Le Mans 24 Hours - Qualifying Session 2 OK - refuelled by Vanessa and the Smoking Dog we're back! And the second session brings immediate improvements from Davidson in the #008 car - 3:27.704 good enough for eighth with Mucke and Belicchi all improving too, 9th and 10th Jonny Cocker makes it a good five minutes for Aston Martin, the #87 Vantage up to 7th - that was until Rob Bell pipped that time in the JMW Ferrari. Jonny Kane takes the Speedy Lola up to third in P2. Mucke up to eighth with 3:27.180 - less than a tenth off the seventh placed Audi. Cooler conditions seem to be suiting the P2 cars. A gaggle of improvements led by Casper Elgaard - 3:37.720 extends the lead for the Team Essex car. Tommy Erdos improves to fourth in class - three tenths off Kane in the RML Lola. Pla, Piccini and Peter are all going quicker too. Pla up to third 3:42.012, followed by Piccini on 3:42.848 in fourth. Improvments in GT2 as well for Malucelli - 4:04.222, good enough for third - but less than a tenth ahead of Christophe Bouchut in fourth in the JMB Ferrari. Seiji Ara is now in the NAVI Team Goh Porsche and sets two fastest sector times - the 2004 winner stops the clock at 3:37.802; just three tenths off provisional pole. Sebastien Bourdais improves slightly, but is still 1.008s off McNish's time in the #8 Peugeot. Bruni improves to fifth in GT2 and stays on it, while Philipp Peter is doing a similar job in the #41 GAC Ginetta-Zytek; two green sectors heralding a seventh fastest 3:44.830. Happy birthday to Benjamin Leuenberger - 27 today. Bourdais sets the fastest second sector of the day - but pits at the end of the lap. JCW brings the Creation CA07 into the top 20 - 3:37.868. Rob Bell improves the JMW Ferrari's time to 4:05.168, but stays sixth in class. Sarrazin is now in the #8 Peugeot - if it's going to happen, it's likely to be now. Melo improves the #82 Risi to fifth in GT2. The P1, P2, and GT2 provisional poles are approx five seconds off the 2008 poles, with GT1 about seven seconds slower. Jacques Nicolet spins into the gravel at Dunlop in the #24 Oak Pesca, but rejoins unaided. McNish is back in the #1 Audi and the car is wheeled out of the garage. In the lower reaches of GT2, Michael Vergers and Roman Rusinov are picking up pace in the Virgo and Modena Ferraris. Kunimoto cuts the Ford Chicane on his out lap, which doesn't help his cause very much. Pierre Bruneau joins a growing list of drivers to have suffered a spin in the vicinity of the Dunlop Bridge, but, like the others tonight, gets away with it. The only driver going quicker at the moment is Richard Dean in the #6 Team LNT Ginetta Zytek; the Ginetta Cars Managing Director knocking five seconds off his previous best to improve to 18th with 3:34.804 - 1.4 off the #14 Audi. Pat Long improves to 4:04.648 in the #76 IMSA Porsche - sixth fastest - and Xavier Pompidou improves the pace of the Speedy Team Sebah P2 Lola Judd to 3:42.768. He keeps his foot planted and moves up to third - but is still almost exactly four seconds off the Porsches. The #008 Lola Aston Martin is sitting down the end of the pitlane with its lights off and surrounded by ACO officials and Aston personnel. George Howard-Chappell is asked by RLM what the problem is; "Just a minor issue, nothing to worry about." Mechanical or procedural? "Talk to the ACO!" The #2 Audi is covered over and put to bed. Charles Zwolsman gets out of jail with a 3:33.732 after being in jeopardy of losing ground. The circuit CCTV picks up an image of a marshal manoeuvering his Peugeot 106 behind the barriers, to cries of "2011 regulations!" from the press room. The JLOC Ferrari pits after again slowing on track - things don't look too promising for the Japanese car, which is still 55th at this point. Christian Klien improves his first sector time in the #7 Peugeot, but the screen shows that the #007 Lola Aston has stopped at Point 60 - just before the second chicane. The message disappears, which suggests that the car has rejoined. With 40 minutes remaining, Miguel Amaral finds himself looking closely at the Arnage tyre wall in the #40 Quifel ASM Ginetta-Zytek. A helpful push from the marshals sees him on his way again. The 009 car gets back to the pit and is sent out again. The TV screens show a replay of the car bouncing across the Mulsanne kitty litter. Stephane Mucke reports that the #007 car has hit the barrier at the second chicane and has not made it back. The team doesn't know the extent of the damage at this point. Kristensen gets in to the #1 Audi. Meanwhile Minassian and Gene appear to be looking for a quicker time; the #7 and #9 Peugeots setting fastest sector times without yet putting together a full lap. Gene soon changes that though, he goes fourth fastest in the #9 car - 3:25.4,just as Sarrazin sets the fastest time of all in the first sector, then the second, but then is baulked briefly by an Audi at Mulsanne Corner. The Peugeot then comes across a Kolles Audi in the Porsche Curves and crosses the line with....3:23.728 - 0.078s off pole. Sarrazin does not back off and we have two more fastest sectors - it's now down to traffic. He jinks right then left around an Audi at Indianapolis. No traffic in the Porsche Curves this time - but it's not enough; 3:23.792. Marc Gene improves his time to 3:25.252, but stays fourth. Minassian gets fresh rubber with 23 minutes left. Then Gene does the same - and Sarrazin too - Remember Peugeot saying that pole didn't matter? Yeah Right!! Fassler has a spin at Mulsanne Corner in the #64 Corvette - he rejoins without further drama Andre Lotterer takes the #14 Kolles Audi Up to a neat 14th place. Minassian meanwhile is going quickly - two green sectors, the #7 quicker than its been before today - 6th in 3:26.992 becomes 5th in 3:26.292. Audi lead the way with Peugeots 2,3,4,5. Minassian meanwhile is going faster again. Thomas Erdos picks up time and a position, the RML Lola Mazda posting a 3:41.9, up to 4th in LMP2 ahead of the Quifel ASM Ginetta Zytek. From absolutely nowhere Sarrazin grabs pole - 3:22.888 in #8 , Minassian meanwhile comes through in third, 3:24.860 for #7 10 minutes remaining Jamie Campbell Walter improves in the Creation, leapfrogging the Porsche Spyders to give us a 19 LMP1 train at the top of the timesheets Lotterer improves his time but not position in the #14 R10 meanwhile. Peter Kox too improves time but not position in the #009 Lola Aston, still 17th In GT2 Bouchut improves in the JMB 430 GT - 4:04.084 good enough for fourth in class with 6 minutes remaining No response to the Peugeot pole run from Audi but Kristensen is ominously quick on rubber that has run for a stint and a half - 3:30s and 3:31s! Wernner has a stab at the death in the #2 R15 - he slices a chunk of time from the car's best effort but ends the session 6th Sarrazin has pole for Peugeot after a fascinating evening of cat and mouse track action - delight for Peugeot, quiet satisfaction for Audi - They finish their evening with a practice pitstop for the #1 car, seemingly cocking a snook at Peugeot as if to say "This is what's really going to matter." For now though there will be Peugeot headlines tomorrow Team Essex take LMP2 pole, Casper Elgaard driving impressively. Jan Magnussen posts pole for Corvette Racing and Jorg Bergmeister for Flying Lizards and Porsche in GT2 The #007 Lola Aston Martin meanwhile made its way back to the pitlane - post session - on a flatbed, a chastened Jan Charouz reporting to dsc that the rear had locked up under braking, the car hitting the barrier at the second chicane, losing the right rear wheel and suffering front and rear end damage. Visually at least the damage appears fixable. Kristian Poulsen:
“Casper did a great job to get the pole, but for me tonight was really about getting used to the car. It’s the first running I’ve done here in the dry and it’s getting better and better every lap. Consistency is the most important thing for me and my time compared to my team mates. Casper’s pole time was very good, but our race pace will be 2 or 3 seconds per lap slower. I am doing my best. If I can get my times consistently within a couple of seconds of my team mates I will be happy.”
Jorg Bergmeister
“I didn’t do much driving earlier in the session because it was important to get Seth comfortable in the dry, so I got in with about 15 minutes to go, worked a bit on the set up and then put on a new set of tyres to go for a time. The car wasn’t perfect - there’s certainly room for improvement - but it was good enough for pole and I’m really happy with that given we have some way to go. We know what we have to do and we have some time in the warm up so I’m sure that will be enough to get things better. Marc Lieb was only 3 hundredths slower than me and the competition in our class is really tight. It’s going to be a fun race.” Jan Magnussen
“I’m really happy. It’s the very last time with the GT1 car, so it’s especially pleasing to get these results here. I’m going to really cherish that trophy on the wall from now on. These results are certainly not easy, it’s really important for our car to get pole and yes we are pushing hard – the other guys are no idiots. There’s still a lot of competition within the team it brings a feel good factor through the whole operation at the moment.”
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