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LM24: Sarrazin, Peugeot Claim Thrilling Le Mans Pole
Written by: John Dagys   
06/11/2009
Le Mans (FRA)
 
For much of Thursday evening’s session, it looked like Audi was en route to pole at Le Mans. Allan McNish put his No. 1 Audi R15 TDI on provisional pole with a stunning last-lap run at the end of the first qualifying session. The Scot’s time of 3:23.650 held up for much of the second two-hour session, until Stephane Sarrazin emerged from the Peugeot pits with an order to go for pole.

Peugeot claimed its third consecutive Le Mans pole, thanks to Stephane Sarrazin's quick lap of 3:22.888 (LAT) » More Photos
 In pitch darkness, Sarrazin muscled his No. 8 Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP around the 8.5-mile Circuit de La Sarthe, dodging slower cars in the waning moments. With just ten minutes left on the clock, the Frenchman turned a 3:22.888, snatching the pole away from McNish with no time for Audi to respond.

But Audi wasn’t concentrating on securing the pole, as all three of its R15 TDIs were circulating around in race simulations for much of the second session. Peugeot took the same approach until the final 25 minutes, when its diesel challengers shifted to qualifying mode, but still using race setups.

"It's a great result for all the team, but we first and foremost on the race setup this evening,” pole-winner Sarrazin said. “It was only when we were fully satisfied on that front that we tried for a time at the end. Our objective now is to get away to a good start on Saturday afternoon and put on a good race."

It was Sarrazin’s third consecutive pole at Le Mans, tying a record held by Le Mans legend Jackie Ickx. His lap time, though, was some four seconds slower than last year’s time, thanks to new LMP aerodynamic regulations and performance restrictions on diesel-powered prototypes. In fact, cars in all four categories were considerably slower, corresponding to the ACO’s vision of decreased speeds at Le Mans.

While Sarrazin and co-drivers Franck Montagny and Sebastien Bourdais are in the catbird’s seat for now, everyone knows that the starting position in a 24-hour race doesn’t mean a whole lot.

Just ask Audi, which last claimed pole at Le Mans in 2006 but has won here for eight of the last nine years. Defending champions McNish, Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen wound up second quickest and will start alongside the Peugeot. The No. 1 car did not set a single fast time in the night, instead focusing on the all-important race setup.

"For us, today was all about finding the optimum race setup and to collect as much data as possible with our new car around the Le Mans race track," explained Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. "The grid positions for a 24-hour race do not directly affect the final result. That Allan managed to secure a position on the front row while working through the program demonstrates just how much potential the R15 TDI has."

The No. 7 Team Peugeot Total 908 of Nic Minassian, Pedro Lamy and Christian Klien will start third, ahead of the privateer Pescarolo Sport Peugeot, which had set the second quickest time in the first session and one of the few prototypes failing to improve in the nighttime session. Peugeot’s third factory machine, the No. 9 entry of David Brabham, Marc Gene and Alex Wurz qualified ahead of both remaining Audi Sport entries in fifth, the Nos. 2 and 3 Audis in toe.

It came as no surprise that Aston Martin Racing was quickest of the gasoline-powered P1s, but it wasn’t the No. 008 Lola-Aston of Anthony Davidson, Darren Turner and Jos Verstappen that everyone expected. Instead, the AMR Eastern Europe entry of Jan Charouz, Stefan Mucke and Tomas Enge were the petrol pacesetters, turning a 3:27.704 lap time. However, Charouz suffered a “rather bad” accident in the closing moments of the session, abandoning the car on track. The George Howard-Chappell-led Prodrive crew has yet to inspect the car to see if it’s even repairable for Saturday’s start. It will likely be another long few days for the British team.

Porsche RS Spyders from Team Essex and Goh have proven to be the favorites for the LMP2 class victory. (LAT) » More Photos
 LMP2 honors appear to have already gone in favor of the Porsche RS Spyders again, with the German manufacturer securing the top two positions in class. Casper Elgaard in the No. 31 Team Essex RS Spyder turned a 3:37.720 lap time in the second qualifying session, good enough for the pole.

Elgaard and co-drivers Kristian Poulsen and Emmanuel Collard will have a fight on their hands, as the similarly prepared Team Goh entry wasn’t very far behind. In fact, the Japanese-run RS Spyder of Seiji Ara, Keisuke Kunimoto and Sascha Maassen was only 0.082 seconds slower in qualifying and will line up second in class. But the gap between the Porsches and the rest of the field is already quite substantial.

The No. 33 Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola B08/80 Judd was third quickest with a 3:41.724, some four seconds adrift from the RS Spyders. The Mazda MZR-R-powered RML Lola B08/86 made a late improvement to secure fourth in class.

Jan Magnussen scored his second consecutive pole in GT1, turning a time of 3:54.230 in his No. 63 Corvette Racing C6.R. The Pratt & Miller-run organization is making its swan song appearance in GT1 before moving to GT2 with an all-new Corvette starting at the
ALMS Mid-Ohio round in August.

“So far so good!" said Magnussen, who shares the reigns with Johnny O’Connell and Antonio Garcia. "The Corvette C6.R goes really well and responds well to changes. I set my qualifying time on soft tires with a couple of laps on them already, which shows how good the car is. In the second part of the qualifying session Antonio did a long run to see how the tires would behave over a distance. With the new rules on tire changes, we'll have to double-stint them to avoid losing too much time in the pits. Tonight we learned how hard we can push them."

ACO rules state that only one air gun can be used during a pit stop, a measure taken to help decrease the number of crew members over the wall during a stop. While this rule has been enforced in LMS races this season, it’s something new for American-based teams like Corvette Racing. It will be one of the things to watch during the race, and if teams, like Corvette, elect to use harder compound tires just to save time in the pits.

Corvette is on track to score its sixth class victory at Le Mans, especially with only two entries other than Chevrolets in the class, and one, being the sluggish JLOC Lamborghini, which has yet a turn competitive lap this week.

Flying Lizard surprised all with its GT2 pole. But don't count them out of the race, either. (LAT) » More Photos
 Another ALMS regular, Flying Lizard Motorsports, grabbed the pole in GT2. Joerg Bergmeister ran a 4:03.202 lap time in his No. 80 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, edging out the European favorite Felbermayr-Proton Porsche by just 0.030 seconds. It marked the Lizard’s maiden Le Mans pole in its fifth attempt, and first with the driving trio of Bergmeister, Darren Law and Seth Neiman.

Up until Bergmeister’s pole-winning lap, the Lizards flew under the radar for much of the week, as the Felbermayr-Proton Porsche with the all-works trio of Marc Lieb, Wolf Henzler and Richard Lietz led the way in Wednesday’s practice and posed as early favorites for the race win.

But the Lizards fought back and ended up with a rather surprise pole heading into the twice-around-the-clock marathon.

While outnumbered 2-1 to Ferrari, the Porsches appeared to have the early edge in GT2, with three 911s in the top-six and two on the “front row.” Defending race winners Risi Competizione was the best of the Prancing Horse contingent tonight, with its No. 82 Ferrari F430 GT setting the third quickest time, slotting ahead of rapid Frenchman Christophe Bouchut, who put his JMB Ferrari in fourth. It was another amazing performance by Bouchut, who put a mid-pack car near the top of the top of the time sheets.

Honorable mention goes to Drayson Racing, which notched the ninth best time in GT2 with its Aston Martin Vantage GT2, the third of four marques represented in the highly competitive division.

Qualifying Results:

Pos, Car #, Team, Time
1 8 Team Peugeot Total 3'22.888
2 1 Audi Sport Team Joest 3'23.650
3 7 Team Peugeot Total 3'24.860
4 17 Pescarolo Sport 3'25.062
5 9 Peugeot Sport Total 3'25.252
6 2 Audi Sport North America 3'25.780
7 3 Audi Sport Team Joest 3'27.106
8 007 AMR Eastern Europe 3'27.180
9 008 Aston Martin Racing 3'27.704
10 13 Speedy Racing Sebah 3'28.134
11 23 Strakka Racing 3'29.798
12 16 Pescarolo Sport 3'30.466
13 15 Kolles 3'31.192
14 14 Kolles 3'31.548
15 10 Team Oreca Matmut AIM 3'33.514
16 11 Team Oreca Matmut AIM 3'33.860
17 009 Aston Martin Racing 3'33.968
18 6 Team LNT 3'35.804
19 4 Creation Autosportif 3'35.960
20 31 Team Essex 3'37.720
21 5 Navi Team Goh 3'37.802
22 12 Signature Plus 3'39.326
23 33 Speedy Racing Sebah 3'41.724
24 25 RML 3'41.952
25 40 Quifel ASM Team 3'42.012
26 30 Racing Box 3'42.848
27 41 G.A.C. Racing Team 3'44.830
28 35 OAK Racing 3'45.032
29 32 Team Barazi Epsilon 3'52.956
30 39 KSM 3'53.072
31 63 Corvette Racing 3'54.230
32 64 Corvette Racing 3'54.702
33 26 Bruichladdich Bruneau 3'55.320
34 66 Jetalliance Racing Gmbh 3'56.126
35 72 Alphand Aventures 3'57.170
36 24 OAK Racing 3'57.524
37 73 Alphand Aventures 3'58.564
38 80 Flying Lizard Motorsports 4'03.202
39 77 Felbermayr Proton 4'03.232
40 82 Risi Competizione 4'04.056
41 99 JMB Racing 4'04.084
42 97 BMS Scuderia Italia 4'04.222
43 76 Imsa Performance Matmut 4'04.648
44 78 AF Corse 4'04.938
45 92 JMW Motorsport 4'05.168
46 87 Drayson Racing 4'06.482
47 89 Hankook-Farnbacher 4'06.612
48 85 Snoras Spyker Squadron 4'08.348
49 84 Team Modena 4'08.508
50 83 Risi Competizione 4'08.758
51 70 Imsa Performance Matmut 4'10.014
52 75 Endurance Asia Team 4'10.456
53 96 Virgo Motorsport 4'10.664
54 81 Advanced Engineering 4'13.920
55 68 JLOC 4'21.812

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