Wednesday night session - June 14th 2000.

Session Two ...22:00hrs-24:00hrs

The idea of this session is to get the teams out in the dark! It is hard enough in the daylight let alone in total darkness (see Pirro's comments later). Everything got much busier during this second session and dramas have begun to develop.

The three Audi R8s still monopolised the top three positions after the first hour in the dark but the numbers have now been shuffled ... 1st#7, 2nd #8 and 3rd.#9 Allan McNish was on provisional pole position, all three Audis are now within 0.130 secs of each other.. Hot on their heels, but still a couple of seconds astray is car #11, the first of Panoz Spyders, Brabham started the session and then handed over to Mario Andretti (who is still bl**dy quick for a fellow born way back in 1940!).

Twenty minutes into the session, the Chrysler Viper #56 driven by Seiler ended up in the pits for a new set of tyres.

#12 Panoz is lying 5th ahead of the two Lola B2KJ10's numbers #21 (Team Rafanelli)& #22 (Konrad Motorsports) both were going fine and steadily holding their positions.

8th is the #24 Reynard 2KQ (Johansson Matthews)

The two TV Asahi Dragon Panoz LMP900s #23 & #22 were settled in 9th & 10th

In LMP675 #33 Reynard ROC VW leads the class with #34, the other Reynard ROC one place away behind one of the slower Panoz. Third in LMP675 is Peugeot #35.

The first of the Corvettes is now happily sandwiched between the two Oreca. For the Corvettes, this race is "all about winning".

A brake problem brought the Panoz Spyder #10 into the pits, half way through the session with John Neilsen looking concerned. Quite what the precise problem is we are not sure, possibly still brakes .. We will let you know.. One minor problem is that they can't spot their pit in the dark (?).. they overshot their own pits by a mere 2 pits! The #10 car is slightly different to the other Panoz since it has a 'two man' roll over hoop as opposed to the smaller 'one man version' on the other cars. The bigger two-man version is considerably heavier.

The Viper #54 into pits for an oil top-up, let us hope it is not losing oil or has a leak.

The Panoz #12 came into the pits with an overheating problem.

10.50pm found Mario Andretti in the pits for a wheelchange.

Unfortunately for Johnny Mowlem in his Porsche GT3R, he broke a drive shaft after doing one lap. Johnny reckons that Skea Racing Porsche is not currently on the pace and they have plenty of work to do over the weekend. The car runs on Pirelli and even Pirelli themselves admit that the Michelin's on the Dick Barbour car are currently a better tyre. They are looking forward to tomorrow, but they really do have to find something urgently!.

Earlier in the session one of the Audis (#8), seemed to blow up while leaving the pits. (whoops!)

Pirro was driving as he left the pit lane in a huge cloud of white smoke and a 2ft trail of oil.

' I wasn't aware that there was a problem' stated Pirro! Later he said ' Night driving is not so easy- You have to be quite familiar with the circuit - driving at night is more challenging than during the day' I think we could have guessed that might be the case Emanuele!

The team will do an autopsy when they get the car back into the pits after the session ends at midnight. Speculation is that it may have been a turbo failure. There is a veil of security and mystery about the car ... we wonder why.

In GT the #83 Dick Barbour car is still way ahead of his fellow Porsche GT3Rs. Dick's last class victory was here twenty years ago and the team have not lost their touch, they are six seconds ahead of the next Porsche #77 (The Labre car). Lucas Luhr tells us that 'The chicanes have lights but other bits are really dark and you really have to stay awake'. (Good plan Lucas!)

Third is the #76 car, it is generally reckoned that Michel Neugarten put in the time.

In LM GTS the Oreca Viper plan isn't going quite as it should ... ..OK so #51 leads, it is strong team (they won last year after all!) with Beretta, Wendlinger and Dupuy.. next up is the Corvette C5-R #63. This should please them enormously .. Getting ahead of an Oreca Viper is not easy.

In LMGT the Dick Barbour Porsche #83 remains in control ahead of #77 The Labre car. The gap remains in the region of six seconds .. that is a lot! However there is still tomorrow for the other teams to get sorted and chase down the Barbour car.

So as the second session comes to end the Audis are still well in control, despite the worries over #8 and its oil. The quickest Panoz is #11 and it is just about in touch but still a couple of seconds astray. The Cadillac lads may be off the pace but they are happy, they have cars in the top twenty but reckon they still have a bit of work to do.

LMP675 is going Reynard's way at the moment these ROC VWs are running along fine well ahead of the #35 WR Peugeot.

LMGTS... Good news .. The Corvette has split the two invincible Oreca Vipers.

LMGT ... what do about the Dick Barbour Porsche? It seems to be in a league of its own. To be that far ahead of the #77 Labre car is quite an achievement ... next up is the Seikel Motorsport car.

That is it for today ... let us see what tomorrow brings ..