Porsche 919 Hybrids took first and second in the first of three qualifying sessions for the Le Mans 24 Hours this weekend in France. The best lap time for the field of 60 cars was achieved by Neel Jani last night. Early into the session, the Swiss driver ran the 13.629-kilometer-long circuit in 3:19.733 minutes. He shares the 900 horsepower #2 car with Romain Dumas (FR) and Marc Lieb (GER). Timo Bernhard (GER) set the second fastest time on the 38-turn course in 3:20.203 minutes. Bernhard co-drives the #1 car with Brendon Hartley (NZ) and Mark Webber (AUS).
The lead up to what will be the third race of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) also saw two Toyota TS050 hybrids running the four-hour practice session, which was followed by the first qualifying session.
Toyota set its fastest lap time at Le Mans since returning in 2012 (3:20.737secs). Stéphane Sarrazin in the #6 car that he shares with Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi are now a provisional third on the grid, one place ahead of the Toyota #5 of Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima. Toyota has had reliability problems this year, after losing to Porsche last year.
Audi in its 18th Le Mans run since 1999 has less fuel to burn than ever before – and less than its competitors, as specified by regulations that are politically motivated. Audi, you may recall, made history at Le Mans in 2006, when itbecame the first manufacturer to win what is, arguably, the world’s toughest endurance race with diesel power. Now Audi claims its TDI engine is more efficient than ever and part of a highly complex diesel-hybrid powertrain.
When the sun come up on Sunday, we will see how Audi, Porsche and Toyotaare doing.
Audi Sport Team Joest occupies the provisional starting positions of fifth and sixth place. Lucas di Grassi piloted the #8 Audi R18 to a lap time of 3:22.466 shortly before midnight. André Lotterer in the #7 Audi R18 trailed his teammate by 0.314. All six of the Audi drivers completed the mandatory night-time laps.
Qualifying – First Session
As frequently occurs at Le Mans, the four-hour qualifying run was challenging because of rain, and interrupted several times because of accidents – given the speed differentials of the different classes of cars.
“Both our Porsche 919 Hybrids ran into traffic on their respective fastest laps, which means both cars have the potential to go faster,” said Fritz Enzinger, Vice President LMP1 at Porsche. “We are very much looking forward to the second and third qualifying sessions on Thursday.”
At Le Mans three qualifying sessions are held, with each lasting two hours. The best lap time achieved during all determines a car’s grid position. It is not clear what Wednesday’s time sheets from the dry session may be worth in terms of grid positions because of the weather. The first qualifying session was red flagged for about 13 minutes, but not extended. It also saw many incidents and yellow flags.
Final qualifying sessions run today.
