Duval puts Audi on pole at LeMans
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| No. 2 Audi of Duval |
Loic Duval remained on pole position for the 81st running of the Le Mans 24 Hours, as Audi scored the top three grid spots based on Wednesday's times.
Frenchman Duval, during Wednesday night's first session, set a 3m22.349s in the #2 R18 e-tron quattro he shares with Briton Allan McNish and Dane Tom Kristensen.
Starting the race from position two on Saturday will be the number -1' Audi R18 e-tron quattro of last year's winners Marcel Fassler (Switzerland), Andre Lotterer (Germany) and Benoit Treluyer (France). Andre Lotterer was one of the few drivers who in the final qualifying session on Thursday night managed to improve over the day before on a track that was just slowly drying after rain showers and, by setting a time of 3m 23.696s, advanced from third to second place.
Le Mans newcomer Lucas di Grassi (Brazil), Marc Gene (Spain) and Oliver Jarvis (Great Britain) in the number -3' Audi R18 e-tron quattro secured third place. The fastest lap of this squad (3m 24.341s) was driven on Wednesday by the seasoned campaigner Marc Gene.
Toyota was 4seconds down on Duval's pacesetting time.
When the checkered flag flew at midnight on Wednesday, the #8 of Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Stephane Sarrazin was fourth thanks to a lap of 3mins 26.654secs from Stephane in the final minutes of qualifying.
The #7 TS030 HYBRID of Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima starts fifth after a best lap of 3mins 26.676secs, set by Kazuki during Wednesday's first qualifying session.
Nissan-powered cars took the first three positions in the LM P2 class during qualifying for the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours tonight. All three qualifying sessions were affected by lengthy red flag periods which has made it tough on the teams and most opted to run in race trim for tonight's sessions in order to prepare for 24 hours of flat out racing coming their way this weekend.
The No.24 Oak Racing Morgan-Nissan will start the race from pole position and will be joined on the front row of the LM P2 grid by the No.26 Oreca-Nissan of G-Drive Racing, followed by the Zytek-Nissan of Jota Sport.
The No.42 Greaves Motorsport entry took 12th place after running in full race trim during qualifying. Rookie Le Mans racer Jann Mardenborough completed all the running he needed to qualify for the race.
As on Wednesday the LM GTE Pro category was dominated by Aston Martin, and no. 99 (Makowiecki, Senna, Bell), already quickest yesterday improve its time to 3m54.635s followed by another Aston no. 97 (3m55.455s) and the first Porsche No. 92 in 3m55.491s. It was the same story in LM GTE Am thanks to Nygaard, Poulsen and Simonsen's V8 Vantage (no. 95, 3m55.776s) from the no. 88 Porsche (3m58.889s) and the no. 96 Aston Martin Vantage V8 (3m59.805s).
The cars entered in the Le Mans 24 Hours will have a final 45-minute warm-up session on Saturday 22nd June at 9 h 00 before the start of the 90th anniversary race at 15 h 00.
Results
| Pos | Cl | Drivers | Team/Car | Time | Behind |
| 1. | P1 | Kristensen/McNish/Duval | Audi | 3m22.349s | +0.000s |
| 2. | P1 | di Grassi/Gene/Jarvis | Audi | 3m23.696s | +1.347s |
| 3. | P1 | Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler | Audi | 3m24.341s | +1.992s |
| 4. | P1 | Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin | Toyota | 3m26.654s | +4.305s |
| 5. | P1 | Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima | Toyota | 3m26.676s | +4.327s |
| 6. | P1 | Prost/Jani/Heidfeld | Rebellion Lola-Toyota | 3m28.935s | +6.586s |
| 7. | P1 | Belicchi/Beche/Cheng | Rebellion Lola-Toyota | 3m32.167s | +9.818s |
| 8. | P1 | Kane/Watts/Leventis | Strakka HPD | 3m36.547s | +14.198s |
| 9. | P2 | Pla/Heinemeier Hansson/Brundle | OAK Morgan-Nissan | 3m38.621s | +16.272s |
| 10. | P2 | Rusinov/M.Martin/Conway | Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan | 3m39.535s | +17.186s |
| 11. | P2 | Dolan/Turvey/Luhr | Jota Zytek-Nissan | 3m40.459s | +18.110s |
| 12. | P2 | Gachnang/Mailleux/Lombard | Morand Morgan-Judd | 3m40.741s | +18.392s |
| 13. | P2 | Graves/Nakano/Hamilton | Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan | 3m40.925s | +18.576s |
| 14. | P2 | Imperatori/Tung/Howson | KCMG Morgan-Nissan | 3m41.042s | +18.693s |
| 15. | P2 | Hartley/Patterson/Chandhok | Murphy ORECA-Nissan | 3m41.569s | +19.220s |
| 16. | P2 | Panciatici/Ragues/Gommendy | Signatech ORECA-Nissan | 3m41.654s | +19.305s |
| 17. | P2 | Baguette/Gonzalez/Plowman | OAK Morgan-Nissan | 3m41.854s | +19.505s |
| 18. | P2 | Perez Companc/Minassian/Kaffer | Pecom ORECA-Nissan | 3m43.420s | +21.071s |
| 19. | P2 | Thiriet/Badey/M.Martin | TDS ORECA-Nissan | 3m43.494s | +21.145s |
| 20. | P2 | Mardenborough/Ordonez/Krumm | Greaves Zytek-Nissan | 3m44.421s | +22.072s |
| 21. | P2 | Kimber-Smith/Rossi/Lux | Greaves Zytek-Nissan | 3m44.621s | +22.272s |
| 22. | P2 | Frey/Niederhauser/Bleekemolen | Race Perf' ORECA-Judd | 3m45.244s | +22.895s |
| 23. | P2 | Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz | Lotus-Praga | 3m45.274s | +22.925s |
| 24. | P2 | Weeda/Rossiter/Bouchut | Lotus-Praga | 3m47.920s | +25.571s |
| 25. | P2 | Nicolet/Merlin/Mondolot | OAK Morgan-Nissan | 3m48.196s | +25.847s |
| 26. | P2 | Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe | Level 5 HPD | 3m48.597s | +26.248s |
| 27. | P2 | Giroix/Haezebrouck/Ihara | Gulf Lola-Nissan | 3m49.096s | +26.747s |
| 28. | P2 | Mowlem/Burgess/Hirschi | HVM Status Lola-Judd | 3m49.805s | +27.456s |
| 29. | GTP | Bell/Makowiecki/Senna | Aston Martin | 3m54.635s | +32.286s |
| 30. | GTP | Dumbreck/Mucke/Turner | Aston Martin | 3m55.445s | +33.096s |
| 31. | GTP | Lieb/Lietz/Dumas | Manthey Porsche | 3m55.491s | +33.142s |
| 32. | GTP | Bruni/Fisichella/Malucelli | AF Corse Ferrari | 3m55.909s | +33.560s |
| 33. | GTP | Auberlen/Dalla Lana/Lamy | Aston Martin | 3m56.336s | +33.987s |
| 34. | GTP | Beretta/Kobayashi/Vilander | AF Corse Ferrari | 3m56.471s | +34.122s |
| 35. | GTP | Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard | Manthey Porsche | 3m56.573s | +34.224s |
| 36. | P2 | Porta/Raffin/Brandela | DKR Lola-Judd | 3m56.905s | +34.556s |
| 37. | P2 | Downs/Dagoneau/Younessi | Boutsen ORECA-Nissan | 3m57.139s | +34.790s |
| 38. | GTA | Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen | Aston Martin | 3m57.776s | +35.427s |
| 39. | GTP | Westbrook/Gavin/Milner | Corvette | 3m58.644s | +36.295s |
| 40. | GTA | Ried/Roda/Ruberti | Proton Porsche | 3m58.889s | +36.540s |
| 41. | GTP | Magnussen/Garcia/Taylor | Corvette | 3m59.526s | +37.177s |
| 42. | GTA | Hall/Goethe/Campbell-Walter | Aston Martin | 3m59.805s | +37.456s |
| 43. | GTA | Gerber/Griffin/Cioci | AF Ferrari | 3m59.997s | +37.648s |
| 44. | GTA | Milesi/Gibon/Henzler | Imsa Porsche | 4m00.503s | +38.154s |
| 45. | GTP | Collard/Perrodo/Crubile | Prospeed Porsche | 4m00.682s | +38.333s |
| 46. | GTP | Dalziel/Farnbacher/Goossens | SRT Viper | 4m00.802s | +38.453s |
| 47. | GTA | Dempsey/Foster/Long | Dempsey Porsche | 4m00.916s | +38.567s |
| 48. | GTA | Narac/Bourret/Vernay | Imsa Porsche | 4m01.713s | +39.364s |
| 49. | GTA | Potolicchio/Aguas/Bright | 8star Ferrari | 4m01.934s | +39.585s |
| 50. | GTP | Bomarito/Kendall/Wittmer | SRT Viper | 4m03.461s | +41.112s |
| 51. | GTA | Perazzini/Case/O'Young | AF Corse Ferrari | 4m03.966s | +41.617s |
| 52. | GTA | MacNeil/Rodrigues/Dumas | Larbre Corvette | 4m04.512s | +42.163s |
| 53. | GTA | Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor | Larbre Corvette | 4m04.873s | +42.524s |
| 54. | GTP | Bertolini/Al Faisal/Al Qubaisi | JMW Ferrari | 4m05.417s | +43.068s |
| 55. | GTA | Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank | AF Ferrari | 4m09.064s | +46.715s |
| 56. | GTA | Krohn/Jonsson/Mediani | Krohn Ferrari | 4m16.233s | +53.884 |