After such a late night supplying you with the news from the first round of testing, we made a creditably early start from the hotel and arrived at the circuit by 10.00 and after completing yesterday's update and adding details of radio Le Mans programmes we attended to some necessary domestic issues and pitched the tents, visited the supermarche and had lunch time beer in La Vielle Cloche in Arnage village.
As far as motorsport is concerned, the two major McLaren teams have significantly changed the set up of their cars for todays qualifying with Team BMW Motorsport explaining during their morning press conference that they had reduced the downforce to improve straight line speed. Later while chatting with Andrew Gilbert Scott and Chris Goodwin we asked about the apparent problems they were experiencing under braking last night at Arnage corner and they confirmed that they had experienced problems lifting off the power that are now (hopefully) solved by revised rear damper settings.
In the evening session things started slowly but the waving of the red flag and the temporary suspension of the session after Giovanni Lavaggi had an Armco moment just below the Dunlop bridge in Kremer Porsche number 6, appeared to be taken by everyone as the signal for a serious charge. The unfortunate Porsche was returned to the pits on a truck.
Of the other cars number 75 the Larbre Competition Porsche 911 GT2 was having problems with an oil leak and having only completed 3 laps yesterday hoped to complete enough laps late in the session to qualify the last two drivers, while Marcos number 71 was surrounded by bits of gear box.
We have recently spoken to Chris Goodwin the now rather secondhand McLaren number 40 which has been wheeled into the paddock. James Weaver, who was following the McLaren, saw a puff of smoke at the second Mulsanne chicane and the McLaren was dropping oil from then on. Chris was only aware of the problem when he changed up for a second time heading towards Indianapolis. Oil was all over the tyres, making it drift sideways, then a warning light came on. Then Chris noticed the conflagration behind and headed for the nearest fire post. Attempts are underway to repair the car but having seen the car I will be very impressed if they manage it.
Unfortunately for the Gulf Team their problems were not over as Pierre Henri Raphanel had a coming together with Courage and damaged the right- -hand side of the car. While the car can be repaired Pierre was clearly less than impressed with the diver of the offending Courage and live on Radio Le Mans declared that he "was a stupid c**t". So much for the Gulf mechanics rest day.
At the end of qualifying pole position went to last years winner the Joest Racing, Porsche K8 number 7 with a time of 3:41.581, ahead of works Porsche 911 GTI number 25 with a time of 3:43.363 and third Nissan number 22. The non-qualifiers where; in the Prototypes number 6 the bent Kremer Porsche; in GT1 the McLaren number 40 was withdrawn as being beyond help in the time available and the non qualifier was Lotus GT1 number 50 who's last gasp efforts where defeated by an absence of qualifying tyres and remaining time; in GT2 it was number 71 the generally sick Marcos, which did make a late foray from the pits but could make no real impression on the 10 seconds it needed.
The last minute effort of the Lotus did cause some tension in the David Price camp as their car number 54 was "on the bubble" and in response Andy Wallace did what he considered to be the fastest possible time, as he thought that the engine could only be producing 500 bhp and to prevent a very long 24 hours they needed to find another 100 bhp and unless it proved to something really simple he was not optimistic.
Dave Davies and Jonathan Watts.
(Remember to shift your window to the right for more details.) Car Drivers Type Time Speed(kmh) 7 M.ALBORETO(I)/S.JOHANSSON(S) Joest Porsche 3:41.581 220.958 T.KRISTENSEN(DK) 25 HJ.STUCK(D)/T.BOUTSEN(B)/B.WOLLEK(F) Porsche GT1 3:43.363 219.195 22 R.PATRESE(I)/E.VAN DE POELE(B)/A.SUZUKI(J) Nissan R 390 3:44.324 217.287 42 JJ.LEHTO(SF)/S.SOPER(GB)/N.PIQUET(BR) McLaren F1-GTR 3:45.402 217.212 26 E.COLLARD(F)/R.KELLENERS(D)/Y.DALMAS(F) Porsche GT1 3:45.490 217.127 27 PL.MARTINI/C.PESCATORI(I)/A.HERMANN(BR) Porsche GT1 3:45.913 216.721 21 M.BRUNDLE(GB)/J.MULLER(D)/W.TAYLOR(USA) Nissan R 390 3:46.228 216.419 30 C.BOUCHUT(F)/A.EVANS(USA)/B.GACHOT(B) Porsche GT1 3:46.389 216.265 3 G.MORETTI(I)/D.THEYS(B)/M.PAPIS(I) Ferrari 3:46.431 216.225 44 A.NAKAYA/K.TSUCHIYA(J)/GP.AYLES(GB) McLaren F1-GTR 3:47.108 215.580 32 S.ORTELLI(F)/A.MCNISH(GB)/K.WENLDINGER(A) Porsche GT1 3:47.314 215.385 33 P.LAMY(P)/A.HAHNE(D)/P.GOUESLARD(F) Porsche GT1 3:47.428 215.277 13 D.COTTAZ/J.POLICAND(F)/M.GOOSSENS(B) Courage C41 3:47.662 215.056 23 K.HOSHINO(J)/E.COMAS(F)/M.KAGEYAMA(J) Nissan R 390 3:47.745 214.977 10 F.EKBLOM(S)/JL.RICCI(F)/J.P.LIBERT(B) Courage 3:48.011 214.726 43 P.KOX(NL)/R.RAVAGLIA(I)/E.HELARY(F) McLaren F1-GTR 3:48.057 214.683 52 F.LAGORCE/E.BERNARD/JC.BOULLION(F) Panoz GTR 3:48.123 214.621 29 J.VON GARTZEN(D)/O.THEVENIN(F)/A.FERTE(F) Porsche GT1 3:48.341 214.416 41 JM.GOUNON/PH.RAPHANEL(F)/O.OLOFSSON(S) McLaren F1-GTR 3:48.369 214.390 49 J.LAMMERS/M.HEZEMANS/S.GRAU(D) Lotus GT1 3:48.395 214.365 8 H.PESCAROLO/JP.BELLOC/E.CLERICO(F) Courage 3:48.651 214.125 39 R.BELLM/A.GILBERT SCOTT(GB)/M.SEKIYA(J) McLaren F1-GTR 3:48.665 214.112 40 J.NIELSEN(DK)/T.BSCHER(D)/C.GOODWIN(GB) McLaren F1-GTR 3:49.330 213.491 28 F.KONRAD(A)/M.BALDI(I)/R.NEARN(GB) Porsche GT1 3:49.465 213.366 46 J.BAILEY(GB)/T.ERDOS(BR)/M.SKAIFE(A) Lister Storm 3:49.563 213.275 55 D.BRABHAM(A)/P.McCARTHY(GB)/D.BUNDY(USA) Panoz GTR 3:49.699 213.149 45 G.LEES/T.NEEDELL(GB)/G.FOUCHE(ZA) Lister Storm 3:50.398 212.502 54 A.WALLACE/J.WEAVER(GB)/B.LEITZINGER(USA) Panoz GTR 3:50.852 212.084 4 M.FERTE(F)/A.CAMPOS(E)/C.NEARBURG(USA) Ferrari 3:51.092 211.864 50 F.GIROIX(F)/JD.DELETRAZ(CH) Lotus GT1 3:51.373 211.606 9 M.ANDRETTI(USA)/M.ANDRETTI(USA) Courage 3:51.378 211.602 O.GROUILLARD(F) 5 JT.SALDANA(E)/C.ROSENBLAD(S) Kremer Porsche 3:55.981 207.474 J.LASSIG(D) 15 Y.TERADA(J)/J.DOWNING(USA)/F.FREON(F) Mazda 3:56.122 207.350 14 H.TOIVONEN(SF)/E.SALAZAR(RCH) BRM Nissan 3:56.734 206.814 J.PAREJA(E) 6 G.LAVAGGI(I)/J.L.MAURY-LARIBIERE(F) Kremer Porsche 3:56.929 206.644 B.CHAUVIN(F) 62 T.ARCHER(USA)/S.AYARI(F)/M.DUEZ(MC) Viper GTS-R 4:04.589 200.173 61 Ph.GACHE/O.BERETTA(MC)/D.DUPUY(F) Viper GTS-R 4:04.654 200.119 67 S.SALEEN(USA)/P.COBB(USA)/C.PALAU(E) Mustang 4:06.922 198.281 77 JL.CHEREAU/J.LECONTE/JP.JARIER(F) Porsche GT2 4:07.137 198.109 74 A.AHRLE(D)/A.PILGRIM(USA)/B.EICHMANN(CH) Porsche GT2 4:07.153 198.096 63 J.BELL(GB)/P.YVER(F)/J.MORTON(USA) Viper GTS-R 4:08.081 197.355 66 P.LLOYD(GB)/D.WARNOCK/R.SCHIRLE(GB) Mustang 4:09.801 195.996 60 A.COPPELLI/R.AUGUSTA(I)/E.GRAHAM(F) Corvette LM GT2 4:10.048 195.802 84 E.CALDERARI/L.BRYNER(CH)/A.ZADRA(I) Porsche GT2 4:10.094 195.766 73 MM.BREYNER/TM.BREYNER/PM.BREYNER(P) Porsche GT2 4:10.479 195.465 75 P.BOURDAIS(F)/P.KITCHAK(USA)/A.LARARESENDE(BR) Porsche GT2 4:10.903 195.135 78 M.NEUGARTEN(MC)/G.MARTINOLLE(F)/C.LAGNIEZ(F) Porsche GT2 4:11.134 194.956 80 C.HURTGEN(D)/H.PRICE/J.ROBINSON(GB) Porsche GT2 4:11.630 194.571 70 C.EUSER(NL)/T.SUZUKI(J)/H.BECKER(D) Marcos LM 600 4:11.904 194.360 79 T.SEILLER(CH)/L.SCHUMACHER(USA)/M.LIGONNET(F) Porsche GT2 4:11.911 194.354 64 J.HUGENHOLTZ(NL)/J.NURMINEN(SF)/C.GLEASON(USA) Viper GTS-R 4:12.696 193.751 71 D.CHAPPELL(USA)/F.MIGAULT(F)/H.MAUNOIR(F) Marcos LM 600 4:22.904 186.228