24 Hours of Le Mans – Qualifications: Porsche Stuns Audi
Porsche delivered a masterful performance during the Le Mans 24 Hours qualifying by securing a devastating one-two-three finish. The hierarchy is clearly established afterward: the three Audis lead ahead of the two Toyotas. Nissan is more than twenty seconds behind.
We knew they were swift over a lap: the Porsches did not fail their reputation. During the qualifying for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, whose race will start this Saturday at three o’clock, the Porsches indeed placed their three cars in the top three positions on the grid. The qualifying session was, so to speak, decided in the space of
Six minutes during the first session; the second was punctuated by various incidents (including Jan Magnussen’s off-track excursion, which will cause him to miss the race), resulting in numerous yellow or red flags.
It was Neel Jani (crew with Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas) who secured the pole with an extraordinary time of 3’16″887 (track record since 2007). Two LMP1 Porsche 919 Hybrids will accompany the Swiss driver on the grid: the No. 18 (Bernhard-Webber-Hartley) and the No. 19 (Hülkenberg – Bamber – Tandy).
The Audis could not keep up with the frantic pace of the Porsches. The Di Grassi-Duval-Jarvis crew (2.9 seconds off pole position) leads the No. 7 of Fassler-Lotterer-Treluyer (winners of the first two rounds of the championship) and the No. 9 of Albuquerque-Bonanomi-Rast.
2014 World Champion, Toyota was clearly lagging behind. Falling more than six seconds behind the Porsches, the Conway-Sarrazin-Wurz and Davidson-Buemi-Nakajima crews certainly won’t be sporting a happy expression.
But at Audi, as at Toyota, they seemed to prepare the race with diligence. We know that Audi, slightly less fast over a single lap, often makes up for it with their race expertise and strategy. Will this be the case again this weekend, as a probable rain is forecasted for Sunday morning? Romain Dumas, who will start from pole on Saturday, is not fooled: The lap record is good for marketing, but we know the race will be very complicated, especially if the weather intervenes. We know how strong Audi is here, we know how dangerous Toyota is too. They will play a waiting game and that can also pay off. Today, only the result counts.
9th and 10th, the two Rebellion cars easily outrun the two Nissans, which are only 12th and 13th. The Nismos, still in the running-in phase, are more than twenty seconds off the pole position! They will compete to learn.
In the LM P2 category, the Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre set the fastest time and is clearly aiming for victory. The Russian team G-Drive Racing recorded the second fastest time in the category, followed by the No. 41 of Greaves Motorsport.
In the LM GTE Pro class, Giammaria Bruni set the second-fastest time with his Ferrari AF Corse. He will start behind GP2 driver Richie Stanaway, who confirmed the supremacy of his Aston Martin Vantage V8 No. 99. Finally, in the LM GTE category, former F1 driver Pedro Lamy set the fastest time with the Aston Martin No. 98.
The top 8 LMP1:
PORSCHE 919 Hybrid No. 18 (Jani-Lieb-Dumas, SUI-GER-FRA), 3’16″887
2. PORSCHE 919 Hybrid No.17 (Bernhard-Webber-Hartley, GER-AUS-NZL), 3’17″767
3. PORSCHE 919 Hybrid No. 19 (Tandy-Bamber-Hülkenberg, GBR-NZL-ALL), 3’18″862
4. AUDI R18 e-tron quattro No. 8 (Jarvis-Di Grassi-Duval, GBR-BRA-FRA), 3’19″886
5. AUDI R18 e-tron quattro No. 7 (Fässler-Lotterer-Tréluyer, SUI-GER-FRA), 3’20″561
6. AUDI R18 e-tron quattro No. 9 (Rast-Bonanomi-Albuquerque, GER-ITA-POR), 3’20.997
7. TOYOTA TS040-Hybrid No. 2 (Wurz-Conway-Sarrazin, AUT-GBR-FRA), 3’23″543
8. TOYOTA TS040 Hybrid No. 1 (Davidson-Buemi-Nakajima, GBR-SUI-JAP), 3’23″767
