Sebastien Bourdais on provisional pole

Photo : Frédéric GAUDIN - ACO/Nikon

The first qualifying session for all 56 cars confirmed the fact that the #3 Peugeot Sport Total LMP1 Peugeot 908 driven by Sébastien Bourdais, was going to be one of the fastest cars.  Only the #4 Team Oreca Matmut LMP1 Peugeot 908 of Nicolas Lapierre initially looked likely to upset the works cars.  In the last half hour of qualifying the three works Peugeot's of  Wurz, Sarrazin and Bourdais re-established Peugeot's supremacy with Bourdais taking provisional pole with a 3:19.711 lap.

The Peugeot  # 4 Team Oreca Matmut LMP1 Peugeot 908 driven by Nicolas Lapierre finished fourth fastest. Despite the car getting stranded out on the circuit with fuel problems after setting a provisional fastest time with a 3:23.15 lap.

At Audi , despite being more than 0.072 secs faster than last year, the Audi Sport drivers were not able to join the battle with Peugeot in the fight to gain pole position. The No 12 Rebellion Lola was the only car not seen in 1st Qualifying.

In the other three categories, Johnny Kane placed the #42 Strakka Racing LMP2 HPD ARX.01 this left the #26 Highcroft Racing LMP2 HPD ARX.01 driven by David Brabham 2^nd in LMP2. 

Tomas Enge did not miss the opportunity to shine once again driving his Aston Martin DBR9 in the LM GT1 category for the Young Driver Team. He leads #60  Ford GT and the #73 Corvette. 

And in LM GT2, the Ferrari F430 is the favourite and defending champion. The class leading #82 Risi Competizione LMGT2 Ferrari F 430 GT driven by Gianmaria Bruni went quickest  last night and despite encountering technical problems, beat both the Corvette ZR1 C6s.

A qualifying session was interrupted by two red flags, the first was when the #88 Team Felbermayr-Proton LMGT2 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR driven by Horst Felbermayr Jnr crashed between Mulsanne and Arnage, the second red flag was when the #96 AF Corse SRL LMGT2 Ferrari F 430 GT driven by Matias Russo crashed heavily at the Porsche curves. Horst Felbermayr Jnr (# 88) is OK but Matias Russo (# 96) was slightly injured. 

The rain did not come as expected and did not disrupt the session.  The next track action for the 24hrs is at 19:00hrs and we look forward to another great show - weather permitting.

Sebastien Bourdais (On Provisional Pole):                                                                                                                                               "Given the uncertain weather that we were promised for today it was very important to set a good time today. After the second red flag, an opportunity presented itself and I took it. We could immediately see that the pace of the leading cars was very good. At this stage, in the dark, it is hard to judge the difference between an improvement between of 3'19 and 3'18 laps. It is always more risky at night.  I am a Team Peugeot man and happy for my teammates, if we get pole it is good to do it here "

Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Sport) gave us an interview after the first part of qualifying at 0:15 on Thursday, June 10:
  "Congratulations to Peugeot for setting the best time. We focused on work for the race at the end of the qualifying session but we tried to set a time, but none of the cars benefitted from a clear lap. Our forecast for tomorrow predicts rain, but it was also what was expected today … so we'll see tomorrow. Frankly at the moment we are not able to beat the time set by Peugeot. "

Emmanuel Collard (Driver  Corvette Racing, Corvette # 64):                                                                             "Straight away the car was good. Oliver Gavin could go faster but we have also focused on the preparation of the race. Tomorrow, if conditions permit we will try to improve. We have the capability."