72nd Le Mans 24 Hours - Catching Up With Thursday
David Warnock was looking forward to setting PK Sport’s qualifying time yesterday evening, but venturing out onto the track, the fresh race engine was found to be 8 mph down on each of the straights.

“That was frustrating," he commented on Friday morning, “but the team found the problem. It was something to do with the fuel system, I’m not sure what, but the good thing is that they found it. I'm going to be experiencing another first tomorrow, starting the race for the first time."

Neil Cunningham in the Morgan: “Yesterday was just a case of getting our laps in. I’m sure we could have got on terms with the TVRs.”

David Dowse (Morgan TM): “The car is way better than on Wednesday evening. It’s a real lift to see so much fan interest in the car. Fans were ten deep around our pit this morning.”

Joao Barbosa: “I’m slightly disappointed that we couldn’t improve last night but it’s a long, long race.”

Clint Field: “The B2K / 40 felt great last night and we were making steady improvements after a difficult first day. We’re happy with where we are now.” Clint was steadily chipping away at the Lola’s times, his eventual best lap coming late last night, well into the darkness.

Chris Stockton: “There’s a 4:12 in the TVR, but we haven’t quite found it yet.”

The Lola-Caterpillar only completed one complete lap last night. The race engine was installed for Thursday evening’s two sessions, but after an installation lap, the clutch then failed on the next out lap, the car was stranded until 21.00, and by the time it was returned to the pits, there wasn’t time to replace the clutch. Anthony Kumpen has completed a total of four laps of the track so far, his best a 5:04.445 – but he’ll be able to race (see below). In fact, the three diesel men were the slowest drivers in LMP1, although Lockie and Andrews both lapped in 4:14. Reynard-Lehmann and Panoz drivers filled out the five places above, in the list of best times from each driver, with the Taurus Judd drivers the next three up the list.

Paul Truswell tells us that no car has ever won here with three drivers of the same nationality. The 88 Audi has three English drivers at the wheel.

We understand that everyone who tried to qualify for the race will be allowed to race. There are a number of LMP2 drivers in particular who haven’t technically reached the minimum time to join the field, but Jean-Marc Gounon’s pace seems to have upset the statistics in LMP2.

The Lister ran very well with its development (and race?) engine last night, and was recorded as the fourth fastest car through the speed trap, on the way into the braking area for the Dunlop Chicane. The fastest car here was no surprise: the Nasamax, at 308.5 kph. Second quickest was the Taurus Lola-Judd. Can you explain that….?

Benjamin Leuenberger can! "We were surprised when we saw the figures, but the Lola B2K / 10 is very good until it meets a brick wall on the five fastest parts of the circuit. We're very fast through the Ford Chaicanes, and that gives us a run past the pits. If they had the speed trap on Mulsanne, we wouldn't be very quick."

Leuenberger didn't find a clear lap last night, but isn't too concerned about the Lola's qualifying time.

The McNish engine dramas last night definitely didn’t involve an engine failure… so the R8s still haven’t ever suffered an engine failure… ever. It was a fuel system problem, and Dr. Ullrich took the decision to not waste time resolving it. The simplest solution was to change it. The V8 that came out was to have been the race engine.