FIA WEC Endurance Championship Qualifying … (part two)

Right.. the nice boffins who know all about these things have finally come up with some ‘Provisional’ times and a grid for tomorrow , these were eventually posted at 14:08.

1 #7 Toyota Racing (LMP1) Wurz/Lapierre Toyota TS030 Hybrid

2 #8 Toyota Racing (LMP1) Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin Toyota TS030 Hybrid

3 #2 Audi Sport Team Joest(LMP1) Kristensen/Duval/McNish Audi R18 e-tron Quattro

4 #12 Rebellion Racing (LMP1) Prost/Jani/Heidfeld Lola B12/60 Toyota

5 #1 Audi Sport Team Joest (LMP1)Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler Audi R18 e-tron Quattro

6 #13 Rebellion Racing (LMP1) Belicchi/Beche/Cheng Lola B12/60 Toyota

7 #25 Delta ADR (LMP2) Graves/Pizzonia/Walker Oreca 03 Nissan

8 #24 OAK Racing (LMP2) Pla/Hansson/Brundle Morgan-Nissan

9 #26 G-Drive Racing (LMP2) Rusinov/Martin/Conway Oreca 03 Nissan

10 #35 OAK Racing (LMP2) Baguette/Gonzalez/Plowmann Morgan-Nissan

11 #97 Aston Martin Racing (GTPro)Turner/Mucke?Senna Aston Martin Vantage V8

12 #99 Aston Martin Racing(GTAm) Dalla Lana/Makowiecki/Lamy Aston Martin Vantage V8

13 #96 Aston Martin Racing(GTAm) Goethe/Hall/Campbell-Walter Aston Martin Vantage V8

14 #91 Porsche Team Manthey(GTPro) Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhrad Porsche 911 RSR

15 #92 Porsche Team Manthey(GTPro) Lieb/Lietz/Dumas Porsche 911 RSR

16 #51 AF Corse (GTPro) Bruni/Fisichella Ferrari 458 Italia

17 #95 Aston Martin Racing (GTAm) Nygaard/Poulson/Simonsen Aston Martin Vantage V8

18 #32 Lotus (LMP2) Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz Lotus T128

19 #71 AF Corse (GTPro) Kobayashi/Vilander Ferrari 458 Italia

20 #31 Lotus(LMP2) Weeda/Liuzzi/Bouchut Lotus T128

21 #61 AF Corse (GTAm) Gerber/Griffin/Cioci Ferrari 458 Italia

22 #49 Pecom Racing(LMP2) Companc/Minassian/Kaffer Oreca 03 Nissan

23 #81 8 Star Racing (GTAm) Potolicchio/Aguas/Peter Ferrari 458 Italia

24 #50 Labre Competion (GTAm) Bornhauser/Canal/Rees Chevrolet Corvette C6-ZR1

25 #47 KCMG (LMP2) Imperatori/Howson/Ka Morgan Nissan

26 #76 IMSA Performance Matmut (GTAm)Narac/Bourret/Vernay Porsche 911 GT3 RSR

27 #41 Greaves M/sport (LMP2) Dyson/Marsal/Kimber-Smith Zytek Z11SN-Nissan

28 #57 Krohn Racing (GTAm) Krohn/Johnsson/Mediani Ferrari 458 Italia

29 #45 OAK Racing (LMP2) Nicolet/Merlin Morgan-Nissan

30 #21 Strakka Racing (LMP1) Leventis/Watts/Kane HPD ARX 03-Honda

OK then .. reasons to happy? Toyota will be happy to have seen off the Audis. Rebellion will be delighted to be on the 2^nd Row of the grid ahead of one of the Audis. LM P2 looks roughly as expected. Aston Martin have comprehensively dealt with both Porsche and Ferrari and will be cock-a-hoop with that.

Reasons to be unhappy? Probably #1 Audi who possibly got their tyre choice and/or timing wrong. Strakka and Danny Watts will be embarrassed by their extended stay in the kitty litter and only posting two laps. Ferrari will be scratching their heads worrying about what might happen when the Porsche’s get their new engines and possibly even more concerned about getting soundly trounced by the Astons.

The Larbre Competition Corvette would seem rather out of place back at 24^th on the grid but we don’t know why, if we find out we will let you know. Are the factory Porsches happy ?.. maybe .. they were quick in the dry but faded a bit in the moist. As we mentioned the Lotus is probably best regarded as being a 'work in progress'.

Did the ‘innovative’ new timing system work? In a word ‘Nope’ .. is it a good idea? Frankly the jury is still out on that one. In future the only way to appreciate what is going on in qualifying will be to make sure you can see a live timing screen…that actually works !! Great credit to Trusswell and Hindhaugh for at least trying to sort out the muddle while live on air. Not an easy task.

It is currently 15:41 and it is raining really rather hard. The forecast for tomorrow reckons it will be warm and sunny.. believe that and you will believe anything ..