LM24 Q2: Jani’s time unbeaten, Hartley tops session, Dixon 2nd in GTE-Pro

Autosport

Porsche maintained its front row lockout for the Le Mans 24 Hours during a second qualifying session that was predominantly held in wet conditions on Thursday.

Neel Jani’s 3m19.733s went unchallenged in the first 30 minutes of the evening’s first two-hour session – the only part of track running that took place in the dry.

While the factory LMP1 cars all took to the track in the opening minutes to get some dry laps, none showed any interest in trying to set competitive times, with Toyota the busiest of the manufacturers but still several seconds down on its best laps from Wednesday.

While the track action was far less frenetic once the heavens opened – initially in the first part of the lap – the leading teams kept themselves busy with short runs, with Toyota continuing to log the most laps.

While there were no changes in the order during the session, the Audis swapped places overnight after the faster #8 R18 e-tron quattro was penalised for using too much fuel on its fastest lap on Wednesday.

That moved the Lucas di Grassi/Loic Duval/Oliver Jarvis car back to sixth place, just 0.043s slower than the #7 car of Marcel Fassler/Andre Lotterer/Benoit Treluyer.

The only other change in LMP1 came courtesy of the ByKolles CLM, which logged its first qualifying laps of the event after missing yesterday’s session following a big fire in free practice.

Pierre Kaffer slotted the car onto the back of the P1 field in ninth place, 14.4s off Jani’s time with a 3m34.168s shortly before the rain fell.

LMP2 – LIMITED IMPROVEMENTS MADE
By Mitchell Adam

There was no change to the top 14 places in the LMP2 order, with G-Drive’s ORECA still set to start on pole position.

The fastest time before the rain arrived was set by Ho-Pin Tung in the Baxi DC Racing Alpine, but his 3m39.559s effort was the best part of three seconds off the pace set by Rene Rast on Wednesday evening.

Five teams improved their times, with the Pegasus Racing Morgan finding one second to move up from 16th to 15th in the order.

Vitaly Petrov moved the #37 SMP Racing BR-01 up one place to 18th, finishing ahead fellow improvers Algarve Pro Racing and Greaves Motorsport, while the SO24! by Lombard Racing Ligier moved off of the bottom of the order to 22nd.

GTE – FORD STILL ON TOP
By Scott Mitchell

Ford remains on course for a provisional one-two on the grid on the 50th anniversary of the original GT’s first Le Mans triumph.

Dirk Muller’s Wednesday night benchmark of 3m51.185s remained unbeaten as none of the GTE Pro field improved its times during the brief spell of dry running at the start of the session.

It means the guesting #68 and #69 GTs usually run in the IMSA SportsCar Championship retain their front-row berths on the provisional grid, ahead of the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488.

The fastest laptime for the session itself came from the lead Ferrari in the hands of James Calado, but the Briton’s 3m53.218s was a long way off the car’s Wednesday-night best.

Ferrari will be buoyed by Calado’s short but rapid outings when the track was wet, with the 488 fractionally faster than any of the Fords could manage after the rain fell.

Porsche, Chevrolet and Aston Martin kept their wet-weather running to a minimum, and remain several seconds off the benchmark pace following after failing to improve on a difficult opening session while it was dry.

The AF-run Clearwater Racing Ferrari 458 Italia is still on top of the GTE Am class thanks to Rob Bell’s Wednesday effort.

There is no change for second either, which remains the domain of the #98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage, but the #88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Porsche has moved up to third on the grid in its class.

QUALIFYING TWO RESULTS:

PosClassDriverTeamCarTimeGapLaps
1LMP1T.Bernhard, M.Webber, B.HartleyPorsche TeamPorsche3m23.307s15
2LMP1A.Davidson, S.Buemi, K.NakajimaToyota Gazoo RacingToyota3m24.399s1.092s24
3LMP1R.Dumas, N.Jani, M.LiebPorsche TeamPorsche3m25.511s2.204s15
4LMP1S.Sarrazin, M.Conway, K.KobayashiToyota Gazoo RacingToyota3m25.899s2.592s22
5LMP1L.di Grassi, L.Duval, O.JarvisAudi Sport Team JoestAudi3m26.680s3.373s21
6LMP1N.Prost, N.Heidfeld, N.Piquet Jr.Rebellion RacingRebellion/AER3m27.573s4.266s9
7LMP1M.Tuscher, A.Imperatori, D.KraihamerRebellion RacingRebellion/AER3m30.010s6.703s5
8LMP1S.Trummer, O.Webb, P.KafferByKOLLES Racing TeamCLM/AER3m34.168s10.861s10
9LMP2D.Cheng, H-Pin Tung, N.PanciaticiBaxi DC Racing AlpineAlpine/Nissan3m39.559s16.252s10
10LMP2T.Matsuda, M.Howson, R.BradleyKCMGORECA/Nissan3m39.562s16.255s12
11LMP2R.Dalziel, L.Derani, C.CummingExtreme Speed MotorsportsLigier/Nissan3m40.436s17.129s14
12LMP2P.Thiriet, M.Beche, R.HirakawaThiriet by TDS RacingORECA/Nissan3m40.611s17.304s8
13LMP2G.Menezes, N.Lapierre, S.RichelmiSignatech AlpineAlpine/Nissan3m40.895s17.588s15
14LMP2I.Taittinger, R.Striebig, L.RousselPegasus RacingMorgan/Nissan3m41.285s17.978s8
15LMP2N.Minassian, M.Mediani, M.AleshinSMP RacingBR Engineering/Nissan3m41.457s18.150s20
16LMP2V.Petrov, V.Shaytar, K.LadyginSMP RacingBR Engineering/Nissan3m41.776s18.469s8
17LMP2M.Munemann, C.Hoy, A.PizzitolaAlgarve Pro RacingLigier/Nissan3m42.088s18.781s19
18LMP2M.Rojas, J.Canal, N.BerthonGreaves MotorsportLigier/Nissan3m42.570s19.263s12
19LMP2N.Leventis, D.Watts, J.KaneStrakka RacingGibson/Nissan3m44.142s20.835s14
20LMP2R.Gonzalez, B.Senna, F.AlbuquerqueRGR Sport by MorandLigier/Nissan3m44.198s20.891s20
21LMP2V.Capillaire, E.Maris, J.ColemanSo24 ! By Lombard RacingLigier/Judd3m44.347s21.040s15
22LMP2F.Barthez, P-L.Chatin, T.BuretPanis Barthez CompetitionLigier/Nissan3m45.018s21.711s19
23LMP2B.Keating, J.Bleekemolen, M.GoossensMurphy PrototypesORECA/Nissan3m45.067s21.760s7
24LMP1M.Fassler, A.Lotterer, B.TreluyerAudi Sport Team JoestAudi3m45.468s22.161s16
25LMP2N.Leutwiler, S.Nakano, J.WinslowRace PerformanceORECA/Judd3m45.711s22.404s11
26LMP2T.Krohn, N.Jonsson, J.BarbosaKrohn RacingLigier/Nissan3m45.978s22.671s13
27LMP2J.Pew, O.Negri, L.VanthoorMichael Shank RacingLigier/HPD3m51.759s28.452s19
28GTE ProG.Bruni, J.Calado, A.P.GuidiAF CorseFerrari3m53.218s29.911s15
29GTE ProR.Briscoe, R.Westbrook, S.DixonFord Chip Ganassi Team USAFord3m53.603s30.296s13
30GTE ProJ.Hand, D.Muller, S.BourdaisFord Chip Ganassi Team USAFord3m53.672s30.365s18
31GTE ProG.Fisichella, T.Vilander, M.MalucelliRisi CompetizioneFerrari3m55.032s31.725s12
32GTE ProD.Rigon, S.Bird, A.BertoliniAF CorseFerrari3m55.066s31.759s13
33GTE ProM.Franchitti, A.Priaulx, H.TincknellFord Chip Ganassi Team UKFord3m55.750s32.443s20
34GTE AmP.Pilet, K.Estre, N.TandyPorsche MotorsportPorsche3m56.792s33.485s6
35GTE ProR.Lietz, M.Christensen, P.EngDempsey Racing – ProtonPorsche3m57.082s33.775s17
36GTE AmF.Makowiecki, E.Bamber, J.BergmeisterPorsche MotorsportPorsche3m57.128s33.821s5
37GTE AmK.Al Qubaisi, D.Hansson, P.LongAbu Dhabi-Proton RacingPorsche3m57.513s34.206s22
38GTE ProO.Pla, S.Mucke, B.JohnsonFord Chip Ganassi Team UKFord3m58.358s35.051s15
39GTE ProO.Gavin, T.Milner, J.TaylorCorvette RacingChevrolet3m58.493s35.186s18
40GTE ProC.Ried, W.Henzler, J.CamathiasKCMGPorsche3m59.034s35.727s15
41GTE ProJ.Magnussen, A.Garcia, R.TaylorCorvette RacingChevrolet3m59.268s35.961s18
42GTE AmD.Cameron, M.Griffin, A.ScottAF CorseFerrari3m59.469s36.162s21
43GTE AmC.MacNeil, L.Keen, M.MillerProton CompetitionPorsche4m00.107s36.800s24
44InnovF.Sausset, C.Tinseau, J-B.BouvetSRT41 By Oak RacingMorgan/Nissan4m01.607s38.300s9
45LMP2S.Dolan, J.Dennis, G.van der GardeG-Drive RacingGibson/Nissan4m01.981s38.674s11
46GTE AmF.Perrodo, E.Collard, R.AguasAF CorseFerrari4m03.676s40.369s19
47GTE AmJ.Laursen, M.Mac, C.NielsenFormula RacingFerrari4m03.851s40.544s21
48LMP2R.Rusinov, W.Stevens, R.RastG-Drive RacingORECA/Nissan4m04.887s41.580s9
49GTE AmB.Sweedler, T.Bell, J.SegalScuderia CorsaFerrari4m05.643s42.336s10
50GTE AmJ.O’Connell, O.Bryant, M.PattersonTeam AAIChevrolet4m05.822s42.515s16
51GTE AmW.Sun Mok, K.Sawa, R.BellClearwater RacingFerrari4m06.801s43.494s19
52GTE AmM.Wainwright, A.Carroll, B.BarkerGulf Racing UKPorsche4m09.283s45.976s10
53LMP2S.Sharp, E.Brown, J.van OverbeekExtreme Speed MotorsportsLigier/Nissan4m14.456s51.149s13
54LMP2P.Jun Jin, T.Gommendy, N.de BruijnEurasia MotorsportORECA/Nissan4m14.491s51.184s9
55GTE AmY.Yamagishi, P.Ragues, J-P.BellocLarbre CompetitionChevrolet4m27.530s1m04.223s12
LMP2T.Graves, M.Rao, R.MerhiManorORECA/Nissan3
GTE AmN.Thiim, M.Sorensen, D.TurnerAston Martin RacingAston Martin0
GTE AmR.Stanaway, F.Rees, J.AdamAston Martin RacingAston Martin1
GTE AmP.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.LaudaAston Martin RacingAston Martin2
GTE AmA.Howard, L.Griffin, G.HirschAston Martin RacingAston Martin

LM24 Q2: Jani’s time unbeaten, Hartley tops session, Dixon 2nd in GTE-Pro

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