Club Arnage the Le Mans 24 hours LIVE coverage

Final qualifying session - Thursday June 15th 2000.

22:00hrs:- 24:00hrs:
By: Jock Simpson

This is the now the last chance to climb up the grid, because traditionally nothing happens on Friday. The first 30 mins or so before it starts getting dark could be quick! You may have noticed that we thought we had missed some of the action in the previous session in LMGT when the Labre car took pole from the Barbour machine. It seems that it all happened right at the end off the session amongst the drama up front, not a good excuse but it will have to do. 22:10 hrs: Porsche GT3R #73 is well into the gravel traps at Arnage.. looking at the cameras it looks as if the radiator on the Porsche GT3 (Don't forget these 911s are water-cooled nowadays!) has been damaged, wisps of steam were emerging. It maybe able to make it back to pits assuming it doesn't overheat. 22:05 hrs: Cadillac #4 went straight on at first chicane, Kolby was driving, the car struggled through the gravel trap with difficulty, it then got back on the track and then the engine expired .. quite why the engine gave up the ghost is unclear.

22:15 hrs: The Reynard 2KQ #24 has made an impressive 4 sec improvement and moved up to 7th. We hear from our spies that the wind is getting up and it is cooling off out there. The forecast for the race and the next few days is more of the same .. believe that and you will believe anything! Audi are still making suspension changes to #8 car. Capello is out there trying hard in the #7 Audi. They have fitted a new front end on the #9 Audi to see if aerodynamics can be improved. With their front row positions on the grid safe and sound it is tricky to work out quite what Audi tactics are at the moment. We can only assume that they are now looking for an ideal race setting, surely they are not trying to improve their times. Incidentally #7 Audi has been pushed into the pit garage 22:30hrs: We hear officially from Audi that they are now running in race trim, hence the change of nose section we reckon.

Any worries we had about mechanical dramas that seemed to face the Team Rafanelli #21 Lola seem to have been totally unfounded, it may have sounded mysterious but it is now flying and running 5th. Can they now get ahead of the #11 Panoz?

Karl Wendlinger despite having an 'off' is looking forward to a scrap with the Corvettes, just as they did at Sebring.

We have not talked much about the LMP675 category so far. At 22:30hrs the leading car was #34 ROC Reynard-VW is in 18th position, just behind them is #33, another ROC Reynard. however the competition is none to fierce! The 'slowest' (that is bit of a misnomer) Audi #7 is gradually pulling it socks up and has trimmed the gap slightly and is still going quicker.. all three are now within a second of each other and they now stack up #9 #8 #7. The Cadillac #1 is on a bit of a charge, improving their times and moving upto 11th quickest. In LMGT virtually all the teams have improved their times but up front the scrap is temporarily over since both Labre and Barbour are working on race set ups. #10 Panoz is getting gradually into the groove and has now moved into 15th. Things have calmed own a bit, however the cooler air has resulted in all but 11 cars to go quicker this evening. 22:55 hrs: The oil flags are out at Arnage, there is a major oil slick we don't know the culprit at the moment.. 22:56 hrs: The red flags are now out and there are marshals wandering about at several points on the circuit cleaning up the oil. We don't think there has been an accident, no sign of dented cars at this point. We can't establish who the culprit is as far as the oil is concerned. The official reason for the red flag is oil at Indianapolis and Arnage. The cars are now making their way back into the pits.

As part of the 'Master Plan' all the Panoz have had fresh engines fitted today and they probably won't be going out to do serious times again tonight. .

Positions at 23:00 hrs 9.8.7.11.21.17.24.12.3.20.1.23.22.5. 10.2.16.34.33.4.15.6.35.51.63.64.52. 53.32.59.56.54.36.57.60.30.77.83.76. 71.81.82.72.79.73.80.78.75.

The session started again at 23:20 hrs: It is unlikely that the session will be extended after midnight. Remember that the local authorities have to re-open the local roads! 23:40 hrs: At last we know that the #73 Porsche GT3R was the 'oil' culprit and worse still it also rolled at least once, it was possibly Yogo at the wheel. Pit lane feed back suggests it will be back for the race, but it will be hard work for the team, it is feasible. Finally everything has gone a bit quiet and as the session winds down there are about ten cars ploughing round learning the track. Guess what, the #75 Porsche GT3R has moved off the bottom slot and is now ahead of #78.

Positions at 24:00 hrs 9.8.7.11.21.17.24.12.3.20.1.23.22. 5.10.2.16.34.33.4.15.6.35.51.63. 64.52.53.32.59.56.54.36.57.60. 30.77.83.76.71.81.82.72.79.73.80.75.78