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Le Mans 24 Hours -
Qualifying 2 - 19.00-21.00
18:50
Just 10 minutes to
go before the start of Qualifying.
18:56
Race Control Audi
A1 has just completed a lap and is back in the pit - 3 minutes before we go
green.
18:57
We're expecting the
AF Corse Ferrari #51 of Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander to return at some point
tonight - the car has been reshelled.
19:00
"Pit exit is now
green - session has started" - says Eduardo Freitas from race
control.
19:02
The #29 Gulf Racing
Middle East that crashed at Dunlop has been repaired but is not yet out on
track.
19:03
The #31 Kolles Lola
has stopped at the exit of Tertre Rouge - Luca Moro behind the wheel of the Lola
B12/80 Lotus.
19:04
Audi's 4-3-2 return
to the pit after installation lap, several cars continue. The Nissan DeltaWing
has also returned to the track for this session.
19:07
Anthony Davidson on
the objectives for tonight: "Drive as fast as you possibly can. We're always
goin’ to be pushing. Realistically it will be the night time when things will be
quicker. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully later on, in Q3, we'll have a cleaner
circuit at the end."
19:08
Pescarolo 03 Judd
is back on track after its crash as well - good to see the #16 Pescarolo Team
car out again.
19:11
The Corvettes are
hammering the curbs at the Ford Chicane...quick times by Milner and Magnussen
already, but still far off the 3:55 set last night.
19:15
3:29.633 already
for Stéphane Sarrazin - pretty quick this early in the session.
19:16
Car off at Tertre
Rouge!
19:17
As we just had the
#26 Signatech-Nissan with a little woopsie at the Ford Chicane.
19:17
ProSpeed Porsche in
the wall at Tertre Rouge - Bret Curtis in the car.
19:19
Yellow car still
being displayed at Tertre Rouge - race director telling the teams that Bret
Curtis will continue slowly.
19:19
And yellows
withdrawn
19:21
3:27.800 for
Nakajima - only a couple of tenths slower than yesterday.
ProSpeed #75
stopped on track again - now pushed behind the barrier by the
marshals.
19:22
Out of the Ford
Chicane the #61 of Rui Aguas slowed dramatically - forcing the #26 of Pierre
Ragues to slow down as well. Odd situation there.
19:25
Nicolas Prost
improves to a 3:33.106 - better than last night. All lap times getting close to
the times set in the final minutes of last nights qualifying session.
19:27
Race control
reports yellow flags removed - ProSpeed Porsche in a safe place now. We're full
course green again.
19:28
Martin Brundle
3:42.299, only a tenth behind the fastest qualifying time of the car last night.
Not bad for an old man. Jota Zytek ran wide onto the straight.
19:29
Aston Martin Racing
#97 going straight at the Ford Chicane - and returns to the pit.
19:29
Michel Frey (#40
Oreca) has improved to 3:46.618 - 30th overall with that time.
19:31
Romain Dumas in
3:25.858 - better than before. Second fastest time in qualifying so
far.
As the #74 Corvette has spun
and rejoined....
19:32
Pierre Kaffer (#49
Oreca) improved to third in LMP2 -3:40.022, still 0.8 behind the provisional
pole time.
19:34
Lotterer in
3:26.097 - getting closer to that provisional pole time of 3:25.453.
19:35
Lotterer 79.7 in
sector 2!
19:36
Nakajima hops into
third place - 3:26.505. Now one second behind the pole.
19:36
Lotterer improves
the provisional pole time - 3:24.997!
19:37
Half a second
quicker than the previous pole time.
19:38
#81 Ferrari missed
the entry of the Ford Curve - jumped the gravel trap and curbs and back into the
pit now. Perazzini behind the wheel of that Ferrari.
19:39
Lotterer improves
again - 79.8 in second sector. Sector 1 wasn't that good though it
seems.
19:40
Two fastest sector
times in second and third sector - but a slower sector 1 means Lotterer does not
improve. There is more to come at the track though.
19:42
Jan Charouz has
improved to 3:41.060 - seventh in LMP2 with that time. As the JMB Racing Ferrari
was rather slow at the Pit Entry.
19:44
Romain Dumas
3:25.819 - gap between the Audi R18 e-tron quattro and the Audi R18 ultra is now
0.722. Lotterer quicker in sector 2 again - but aborts his run and returns to
the pit.
OAK Racing Morgan-Judd #24
of Olivier Pla in the gravel trap at Indianapolis. Yellow flags.
19:45
Nose first into the
barriers for the OAK Racing car. "Car currently being snatched, yellow flags
being displayed," says Eduardo Freitas on the radio.
19:46
Allan McNish
3:26.350 - pushes the Toyota #7 outside the top 3 again. Michel Frey has
improved the time for the Race Performance Oreca 03 Judd into 28th overall
(3:43.618).
19:46
More yellow flags -
this time at the Mulsanne Corner!
19:47
Michel Frey has
stopped at Mulsanne Corner - causing the yellow flags.
19:48
3:26.038 for McNish
- top three within a second of each other. First Toyota at 1.5
seconds.
19:52
André Lotterer:
"The track improved a lot from yesterday when it was very slippery. We focussed
on setting up the car today. It was a good lap, had some traffic. There is
definitely more potential."
19:58
Nicolas Prost
improved to a 3:33.062 - moving up into eighth and pushing down team-mate Jeroen
Bleekemolen to ninth.
20:00
A couple of minutes
ago Soheil Ayari spun his Pecom Racing Oreca Nissan at the Ford Chicane - Ayari
has pitted as a result.
20:02
Martin Brundle into
sixth in LMP2 - 3:40.738 for Brundle Sr.
JRM still not out - the team already
reporting race parts were fitted and sessions would be used for installation
laps.
20:03
Marco Bonanomi
3:26.918 - improved and top 5 within 2 seconds of each other.
20:04
Jan Charouz makes
it an Oreca top 4 - 3:40.273 for the Czech driver and his ADR-Delta Oreca 03
Nissan.
20:08
Another improvement
by Charouz - 3:40.174. As Lapierre is on a flyer in the #7 Toyota TS030
Hybrid.
20:09
3:26.502 for
Lapierre - quickest second sector for the #7 - but only brings him
0.003!
20:10
Olivier Pla back on
track after his little mishap and with new bodywork and tyres the French driver
has just set a 3:40.743 - eighth overall. Martin into tenth now in
3:41.336.
20:11
Improvement for
Marco Bonanomi - 3:26.420 puts the #4 Audi in fourth place.
20:13
Despite traffic
Davidson in 3:28.233 - lap time improvement, no position change for the #8
Toyota.
Nelson Panciatici in the #26 Signatech-Nissan into second in LMP2 -
making it an Oreca-Nissan top five in the LMP2 class.
20:14
Improvement by the
#8 Toyota was 0.001s....consistent lap times for sure for Toyota!
20:15
And Davidson is
another fast lap - as Danny Watts sets a 3:30.733 in the Strakka Racing HPD
ARX-03a!
20:16
Several cars off
onto the finish straight - including Davidson launching himself over the curbs!
Brilliant ;-)
20:19
Olivier Pla breaks
up that LMP2 Oreca top 5 - 3:40.050 puts him into fifth.
Nelson Panciatici
closing in on the Thiriet by TDS Racing laptime - 3:39.486, just two tenths
short of pole in LMP2.
20:20
Olivier Pla takes
provisional pole in LMP2 - 3:39.213 in the #24 OAK Racing Morgan-Judd
20:23
Michel Frey has
managed to get the Race Performance Oreca 03 Judd back on track - and is now
slowly on his way back to the pit.
20:24
Stefan Mücke
3:56.924 - pushes down the #73 Corvette into fourth. Corvette-Ferrari-Aston in
GTE Pro at the moment.
20:25
Frey is back in the
pit - no visual damage to the Race Performance Oreca as it passed here at Pit
Entry.
20:29
Maxime Martin very
fast again - sixth in class now with 3:40.070. As we have the #7 hitting the
curbs at Ford Chicane - and slowly crawling into the pit now.
20:30
Harold Primat went
straight at the second chicane - Duval fastest in sector 1.
20:30
Fastest sector time
for Davidson in sector 2.
20:32
Loïc Duval in
3:24.078 - almost a second quicker than the #1 Audi!
20:33
Danny Watts
meanwhile has put in a 3:29.622 - fastest petrol non-hybrid now.
20:34
And Anthony
Davidson in 3:26.151 into fourth place...
20:36
New GTE Pro pole
sitter - Fred Makowiecki lapping the Circuit de la Sarthe in 3:55.393, half a
second quicker than the Corvette last night. Interesting developments here at Le
Mans - as several drivers expect to go even quicker in the third
session.
20:39
Faster lap time set
by Olivier Pla - 3:38.954, first LMP2 driver to get into the 3:38s - improvement
of the LMP2 pole time.
20:42
Collard has just
set the fastest lap time for the Pescarolo 03 Judd - 3:37.485 doesn't get it any
further, but so far it's just a tenth behind the OAK Racing Pescarolo 01
Judd.
20:44
The JRM HPD ARX-03a
and the Level 5 Motorsport HPD ARX-03b have not been out this session - from the
teams that didn't have any problems yesterday.
20:44
Andrea Belicchi
3:31.866 - puts him back ahead of the sister car.
20:47
Luxury Racing
Ferrari #59 of Makowiecki has gone straight at the second Mulsanne chicane - as
we have a slippery track at the right hand side of the pit exit.
20:49
Question of the
day: Will Status GP and Murphy Prototypes return to the track for the third
qualifying session - knowing that Ireland is currently playing Spain in Euro
2012? Answers on a postcard!
20:49
10 minutes remaining in this
session
20:51
Nelson Panciatici
into second place in LMP2 - 3:39.152
Darren Turner improves third place time
in GTE Pro - 3:56.517.
20:52
Anthony Davidson
suddenly slowed just after the Dunlop Bridge - another technical problem for the
#8 Toyota TS030-Hybrid?
20:54
Darren Turner
improves again - 2nd in GTE Pro now in the Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin
Vantage V8 - 3:55.870.
20:54
As Ireland is now
1-0 down against Spain we expect the Irish drivers and teams to be back on track
in the session between 22:00-00:00 ;-)
20:55
Engine revving into
the pits - Davidson has returned after a slow lap that took him 5
minutes.
20:57
Sam Hancock runs
wide at the last corner - hits the gravel trap onto the straight and clips the
barrier. Damage to the Jota-Zytek. Debris and gravel on the finish straight and
damage to the tyre barrier there as well.
20:58
Yellow flags at the
final corner - with 2 minutes left that basically means the end of the
session.
20:59
Installation lap
for JRM - and returns to the pit.
Neel Jani improves his lap time and better
sector times in all sectors - including the last where we have yellow
flags....
21:00
Chequered
flag!
21:01
Cars 3, 8, 24, 26,
59, 81, 88, 97 now under parc fermé conditions - Eduardo Freitas calling the
teams to stop working on those cars immediately. Toyota must not be happy about
that...
21:01
Olivier Pla
improves the LMP2 pole time - 3:38.598
21:02
Neel Jani improved
as well - a 3:29.837 for the Rebellion Racing Lola #12.
21:04
All cars have
crossed the line - or are in the pit. Where work can start on set-up changes or
damage repair (Jota-Zytek). We'll be back in just under an
hour.
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