News
Qualifying
The first grid row at this year’s Petit Le Mans belongs to the
The wet qualifying session was only a taste of things to come for drivers and teams. The weather forecast for Saturday is for partly torrential rain. Even during qualifying, several drivers struggled to keep their cars on the track. American Bryan Sellers, who shares driving duties in the 911 RSR of the Falken Tire customer team with Wolf Henzler (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA), did not succeed in doing this. His first qualifying lap ended in a stack of tyres, resulting in unexpected overtime for the mechanics in his team, which had won this race in 2013 and 2014 and now bids the United SportsCar Championship farewell. Earl Bamber also damaged his 911 RSR in a massive off, causing the qualifying to be red-flagged. Although the regulations stripped Bamber of his fastest lap time, the New Zealander’s second quickest time was enough to stay on pole position.
Quotes on the qualifying
Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, Head of
Earl Bamber (
Nick Tandy (
The ten-hour race takes off on Saturday at 11.10 hours local time (17.10 hours CEST). It is broadcast live on the Internet under www.imsa.com.
Qualifying result
GTLM class
1. Bamber/Bergmeister/Makowiecki (NZ/D/F),
2. Pilet/Tandy/Lietz (F/GB/A),
3. Gavin/Milner (GB/USA), Chevrolet Corvette, + 1.611
4. Edwards/Luhr/Klingmann (USA/D/D), BMW Z4 GTE, + 1.689
5. Kaffer/Fisichella/Vilander (D/I/SF), Ferrari F458 Italia, + 2.915
6. Auberlen/Werner/Farfus (USA/D/BRA), BMW Z4 GTE, + 3.606
7. Magnussen/Garcia/Briscoe (DK/E/AUS), Chevrolet Corvette, + 3.699
GTD class
1. Carter/Goosens/Lawrence (USA/B/USA), Dodge Viper, 1:38.295 minutes
2. Lindsey/Pumpelly/Snow (USA/USA/USA),
3. McNeil/Keen/Davis (USA/USA/USA),
4. Cosmo/Thome/Thompson (USA/USA/USA), Audi R8, + 3.309
5. Keating/J. Bleekemolen/S. Bleekemolen (USA/NL/NL), Dodge Viper, + 3.402
6. Segal/Sweedler/Bell (USA/USA/USA), Ferrari 458 Italia, + 4.009
Tous les rapports de course de la saison précédente peuvent être trouvés dans nos archives.