Friday 12th June 2015

Le Mans 2015: Qualifying

That racket beyond the campsite? That's a race you know...

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When analysis of the qualifying for Le Mans and an interview with Anthony Davidson crops up on Radio 4's Today programme you realise that - yes - the Le Mans 24 Hours is still a pretty big deal, even out there in the real world. OK, it might be of merely passing interest to a proportion of those actually AT Le Mans busy building pyramids of empty beer bottles. But if it's good enough for Radio 4 it's good enough for PH and we thought we'd better have a look at what's going on at the race track too.

Porsche on pole .. and second ... and third

And the big news from La Sarthe after the final qualifying session yesterday is that Porsche has locked out the front row of the grid for the ninth time in its history and the first time since 1988. Better than that, Neel Jani's 3min 16.887sec in the black #18 919 Hybrid he's sharing with Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas is the fastest ever lap of the Le Mans circuit since the Mulsanne Straight chicanes were installed. The red #17 car of Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley was just under a second back in second place with the white #19 car driven by Nico Hulkenberg, Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy in third.

What of those ominous Audis? They're in formation behind, the #8 R18 E-Tron Quattro of Lucas di Grassi, Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis in fourth, the #7 Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer car in fifth and the #9 Albuquerque/Bonanomi/Rast car in sixth with all three cars in the 3min 19-20sec range. Three and a half seconds back are the two Toyotas, the Nissans bring up the back of the LMP1 grid but all making it into the race. "We continue to make progress every time we go out on track," says Nissan's Technical Director Ben Bowlby. "Remember that we are tuning the car for Le Mans and developing the car all at the same time. We've got to the end of qualifying with three cars in one piece and a tonne of data so I'm happy with that."

Astons on top in both GTE Pro and GTE Am

LMP2 is lead by the KCMG Oreca Nissan of Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley and Nicolas Lapierre, followed by the G-Drive Ligier Nissan and Greaves Motorsport Gibson Nissan; last year's winning Jota Sport Gibson Nissan is in fourth.

A strong showing for Aston Martin in both GTE Pro and GTE Am too, both categories featuring Vantage GTE at the head of the pack. In Pro it's the #99 car of Richie Stanaway, Alex MacDowall and Fernando Rees up front, ahead of the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 with the #97 Aston in third. Sadly Jan Magnussen's #63 Corvette won't be making the race, the damage to the car after his crash yesterday ruling it out of the race, Magnussen himself thankfully released from the circuit medical centre in good health after what was apparently a pretty big shunt in the Porsche Curves. In GTE Am it's Aston/Ferrari/Ferrari.

Radio 4's interest in Le Mans may have been piqued by having a Brit WEC champion in the running, Davidson admitting the Toyota is "a little off the pace this year" compared with the Audis and Porsches but making the point anything can happen. "I've been here in the fastest car and come away with nothing!" he said, ruefully, concluding that this could yet be his year after placing third and second previously. Whether that proves to be the case or not there are plenty of Brit drivers in leading cars in all categories and plenty of reason to get trackside and cheer them on if you're there!

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Le Mans 2015 qualifying results:

LMP1
1 - Porsche 919 Hybrid (Dumas/Jani/Lieb)
2 - Porsche 919 Hybrid (Bernhard/Webber/Hartley)
3 - Porsche 919 Hybrid (Hulkenberg/Bamber/Tandy)

LMP2
1 - KCMG Oreca-Nissan (Howson/Bradley/Lapierre)
2 - G-Drive Racing Ligier-Nissan (Rusinov/Canal/Bird)
3 - Greaves Motorsport Gibson-Nissan (Hirsch/Paletou/Lancaster)

GTE PRO
1 - Aston Martin (Rees/MacDowall/Stanaway)
2 - AF Corse Ferrari (Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella)
3 - Aston Martin (Turner/Mucke/Bell)

GTE AM
1 - Aston Martin (Dalla Lana/Lamy/Lauda)
2 - AF Corse Ferrari (Collard/Perrodo/Aguas)
3 - SMP Racing Ferrari (Bertolini/Shaytar/Basov)

Full entry list here

[Sources: 24H-LeMans.com]

 

[moorejam]

I think it is worth mentioning that 2 privateer teams out qualified the Nissan.

TEAM BYKOLLES
Rebellion Racing

An amazing job to qualify ahead of a works team, well done guys!

[vz-r_dave]

Given that the Works's Nissan's are (very unfortunately) handicapped due to the hybrid system being out of use. Quite a few extra horses lost and a lot of weight left to carry. Sorry and to add probably a huge shift in the dynamics. I am gutted for them

[anonymous-user]

Did Max Chilton do enough night time laps to qualify?

[LotusOmega375D]

Some real ugly prototypes out there these days. GTEs look nice though.

[Dakkon]

pablo said:

Did Max Chilton do enough night time laps to qualify?

Honestly, who cares?

[anonymous-user]

LotusOmega375D said:

Some real ugly prototypes out there these days. GTEs look nice though.

Syre there are not pretty but its nice to see a top level series where people are trying something new and hence the cars look a bit different, paint all F1 cars the same and most people couldnt tell which was which.

[vz-r_dave]

pablo said:

LotusOmega375D said:

Some real ugly prototypes out there these days. GTEs look nice though.

Syre there are not pretty but its nice to see a top level series where people are trying something new and hence the cars look a bit different, paint all F1 cars the same and most people couldnt tell which was which.

Le Mans 24 hours and comments about how ugly the cars are..... completely missing the point of what Le Mans is all about :/

[morgs_]

Really glad the LMP1 Nissans made it through, shame about the Corvette though. Sounded mega at Silverstone!

[V8Bart]

What he said!
It's a real shame the prototypes look like @ss.
Rules need to start and end with "the car Must look awesome "

Whooot for Aston though, fingers crossed they can convert to wins this year.

[Pope]

EFA: Earl Bamber not Eric........

[LotusOmega375D]

vz-r_dave said:

pablo said:

LotusOmega375D said:

Some real ugly prototypes out there these days. GTEs look nice though.

Syre there are not pretty but its nice to see a top level series where people are trying something new and hence the cars look a bit different, paint all F1 cars the same and most people couldnt tell which was which.

Le Mans 24 hours and comments about how ugly the cars are..... completely missing the point of what Le Mans is all about :/

Just my opinion. Not going to affect the result it it? But these really are gruesome. I can't stand those mobile advertising hoardings, sorry I mean dorsal fins. Last time I was there the wacky Mazda 787B won!

[ecsrobin]

I think LMP cars look amazing much better than an F1 car or Formula E

[morgs_]

The Nissan LMP1s start from the back of the grid now, due to being too far off the lead time

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/119441...