatin was 0.284 seconds faster than Loïc Duval in the #28 TDS Racing Oreca 07 who was closely followed by Jean-Eric Vergne in the #26 G-Drive. Oreca once again dominated the LMP1 class, claiming all top five positions after the first qualifying session.  The #31 Dragonspeed which saw its tracktime decimated after damaging its front early in the session, and #36 Signatech Alpine rounded out the top 5. 

“Best of the rest” was Filipe Albuquerque in the #22 United Autosports Ligier in 3.26.772, 1.8 seconds off the pace of the quickest Ligier. The #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing of Jazeman Jafaar went seventh fastest. Felipe Nasr in the #47 Cetilar Villorba Corse Dallara set the eight fastest - and fastest Dallara - time in 3.27.993.  

After leaving LMP1 at the end of last season, Porsche is now aiming for succes in the GTE Pro class in the second season of their not-to-be-called mid engined 911 RSR. In both of yesterday’s sessions, the Porsches were on top of the timetables.  Gimmi Bruni outpaced everyone in the qualifying session with a staggering lap record of 3.47.504, over three seconds faster than last year’s pole time. Even more impressive was that he set that time at the start of the session in only one of two flying laps before parking his #91 Porsche in the kitty litter at Dunlop curve.   

Michael Christensen was second quickest in the #92 Porsche in 3.49.097, still faster than las year’s pole time but over half a second adrift from Bruni’s lap. Ford took third and fourth place with Olivier Pla quickest in the #66 GT (3.49.181) followed by Dirk Müller in the #68.  Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari set the fifth time, almost 2.5 seconds slower than the #91 Porsche.  

BMW returns to Le Mans in their new M8, and clocked off on ninth and 11th position inbetween Ferrari and Ford.  Antonio Felix Da Costa was the fastest BMW driver with a time of 3.50.579.  Corvette is - as usual - steadily going through their pre Le Mans test programme, finishing 13th and 14th by the end of the qualifying session.  Despite the new BoP, the Astons still are struggling for pace, both new Vantage AMR’s finishing dead last yesterday, just under 5 and over 7 seconds off the pace. 

Dempsey-Proton Racing is leading the GTE Am class with both of its Porsche 911 RSR’s. Matteo Cairoli showing his outright speed again, going round in 3.50.728 in the #88 which was even quicker than the Corvettes in GTE Pro.  Matt Campbell in the #77 Porsche was just over 1.2 seconds slower than the young Italian to take a provisional second sport on the grid.  The top 3 was completed by another Porsche: the #86 Gulf Racing of Ben Barker. 

Giancarlo Fisichella in the #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari was the first non Porsche driver on the list in fourth place, 2 seconds slower than Cairoli.  The #56 Team Project 1 Porsche and the #85 Keating Motorsports Ferrari completed the top 7 with the #98 Aston Martin of Pedro Lamy in eight position.  Bad luck for the #90 TF Sport Aston Martin of Salih Yoluc & co who suffered a puncture causing some damage to the car, limiting their track time in the first qualifying session. 

There’s a short list of drivers who still have to complete their 5 obligatory night laps after yesterday’s qualifying: Gimmi Bruni, Richard Lietz and Fred Makowiecki in the #91 Porsche after Bruni parking it into the kitty litter at the Dunlop chicane; Nico Lapierre in the #36 Signatech Alpine; Earl Bamber in the #93 Porsche 911; Olivier Beretta in the #70 MR Racing Ferrari and Renger Van Der Zande in the #10 Dragonspeed BR1. 

Qualifying resumes later today with two 2 hour sessions from 19h to 21h and 22h to midnight.  Rain might be on the forecast so the pole times from yesterday could be the ones that determine the grid for Saturday’s race.  

Text and pictures: Kristof Vermeulen