Motorsport: Neel Jani is fastest again at Le Mans
Strong performance. The fastest man on the first day of practice at Le Mans was Neel Jani. Whether the Porsche works driver will start the 24-hour race from pole position, as he did last year, will be decided this evening. It will be interesting to see. After Neel Jani had already set the best time on the famous asphalt in free practice, he doubled that on Wednesday evening in the first [...]
After Neel Jani had already set the fastest time on the famous asphalt in free practice, he doubled it in the first qualifying session on Wednesday evening. With a time of 3:19.733 (245.6 km/h), he relegated his Porsche team-mate Timo Bernhard to second place by almost half a second. The German was on his way to the best time with two sector best times, but was slowed down by slower cars in the last part of the 13.629 km long track. Jani also has room for improvement: "It was really difficult to find a clear lap. I don't think anyone managed that. At the moment it was enough for pole, but there was still room for improvement."
Whether his Porsche 919 Hybrid will start from the front of the grid on Saturday at 3pm, as it did last year, will be decided this evening in the second qualifying session, which ends at midnight. Sébastien Buemi and his Toyota TS050 Hybrid are on the second row alongside the sister car for the time being, with Marcel Fässler behind them. He had a time-consuming setup change made to his Audi R18 (rear end breaking loose) and then, like his partners André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer, was unable to find a good time for a fast lap.
Several Swiss teams are in the running
Many insiders believe that Rebellion Racing, with the Swiss drivers Mathéo Tuscher, Alexandre Imperatori and dual national Nicolas Prost split between the two private LMP1 prototypes, is capable of a podium finish. Both red and white Rebellion R One cars (AER V6 turbo engines without hybrid) completed their laps on the first evening without any problems and qualified for the fourth row of the grid. The third private LMP1 team, ByKolles with Simon Trummer from Bern, is still without time and has a lot of work to do after a vehicle fire due to a leaking fuel line. Race Performance is not yet satisfied in the LMP2 class (19th out of 23 cars), which has the largest field, as they are unable to match their previous best times with the tried-and-tested Oreca-Judd. Niki Leutwiler is one of the three drivers in the Bern-based team. Mathias Beche is seventh for the time being with a French LMP2 team, while the team of Benoìt Morand from Fribourg, financed with money from Mexico, is thirteenth.
AutoSprintCH will once again offer a live ticker for the exciting race on Saturday and Sunday, so you can keep up to date with all the action at a glance.
www.lemans.org
Photos: Factory
