Le Mans Thursday Qualifying Report

From speedarena.com

Event Features
Le Mans Thursday Qualifying Report
By Text: Jimmy Sykes
Jun 15, 2007, 12:32

As the second day of qualifying got closer, it was fairly clear that the times from Wednesday’s session would probably hold out. Rain was likely for the session and Mother Nature would not disappoint.

The session got off to a half-hour late start due to the legends qualifying held before it and some oil on the track. But once it began, the rains would arrive. Torrential rains would blanket the circuit and left buckets of water on the track.

A few teams decided to brave the elements and go out on full wet tires for some test laps. The Peugeots were one of them and they tiptoed around the course in order to not hurt anything. The rains would come and go and as it died down more cars would venture on course and as it picked up they would hang back in the pits. The Peugeots were the exception though, logging as many laps as they possibly could. The #8 car started to experience some electrical issues, probably due to the rain and they worked on the car to make sure it doesn’t return for the race.

When all was said and done, the Audi of Marco Werner was fastest in the wet with a time of 4:05.008 followed by its #2 sister car and the Peugeot. Barizi Epsilon continued to be the top of the field in P2 with a fast time of 4:18.095, The #59 Aston Martin ran a 4:28.580 and the IMSA Performance Porsche let the GT2 class with a time of 4:38.386.

The break between sessions was shortened to 30 minutes due to the late start of session one and the weather continued to change almost by the minute. Jan Magnussen had this to say about the weather:

“We are checking the car with all three drivers, making sure that it's OK to run in the wet, and that there is no water getting in. We won't do much more. It's too easy to lose the car in these conditions. The visibility is hard when you are running with other people. It's good that I was here in 2001 when it was very wet. If it's wet like this for the race, the results will depend more on who avoids mistakes and less on the racing”

Several cars had some incidents during this session and suffered damage. The #7 Peugeot, driven by Gene was one of the most notable when it went off at Arnage and suffered damage to the front of the car. The car would be left for the remainder of the session and would not return. This would put a serious kink in the testing for the French team and luckily the car did not seem to be heavily damaged so shouldn’t have trouble returning.

The Luck Alphand Corvette also went off at Arnage and suffered a bit of damage. The #1 Audi with Pirro behind the wheel also had a scare at the pit entrance as he went spinning through the grass and over the curb. He made it to the pits and didn’t seem to suffer any real damage.

There was a red flag during the session when the PSI Experience Corvette went off at the Porsche Curves and needed to be removed.

The rain did seem to slow for much of the second session though and times would consistently drop during it. They would not, however, match the times of Wednesday and those times would eventually set the grid for Saturday.

The Barazi Epsilon team would still rule the session in P2 while the Oreca Saleen would lead GT1 in the rain and the Autorlando Porsche would lead GT2. The Corvette team and many of the other top runners would spend the night in the garage knowing that times for Saturday would not improve and the chances of damage to the car were too great.

So after all the excitement of night one, night two would end in the same place as we began with the Peugeot leading the way followed by an Audi, another Peugeot and another Audi. P2 would have Barazi Epsilon on pole and followed by Quifel and Binne, GT1 will have the Larbre Aston at the front followed by Oreca and Corvette, while GT2 will be a Porsche flanked by a pair of Ferraris in one and three.

So we have the fight we were all expecting. Peugeot has shown the speed and those they can compete with the Audis, but will they be able to last for the distance. P2 looks to be well in hand with Zytek, but that has been a class of attrition, so anything can still happen there. Aston Martin and Corvette was an expected battle, but Saleen has thrown their hat into the ring as well and showed they aren’t to be doubted. We could have any of about 7 cars on the podium in that class. Lastly, Ferrari-Porsche, what more needs to be said for Le Mans. Risi Competizione is probably one of favorites on paper after their dominance in the US, but IMSA was very strong in ’06 and Flying Lizard is always one to be contended with.

The race is looking as if it will be a real good one. All classes have more than several potential winners and only 24 hours of racing will tell the full story.