The #8 Peugeot ended up fastest after day 1 of qualifying
With the first part of qualifying now complete the Peugeots are definitely easily the fastest cars out there. They have totally dominated this session by showing astounding ‘out and out’ speed. To knock a few hundredths of a second off the fastest lap time is an achievement but to demolish the current lap record by 7.8 secs is amazing. The fastest of them all was the #8 Team Peugeot Total, Peugeot 908 HDI FAP driven by Sarrazin. He had been quick in testing but nobody expected this incredible performance.
The rest of the Peugeot team were also all easily within the existing lap record. Audi did not appear to have the answer today, instead Dr Ullrich Competition Director of Audi Sport told us that the team was not concentrating on outright speed they were looking for a perfect race set up instead.
Unfortunately it was the fastest ‘petrol’ car that had a major accident. It was the #16 Pescarolo Sport, Pescarolo driven by Dumas that was unlucky enough to go off on oil laid down by the #59 Team Modena, Aston Martin DBR9 driven by Borcheller. It was a major impact that damaged the car severely and hopefully it will be OK for tomorrow.
In LMP2 lap records were falling as well with four cars getting under the old lap record. The fastest was the #31 Team Essex, Porsche RS Spyder driven by Maassen. This was six seconds inside the outright lap record.
The only Class that didn’t actually beat the outright lap record was LM GT1, however the #63 Corvette Racing, Corvette C6.R did beat last years best qualifying time.
The record breaking went on in LM GT2 with #80 Flying Lizard Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR smashing the existing lap record by almost four seconds.
Right at the end of the session and causing the second Red Flag was the accident that involved the LMP2 #44 Kruse Schiller Motorsport, Lola Mazda driven by Noda. It was a very spectacular accident that Noda will have been very relieved to have walked away from. Once again a prototype seemed to get airborne and then rolled several times into the gravel traps at the Dunlop Curve. The car was extensively damaged and may not make tomorrow’s session.
A record breaking 45,000 spectators came to the circuit for the first day of qualifying. They were privileged to watch one of the most remarkable qualifying sessions for years.
The four Corvettes were impressive in qualifying
Please scroll down for the times
| 1 | LM P1 | P.Lamy, S.Sarrazin, A.Wurz | Team Peugeot Total | Peugeot 908 | 3:18.513 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | LM P1 | F.Montagny, R.Zonta, C.Klein | Peugeot Sport Total | Peugeot 908 | 03:18.7 |
| 3 | LM P1 | M.Gene, N.Minassian, J.Villeneuve | Team Peugeot Total | Peugeot 908 | 03:20.5 |
| 4 | LM P1 | R.Capello, A.McNish, T.Kristensen | Audi Sport North America | Audi R10 | 03:24.1 |
| 5 | LM P1 | L.Luhr, A.Premat, M.Rockenfeller | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi R10 | 03:24.3 |
| 6 | LM P1 | F.Biela, E.Pirro, M.Werner | Audi Sport North America | Audi R10 | 03:27.6 |
| 7 | LM P1 | J.C.Boullion, E.Collard, R.Dumas | Pescarolo Sport | Pescarolo Judd | 03:28.5 |
| 8 | LM P1 | D.Ito, Y.Tachikawa, T.Kataoka | Dome Racing Team | Dome S102 Judd | 03:29.4 |
| 9 | LM P1 | S.Ayari, L.Duval, L.Groppi | Team Oreca Matmut | Courage-Oreca LC70 Judd | 03:30.5 |
| 10 | LM P1 | H.Primat, C.Tinseau, B.Treluyer | Pescarolo Sport | Pescarolo Judd | 03:30.6 |
| 11 | LM P1 | S.Pagenaud, O.Panis, M.Fassler | Team Oreca Matmut | Courage-Oreca LC70 Judd | 03:31.2 |
| 12 | LM P1 | G.Pickett, K.Graf, J.Lammers | Charouz Racing System | Lola Judd | 03:31.9 |
| 13 | LM P2 | J.Nielsen, C.Elgaard, S.Maassen | Team Essex | Porsche RS Spyder | 03:33.4 |
| 14 | LM P2 | P.van Merksteijn, J.Verstappen, J.Bleeke | Van Merksteijn Motorsport | Porsche RS Spyder | 03:34.1 |
| 15 | LM P1 | S.Mucke, J.Charouz, T.Enge | Charouz Racing System | Lola B08-80 Aston Martin | 03:34.2 |
| 16 | LM P2 | J.Barazi, M.Vergers, S.Moseley | Barazi Epsilon | Zytek 07S/2 | 03:35.3 |
| 17 | LM P2 | X.Pompidou, A.Belicchi, S.Zacchia | SpeedY Racing Team Sebah | Lola B08-80Judd | 03:35.4 |
| 18 | LM P1 | V.Ickx, S.Gregoire, J.Barbosa | Rollcentre Racing | Pescarolo Judd | 03:35.4 |
| 19 | LM P1 | S.Hall, J.Mowlem, M.Goossens | Creation Autosportif | Creation CA07 AIM | 03:36.0 |
| 20 | LM P1 | Y.Terada, K.Takahashi, H.Katoh | Terramos | Courage Mugen | 03:37.6 |
| 21 | LM P1 | G.Evans, B.Berridge, A.Stretton | Chamberlain-Synergy Motorspr | Lola B06-10 AER | 03:38.0 |
| 22 | LM P1 | A.Burgueno, M.A.De Castro, A.Valles | Epsilon Euskadi | Epsilon Euskadi EE01 Judd | 03:39.2 |
| 23 | LM P2 | W.Hughes, J.Kane, J.Foster | Embassy Racing | Embassy WF01 Zytek | 03:39.9 |
| 24 | LM P2 | M.Amaral, O.Pla, G.Smith | Quifel-ASM Team | Lola B05-40 AER | 03:41.2 |
| 25 | LM P1 | J.-M.Gounon, S.Nakano, S.Johansson | Epsilon Euskadi | Epsilon Euskadi EE01 Judd | 03:41.5 |
| 26 | LM P2 | P.Ragues, M.Lahaye, C.Cheng | Saulnier Racing | Pescarolo Judd | 03:42.5 |
| 27 | LM P2 | T.Erdos, M.Newton, A.Wallace | RML | Lola B05-40 MG | 03:44.2 |
| 28 | LM P1 | M.Faggionato, J.Nicolet, R.Hein | Saulnier Racing | Pescarolo Judd | 03:46.7 |
| 29 | LM P2 | K.Ojjeh, C.Y.Gosselin, A.Sharpe | Trading Performance | Zytek 07S/2 | 03:46.8 |
| 30 | LM P2 | J.de Pourtales, H.Noda,A.Simonsen | Kruse Schiller Motorsport | Lola B05-40 Mazda | 03:47.8 |
| 31 | LM P2 | B.Devlin, M.Rostan, G.Jeannette | Team Bruichladdich Radical | Radical SR9 AER | 03:47.9 |
| 32 | LM GT1 | J.O'Connell, J.Magnussen, R.Fellows | Corvette Racing | Corvette C6.R | 03:49.4 |
| 33 | LM GT1 | O.Beretta, O.Gavin, M.Papis | Corvette Racing | Corvette C6.R | 03:50.8 |
| 34 | LM GT1 | C.Bouchut, P.Bornhauser, D.Hallyday | Larbre Competition | Saleen S7R | 03:50.9 |
| 35 | LM GT1 | P.Kox, R.Rusinov, M.Hezemans | Interprogressbank Spartak | Lamborghini Murcielago | 03:52.2 |
| 36 | LM GT1 | D.Brabham, D.Turner, A.Garcia | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin DBR9 | 03:52.3 |
| 37 | LM GT1 | H.-H.Frentzen, A.Piccini, K.Wendlinger | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin DBR9 | 03:52.5 |
| 38 | LM P1 | T.Suzuki, M.Kageyama, H.Kurosawa | Tokai University-YGK Power | Courage-Oreca YGK | 03:53.1 |
| 39 | LM GT1 | L.Alphand, J.Policand, G.Moreau | Luc Alphand Aventures | Corvette C6.R | 03:54.0 |
| 40 | LM GT1 | P.Goueslard, J.Blanchemain, L.Pasquali | Luc Alphand Aventures | Corvette C6.R | 03:55.7 |
| 41 | LM P1 | M.Lewis, B.Willman, C.McMurry | Autocon | Creation CA07 Judd | 03:56.1 |
| 42 | LM GT1 | A.Negrao, P.Hardman, N.Leventis | Vitaphone Racing Team | Aston Martin DBR9 | 03:57.4 |
| 43 | LM GT1 | J.Menten, C.Fittipaldi, T.Borcheller | Team Modena | Aston Martin DBR9 | 03:58.2 |
| 44 | LM GT2 | J.Bergmeister, J.van Overbeek, S.Neiman | Flying Lizard Motorsports | Porsche 911 GT3 RSR | 04:00.1 |
| 45 | LM GT2 | R.Narac, R.Lietz, P.Long | Imsa Performance Matmut | Porsche 911 GT3 RSR | 04:00.8 |
| 46 | LM GT2 | T.Mullen, R.Bell, T.Sugden | Virgo Motorsport | Ferrari F430 GTC | 04:01.3 |
| 47 | LM GT2 | M.Salo, J.Melo, G.Bruni | Risi Competizione | Ferrari F430 GTC | 04:01.6 |
| 48 | LM GT2 | F.Babini, P.Ruberti, M.Malucelli | BMS Scuderia Italia | Ferrari F430 GTC | 04:02.1 |
| 49 | LM GT2 | A.Davison, W.Henzler, H.Felbermayr | Team Felbermayr-Proton | Porsche 911 GT3 RSR | 04:02.5 |
| 50 | LM GT2 | B.Aucott, S.Dauodi, A.Ferte | JMB Racing | Ferrari F430 GTC | 04:03.3 |
| 51 | LM GT2 | P. Dumbreck, R.Kelleners, A.Vasiliev | Spyker Squadron | Spyker C8 Laviolette | 04:05.1 |
| 52 | LM GT2 | L.-E.Nielsen, P.Ehret, P.Kaffer | Farnbacher Racing | Ferrari F430 GTC | 04:05.1 |
| 53 | LM GT2 | T.Biagi, C.Montanari, T.Vilander | AF Corse | Ferrari F430 GTC | 04:05.7 |
| 54 | LM GT2 | T.Krohn, N.Jonsson, E.van de Poele | Risi Competizione | Ferrari F430 GTC | 04:08.0 |
| 55 | LM GT2 | A.Chiesa, B.Leuenberger, I.Alexander-Dav | Speedy Racing Team | Spyker C8 Laviolette | 04:11.6 |