Porsche clean sweep at Le Mans quali 12 | 06 | 2015
PORSCHE WILL START this weekend's 83rd running of the Le Mans 24-Hours from the front three positions on the 56-car grid. None of its rivals from Audi — who fill the next three slots — could improve on the times set by the Porsche trio in opening qualifying on Wednesday.
That means Neel Jani's time of 3m16.887s in the No18 Porsche 919 Hybrid (pictured) — the Porsches are powered by a 2.0-litre V6 turbo petrol-hybrid which powers the rear wheels, with the fronts driven by electric motors — and which he shares with Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb.
Conditions in the final two qualifying sessions on Thursday night weren't conducive to faster times, so Porsche was left celebrating.
The No17 Porsche of Mark Webber, Kiwi Brendon Hartley, and German Timo Bernard line up alongside on the front row of the grid, with the No19 of Nico Hulkenberg, Earl Bamber and Brit Nick Tandy third.
It's the first time Porsche has taken pole since Michele Alboreto in the Joest WSC 95 in 1997, and perhaps ominously for Audi, it's the fastest pole lap set at Le Mans since the introduction of the chicanes on the Mulsanne Straight. Regardless of track configuration, it's the sixth fastest in history.
Audi — winners of 13 of the last 15 Le Mans, and the last five in succession — line up in fourth, fifth and sixth. And let's face it: in a 24-hours race, starting a few metres behind your main rivals isn't exactly a major disadvantage. Annoyingly for Audi though, it did allow their VW Group partners to grab the Friday headlines.
The No8 diesel-hybrid Audi R18 e-tron quattro, piloted by Brit Oliver Jarvis, Brazilian Lucas di Grassi and Loic Duval from France, starts fourth, followed by the No9 car of Filipe Albuquerque, Marco Bonanomi and Rene Rast. The No7 car of previous winners Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler is sixth.
As expected, Toyota continued to struggle. Its fastest car, driven by Brit Mike Conway, Frenchman Stephane Sarrazin and Austrian ex-F1 racer Alex Wurz, ended up 2.5s behind the slowest Audi and 6.656s off pole.
In LMP2, the KCMG Oreca Nissan of Brits Richard Bradley and Matthew Howson, partnered by Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre, starts from pole, and 11th overall. The biggest mover on Thursday night was the No26 G-Drive OAK Ligier. In the hands of Brit Sam Bird, it moved up to second in LMP2 with a time of 3:38.939s.
Florida-based Ryan Dalziel — former LMP2 Le Mans winner, FIA LMP2 world champ, and the only Scot competing in this year's 24-hours race — lines up 11th in his Tequila Patron ESM. Dalziel is partnered by American Scott Sharp and Dane David Heinemeir Hansson.
Saturday's race gets underway at 2pm UK time.
Related: Allan McNish — Audi up for the fight
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Jim McGill