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Porsche takes temporary pole in first qualifying

Brendon Hartley put Porsche on provisional pole for the Le Mans 24 Hours after the opening qualifying session was brought to a premature end due to a crash.

Kiwi Hartley, who is partnered in the #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid by Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard, lapped in 3m23.157s to head a one-two for the German manufacturer on its return to the top class of the French enduro after 15 years away.

 

The other Porsche 919, driven by Neel Jani ,set the pace once the first representative runs had been completed.

 

Although he was swiftly overhauled by Hartley and later suffered a hydraulics issue, a 3m23.928s was good enough to clinch second ahead of the two Toyotas.

 

Toyota’s #8 TS040 HYBRID had topped practice in the hands of Anthony Davidson, but the Briton – partnered by Nicolas Lapierre and Sebastien Buemi – ended up just over two seconds adrift of the lead Porsche, and a tenth clear of the sister car of Alexander Wurz, Stephane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima.

 

Last year’s winner Audi only had two cars taking part in the first part of qualifying after Loic Duval’s huge crash in practice, and its pair of R18 e-tron quattros could only manage fifth and sixth fastest in the hands of Andre Lotterer and Filipe Albuquerque.

 

Both Toyota and Audi were expected to usurp the Porsches at the top of the times until, with just under an hour left to run, Fernando Rees crashed his GTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage at the Porsche Curves.

 

That, along with Sarrazin slowing to a halt at the Dunlop chicane due to an oil leak in the Toyota, brought out the red flags, and Rees’ incident caused sufficient barrier damage for the session to be brought to a premature end with half an hour still left on the clock.

 

In LMP2, the #26 OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan took provisional pole with Oliver Pla outpacing Paul-Loup Chatin in the #36 Signatech Alpine ORECA-Nissan by more than half a second.

 

It was closer in GTE Pro, but AF Corse Ferrari 458 driver Gianmaria Bruni beat the lead AMR Vantage, driven by Stefan Mucke, into second place by 0.3s, with Frederic Makowiecki (Manthey Porsche 911 RSR) and Antonio Garcia (Corvette C7.R) ensuring the top four places were locked out by four different manufacturers.

 

Ferrari was also on top in GTE Am, where the #72 SMP 458 driven by Andrea Bertolini led the similar #61 AF car of Marco Cioci by less than 0.2s.

 

Six cars failed to set a time. In addition to the #1 Audi’s absence, the Nissan ZEOD RC, #41 Greaves Zytek-Nissan, two Imsa Porsches and 8Star Ferrari all failed to complete a flying lap.

 

Results:

 

 

Pos

Category

Drivers

Team

1

20

LM P1 – H Bernhard – Webber – Hartley Porsche Team DEU
2

14

LM P1 – H Dumas – Jani – Lieb Porsche Team DEU
3

7

LM P1 – H Wurz – Sarrazin – Nakajima Toyota Racing JPN
4

8

LM P1 – H Davidson – Lapierre – Buemi Toyota Racing JPN
5

2

LM P1 – H Fässler – Lotterer – Treluyer Audi Sport Team JOEST DEU
6

3

LM P1 – H Albuquerque – Bonanomi – Jarvis Audi Sport Team JOEST DEU
7

13

LM P1 – L Kraihamer – Belicchi – Leimer Rebellion Racing CHE
8

12

LM P1 – L Prost – Heidfeld – Beche Rebellion Racing CHE
9

26

LM P2 Rusinov – Pla – Canal G-Drive Racing RUS
10

36

LM P2 Chatin – Panciatici – Webb Signatech Alpine FRA
11

47

LM P2 Howson – Bradley – Imperatori KCMG HOK
12

35

LM P2 Brundle – Mardenborough – Shulzhitskiy OAK Racing FRA
13

34

LM P2 Frey – Mailleux – Lancaster Race Performance CHE
14

48

LM P2 Berthon – González – Chandhok Murphy Prototypes IND
15

42

LM P2 Kimber-Smith – McMurry – Dyson Caterham Racing MYS
16

46

LM P2 Thiriet – Badey – Gommendy Thiriet by TDS Racing FRA
17

33

LM P2 Cheng – Tung – Fong OAK Racing – Team Asia FRA
18

24

LM P2 Rast – Charouz – Capillaire Sebastien Löeb Racing FRA
19

27

LM P2 Zlobin – Salo – Ladygin SMP Racing RUS
20

38

LM P2 Dolan – Tincknell – Turvey Jota Sport GBR
21

43

LM P2 Klien – Hirsch – Brandela Newblood by Morand Racing CHE
22

37

LM P2 Kadygin – Minassian – Mediani SMP Racing RUS
23

29

LM P2 Schell – Leutwiler – Roussel Pegasus Racing DEU
24

50

LM P2 Ragues – Taylor – Ihara Larbre Competition FRA
25

51

LM GTE Pro Bruni – Vilander – Fisichella AF Corse ITA
26

97

LM GTE Pro Turner – Mücke – Senna Aston Martin Racing GBR
27

92

LM GTE Pro Holzer – Makowiecki – Lietz Porsche Team Manthey DEU
28

73

LM GTE Pro Magnussen – García – Taylor Corvette Racing USA
29

91

LM GTE Pro Pilet – Bergmeister – Tandy Porsche Team Manthey DEU
30

72

LM GTE Am Bertolini – Shaitar – Basov SMP Racing RUS
31

61

LM GTE Am Companc – Cioci – Venturi AF Corse ITA
32

77

LM GTE Am Dempsey – Foster – Long Dempsey Racing – Proton USA
33

99

LM GTE Pro MacDowall – O’Young – Rees Aston Martin Racing GBR
34

52

LM GTE Pro Griffin – Parente – Leo RAM Racing GBR
35

71

LM GTE Pro Rigon – Calado – Beretta AF Corse ITA
36

88

LM GTE Am Ried – Bachler – Al Qubaisi Proton Competition DEU
37

75

LM GTE Am Perrodo – Collard – Palttala Prospeed Competition BEL
38

74

LM GTE Pro Gavin – Milner – Westbrook Corvette Racing USA
39

53

LM GTE Am Mowlem – Patterson – Hamilton RAM Racing GBR
40

58

LM GTE Am Barthez – Pons – Ayari Team Sofrev ASP FRA
41

98

LM GTE Am Dalla Lana – Lamy – Nygaard Aston Martin Racing GBR
42

79

LM GTE Am MacNeil – Curtis – Bleekemolen Prospeed Competition BEL
43

81

LM GTE Am Wyatt – Rugolo – Bird AF Corse ITA
44

70

LM GTE Am Nakano – Ehret – Rich Team Taisan JPN
45

57

LM GTE Am Krohn – Jönsson – Collins Krohn Racing USA
46

66

LM GTE Am Turki Alfasail – Neiman – Pumpelly JMW Motorsport GBR
47

95

LM GTE Am Poulsen – Heinemeier-Hansson – Thiim Aston Martin Racing GBR
48

62

LM GTE Am Mallegol – Bachelier – Blank AF Corse ITA
49

60

LM GTE Am Mann – Case – Giammaria AF Corse ITA
50

0

CDNT Ordoñez – Reip – Motoyama Nissan Motorsports Global JPN
51

1

LM P1 – H Di Grassi – Gené – Kristensen Audi Sport Team JOEST DEU
52

41

LM P2 Munemann – Latif – Winslow Greaves Motorsport GBR
53

67

LM GTE Am Maris – Merlin – Helary IMSA Performance Matmut FRA
54

76

LM GTE Am Narac – Armindo – Hallyday IMSA Performance Matmut FRA
55

90

LM GTE Am Montecalvo – Roda – Ruberti 8 Star Motorsports USA