Le Mans Test Weekend - Third and Fourth Hour 

Trouble for the #85 Spyker, the car has lost an engine with Ralf Kelleners having only completed 4 of his required 10 laps - The #94 car has been pulled from the session to exchange the engine, a 4-5 hour job, Benjamin Leuenberger having completed his 10, the only other Spyke man required to do so, the organisers having refused Ralf the opportunity to swap cars.

The Lucchini has made it back to the pits after snapping a throttle cable on the Mulsanne, it looks set to join the session very soon.

Stephane Gregoire down at Rollcentre Racing was grinning widely, thoroughly enjoying his return to this race - "I finished seventh here for Courage in 2003 so sixth would be fine by me!" The Frenchman has safely completed his 10 laps and Barbosa is now aboard the #18 car.

Olivier Panis is another man enjoying his day, and another rookie!  "It's an interesting rule! But it has of course been an ambition to race here.  The real ambition is of course to win this race but that won't happen this year.  Our objective is to finish and whilst that doesn't make sense to many people, to those who know this place it is absolutely the right thing to aim for.  I am really enjoying sportscar racing, the Le Mans Series is good fun and a good series, lots of traffic to deal with and lots of work for the driver to do."

Meanwhile back at Rollcentre, Vanina Ickx has found her smile again this season, "I am really enjoying my racing again, and it is wonderful to be back at Le Mans.  I raced here last in 2001 (in a Viper) and it rained heavily then too.  I have been talking to Joao a lot about how to drive in this car in the wet and he tells me that the really tricky section is Les Hunaudieres where the ruts caused by the trucks on the road can be a problem, particularly when its wet."

Red flag with 90 minutes of the session to go as the JMB Ferrari, Ben Aucott at the wheel is in the gravel at Arnage.  The clock continues to count down.

Jorg Bergmeister, talking to Radio Le Mans

“This is my seventh year in a row. I like the track and the changes made to the track. We’ve not made any significant changes to the car. We worked on the aero over the winter but that was mainly downforce which isn’t what we’re looking for here. We were quick here last year so I’m not too worried about our pace. The car’s getting better and better and that’s where we want to go.”

On cockpit temperatures: “For drivers it’s not a problem. We have a helmet blower and if it’s hot we wear a cool suit so it’s not something I’m worried about.”

“The weather’s affecting our schedule but hopefully it will stay dry.”

A couples of other dramas as the JMB car is recovered with front left hand damage.  The #33 Speedy / Sebah Lola Coupe has had a drama at the second chicane, front end damage the result of a moment for Xavier Pompidou.

The Charouz Aston Martin Lola has lost time after an oil line was damaged as the team replaced a rear engine cover.

The session restarts with 40 minutes remaining and there's an immediate drama for Adrian Valles as he drops the #20 Epsilon Euskadi into the gravel.

Stuart Moseley was found with his hands in his pants in the Barazi Epsilon pits after feeling some warmness in his nether regions - Sadly for Mr Moselely it was a fuel leak which has left him with some mild chemical burns rather than any other happy personal occurence.

Stuart Hall is a reasonably happy man at the moment, just one lap so far for last year's 4th place man - "It's a bit of a laugh really, Marc (Goossens) was racing karts against the likes of McNish before I was born and all of a sudden he's a rookie and I'm not despite the fact that I only came here for the first time last year."

Next door in the Autocon pit box Mike Lewis was talking to John Judd as the crew attended to electronics and oiling issues.  "Its a long, long time since I've been a rookie anywhere but this is a heck of a place to be one. It's an awesome circuit and sprinkle it with water and it becomes an altogether different challenge again, certtainly nothing like it feels on my Xbox!"

Hugh Chamberlain - to Radio Le Mans
“It was important for us to qualify Amanda. She did pretty much as she was told and went out and did her laps without any hassle. She said it was ‘slippery as hell’ and pottered round as she was told in respectible 4 20s and came back to the pits with a big smile on her face. Gareth went out on intermediates but it started to rain so he came back in. We’ve done what we need to do really. It would be nice for the boys to get in a few laps each butLe Mans plage is beckoning!”

David Brabham
“It feels like my second home! It’s my 15^th year here and I love the place. The Gulf association has a massive historical value. I drove here in a McLaren here in Gulf livery in 1996. The paler blue feels more like the real thing. We changed a combination of suspension and aero at paul Ricard but haven’t made massive developments. We know the car and know it’s reliable and it was quick and comfortable straight away. I’m pleased they called me back – I feel very fortunate. We’ve got a good driver line-up. I raced against Heinz in F3. We’re missing Darren at Croft but I understand he’s on pole in the BTCC.

The track’s damp and slippery in places but was drying by the end of my run. I don’t think anyone’s pushing 100% as it’s a test day. For us we have a proven package and don’t need to do too much. If it rains all day I can’t see us doing a huge amount.”

Jan Lammers reports from the #12 Charouz / Cytosport camp that the car has had "a couple of minor issue, one mechanical, one electronic but things are OK.  Greg needs to complete his 10 laps but we won't have any problems there.  I think he'll start the race to get some real proper value from the experience but Klaus and I are likely to do most of the night running.  This could be a very tough race physically."

As for the remainder of the year, Lammers is busier than ever:

"I have 37 races this season, more than I have ever done before, with LMS, ADAC GT Masters and the BMW Challenge at Zandvoort. Its good to concentrate more on my driving while we put the Racing for Holland problems gradually behind us."

Allan McNish meanwhile was finding the early session frustrating, despite his speed: "It's not too bad so far, but the conditions at every corner are changing on every lap, I arrive on one lap and its almost dry, approch the same corner with the same commitment next time around and find its wet!"

Joey Foster down at Embassy racing meanwhile was enjoying his debut but finding: "The track is very green, in places literally, we took a walk down to the Porsche curves and found moss growing through the joins in the surface.  The car though is great, and with some modifications made for this race we're finding more speed.  I'm really happy with the car so far here and its not the worse thing to learn this place in these conditions."

With the track drying towards the end of the session we saw some immediate improvements, most significantly the top of the timesheets was claimed by Audi, in this instance the #3 car, Premat running round in a 3:36.938, Sarrazin's response was prevented by the checkered flag for the end of the session.

Jos Verstappen made some impact (but not much) on vergers earlier time, not helped by a trip into the gravel, Jos at the wheel, for #34 at the Indianapolis escape road.

In GT1 Bornhauser posted a drying time (3:58.913) good enough to top the times for the Larbre Saleen.

In GT2 the Virgo squad have been in trouble with a gearbox problem, the team changing the box in double quick time but losing lots of track time, Virgo regular, but Risi man here, Gianmaria Bruni meanwhile was getting used to a much longer lap than he is used to but enjoying his first running on the famous circuit.