24H Le Mans: Audi lead after free practice

The 90 years of Le Mans 24 Hours is underway, with almost four hours of free practice having taken place.  The session was halted early following a sizeable accident at 19:20h at Tertre Rouge for Tracy Krohn in the No.57 Krohn Racing Ferrari 458 Italia.  The subsequent damage to the tyre wall took longer to repair than time remaining and the session was officially ended at 19:36h.  Thankfully the driver escaped injury.

At the top of the timesheets was the No.2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro, Loic Duval having posted the quickest lap of 3:25.415, with the No.1 Audi 0.6s behind.  The first of the Toyota TS030 Hybrids, the No.8, was fourth quickest – Stephane Sarrazin’s time of 3:29.673 placing him 0.7s ahead of his team mate.  Rebellion’s No.12 led the way in the LMP1 Privateer class.

The LMP2 category was as close as expected, with the No.35 OAK Racing Morgan Nissan ahead of the ORECA 03 Nissans of ELMS championship leader Thiriet by TDS Racing (No.46) and the No.26 G-Drive Racing entry.  Bertrand Baguette set a quickest time in the OAK car of 3:42.813, over a second ahead of the second and third placed cars. There was a brief red flag stoppage for the No.41 Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan when Eric Lux went off track and hit the barriers at the Ralentisseur Michelin (second chicane) - the red flag brought out to clear debris from the track.

Porsche AG Team Manthey’s two 911 RSRs sandwiched the leading AF Corse Ferrari, the No. 71, with Richard Lietz’s time in the No.91 entry of 3:58.347 just two tenths of a second ahead of the Italian car.  The class remains very close in lap times and these are expected to tumble in the first qualifying session this evening, should the dry weather remain.

Krohn Racing’s misfortune overshadowed the LMGTE Am category somewhat, the leading three all being FIA World Endurance Championship competitors.  Aston Martin Racing’s No.95 topped the category with a time of 4:00.650, followed by the No.61 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia and the No.88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 RSR.

Two hours of qualifying begins at 22:00h this evening.  Will it be dry?  One thing is for sure:  it will be exciting!

Full results from free practice can be found here

Fiona Miller  

Photo:  CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES (LE MANS, SARTHE), FREE PRACTICE, WEDNESDAY, 19TH JUNE 2013.  The No.2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro had the upper hand after the first four hours of running for the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours.