Le Mans 24 Hours, Thursday Qualifying 1

19:00 And away we go - Just after Patrick Dempsey has assaulted the senses with the 1991 race winning Mazda the track opens again for 2 hours of timed qualifying.

Radio Le Mans report that Peugeot have scrubbed in some wets in the early minutes - Do they know something we don't? Or are they getting ready for Sunday's expected moistness.

The first 15 minutes were pretty quiet but lets mark the fact that Rebellion racing are atop the timing sheet - 3:37.686.

Soon enough though its diesel time and Bernhard drops in a 3:33 before the Peugeots start to tickle the 3:30 mark.

There's drama though for Jonathan Hirschi in the #65 Lotus - huge plumes of oil smoke from the left rear of the car - He pits leaving James-Bond-esque smokescreens as far back as Arnage.

19:20 Dirk Werner takes the #55 BMW under 4 minutes again as Capello leaps salmon-like to the top of the timing screen, the #3 Audi  posting a 3:30.398 - still not close yet to last nights marks in LMP1.

Franck Mailleux betters the time of the #26 Signatech Oreca from last night with a 3:42.999 but stays second fastest.

19:23 - Treluyer now improves - 3:29.810 but is immediately bettered by Bernhard - 3:28.633 - both still not yet as quick as yesterday.

Montagny's turn next - 3:27.906 is getting down now towards polesetting pace - Pagenaud's 3:28.739 is good enough for 5th quickest overall now - Sadly though we aren't getting a cumulative qualifying screen - mental arithmetic skills to the fore then! 

19:31 - second fastest tonight in GTE Pro are Richard Westbrook and Wolf Henzler - the Vette and Porsche men matched times on 4:00.926 - No improvement though for either.

There's a big improvement though for Rob Bell in the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari - 4:00.890 good enough briefly for second fastest time tonight - 11th fastest overall in GTE Pro.

Maxime Martin pops in a time 8 seconds faster than the Kronos Lola Aston's best time yesterday - 3:36. 651 fastest petrol time this evening and second fastest petrol time so far.

Aston Martin Racing's week goes from bad to worse - Harold Primat completes his out lap in #009, loses the car out of the Ford Chicane and biffs the wall backwards, deranging the rear wing - he eventually restarts but will need to complete a full lap before pitting.

Gavin goes second fastest in GTE Pro tonight - not yet under 4 mins though.

19;41 Bernhard gets within a couple of hundredths of the #1 car's qualifying best yesterday - good enough for second fastest overall tonight.

Primat makes it back with the rear wing of #009 completely missing - apparently on the track at Post 111 - Oddly the stewards choose to pull in the AMR One for a weight check! 

19:46  3:28.060 for Dindo Capello improves the #3 Audi's time overall but the car remains 4th overall.

We had a brief Safety Car shown on the screens - we believe for recovery of the Aston's missing rear wing.

The #64 Lotus posts a big improvement in time - 4:12 for Martin Rich as David Murry gets into the 4:08s with the refettled Robertson Ford.

20:02 - Into the second hour and Collard improves the overall time for the #16 Pescarolo - 3:35.041.

The Hybrid has been garaged and is having close attention paid to the engine bay - Primat meanwhile is back out on track in #009 and has improved the car's time from yesterday - 3:52 still leaves the AMR welded to the bottom of the LMP order. To top a dreadful session Primat pits after that lap and needs attention to the rear of the car from a fire extinguisher.

The Farnbacher Ferrari had a delayed start to the session, requiring attention to the gearbox (wrong ratios) whilst the #60 Gulf Aston needed a gearbox change when the team realised late in the day that reverse had been broken in the incident with the #1 Audi yesterday.

The Farnbacher car though improves early in its run, 3:59.862 good enough for 6th quickest in GTE overall.

20:12 Dumas pops in a 3:27.876 - fastest tonight and second on the provisional grid at present.

Kraihamer improves marginally in the #48 Oreca but still stays second in LMP2 tonight, third overall - he goes quicker next time around though - 3:43.098, good enough for second in class overall.

20:22 The Level 5 Lola has stopped at Indianapolis.

Darren Turner completes his first flyer in the #007 - a 3:48.194 a massive improvement in time from last night.

20:26 Lieb improves the #77s position - up to 6th in class with a 3:59.662.

McNish does his usual run out of seemingly nowhere - 3:27.602 - fastest tonight - second overall - Dumas improves too - 3:27.697 - Second tonight, third on the grid.

20:31 Bouillon improves the overall position of the #13 Rebellion Lola Toyota's - up to 9th overall with a 3:35.6.

Ayari graps provisional P2 pole with a 3:42.082 for the Signatech Oreca.

Right rear puncture for the Prospeed Porsche.

20:41 3:26.336 - Sarrazin Provisional Pole - with Gene also lapping very quickly - 3:26.272 - The Spaniard edges it.

Moreau sets fastest petrol time for Oak - 3:34.933 - 8th overall for #15.

Bruni grabs GTE Pro pole in the #51 Ferrari - 3:58.040 and Felbermayer Jr In GTE 4:03.532 - three pole times change in 3 minutes! 

20:48 The Roberston Ford spins across the gravel at the Ford Chicane - the car recovers to the pitlane but Andy Priaulx gets onto the gravel spread across the track and crashes heavily in the #56 BMW.

At the same time Sarrazin, having pitted for new rubber, spins at the Dunlop Bridge and needs a tow to recover.

Dominik Farnbacher matches last night's 3:59,519 from the #74 Corvette - That will put the Hankook car 5th on the GTE grid at present.

Fassler goes third overall in the #2 Audi - 3:26.796.

20:54 - Sarrazin has another spin!  Kaffer improves in the Pecom Lola - 3rd in LMP2.

Ayari though improves dramatically to cement his provisional pole in class - 3:41.831 - it improves again next time around - 3:41.648 and again on his final lap of the session - 3:41.468.

The #007 Aston - Mucke at the wheel has lost the front left wing - an identical loss to the car last night.

A flurry of improvements in petrol LMP1s - Jousse into the 3:33s in the #16, Jani the #34s in the #12 Rebellion

20:59 Marco Cioci grabs GTE AM pole - 4:02.539 in the #61 AF Corse 430.

Last blast time before the break - Sarrazin is baulked in the Ford Chicane but still sets provisional pole - 3:26.156 - seconds later though it's bettered by Fassler with a 3:25.961!

Sarrazin though is continuing to push - hard - fastest overall in sector 1 but he crosses the line just shy of his last mark.

Audi hold the advantage then with two hours remaining - Peugeot though have this one in reach too - the first part of the final session could be a very close run thing.

Who says the Swiss can't do comedy - Marcel Fassler to Radio Le Mans "We weren't looking for pole we are doing set up work."