Club Arnage - 2001 Le Mans 24 hours

2nd Practice Session [night]

Thursday June Second Qualifying (Part 2), 22:00 to 24:00
By Stella-Maria Thomas and Lynne Waite

The temperature is dropping here at la Sarthe and there is a threat of rain. A strong wind got up for a while, changed direction, then died away but brought a lot of dense grey cloud with it. People in the stands have their sweaters and coats on and the number of people brave enough to wear shorts is limited. Claudia Hurtgen is sitting on the pit wall doing an impression of a gnome, huddled in a thick team jacket and probably wondering what she and her team are going to have to do to get further up the order and to keep warm.

No. 56 is very keen to start the session even though the session hasn't quite started. No. 38 is also rumbling along to wait for the green light. No. 76 (PK Sport) is also ready.
No. 18 is going out but will probably be back almost immediately. Clerico is at the wheel though so maybe it will be OK although the mechanics appear to be having trouble with the fuelling rig.

The MGs have hardly been out in the first "daylight" session because they still have to qualify at night. As a result, they have been kept in after school. Each of the unqualified drivers will do three laps in this session.
No. 14 goes out too.

The first car was the No. 4 Audi, and the No. 2 Audi is out to. In addition, adjustments are being made to the No. 1 car although it's still the fastest thing here outside of a jet fighter. Hughes is out in the MG at the moment doing his qualifying laps.
No. 18 is back in after a lap! This is no real surprise but maybe they ought to stay out there. Clerico is shaking his head again but he's stayed in the car this time and is now fiddling with the mirrors.

Johnny Herbert (No. 3 Audi): "We're trying to fiddle around and get the set up for Saturday. We're happy were we are and being 3rd is great. Starting that far up, we're OK. It's always good coming back and the cars are a joy to drive. We're all very pleased with the way it's gone so far."

Johnny Mowlem (No. 62 RML): Could be better but it could be a lot worse. I didn't get a good run to improve my timing. His first lap was spoiled by traffic and his second one by oil flags and rain. "Even so, I could never have got near Oliver Gavin's time. We had a recipe for disaster yesterday. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I'd have liked pole but that's really just an ego thing for me. We don't know what's wrong - the car is a lot more nervous than it was and the team are as nonplussed as I am."
The No. 5 Cadillac is back in the pits already. No. 11 is in too.

Tom Coronel (No. 4 Audi): "I'm really happy with the seat as well. The Johannson team do a really good job and the car is in Gulf colours. Willi Weber phoned me the week after the Monaco GP and said there is a good chance that you will do the 24 hours of Le Mans. The good news is they want you to drive with them in Le Mans, but the bad news is that you will have to invest yourself because they don't pay me!"
No. 60 (Speedy) is in, as is No. 19 (SMG). The No. 20 Ascari has not been out at all yet.
No. 83 (Seikel Motorsport Porsche) has been off in the gravel at the Dunlop Esses.

And Capello has just set a new pole position time in this cooler session, dropping the No. 1 car to second. Both Val Hillebrand (Dome) and Stephan Johannson (Audi) have gone faster too. Johannson comes in after that. The No. 14 Viper is in too.
Improvements come from the Cadillac with Collard at the wheel; the Courage of Collard and the Dome of Nielsen are also showing improvements.

Stephan Johansson (No. 4 Audi): "On the dashboard I was 1.3 down on my previous lap and I lost 5 tenths… but what the hell! Yesterday we had all kinds of drama and couldn't work on the car because we had a lot of strange stuff and then the steering rack went wrong in the earlier session."
No. 77 (Freisinger Porsche), the No. 34 MG (with Warren Hughes at the wheel) and the No. 3 Audi with Kelleners in charge are also back in the pits. They are joined by the No. 1 car, which may have had an off, and by No. 17.

No. 18 returns again. And Jordi Gene (No. 38 ROC) improves on his time in the LMP675s and improves to 3rd in class. Bouchut in the Viper is also now 3rd fastest in his class, the GTSs.
Hugh Chamberlain (MG Team Boss): "We had a problem with the fuel system yesterday and couldn't get the car back because we couldn't work out what was wrong. So we hadn't done any night laps. That's what we're doing now. What the hell's his name - the other one - Anthony - probably won't do much tonight but we're just getting the other two guys round who haven't been to Le Mans before."
No. 18 comes in for new boots and seems to have started the rush… The No. 8 Bentley is in and is joined by the No. 7 Bentley. So Brundle brings it back to let the others have a go this time… although the nail he picked up wasn't his fault.

Kristensen has had a lot of work on the front end of the car, including a damper unit. He had indeed been off the circuit earlier but whether it is cause or effect:
Tom Kristensen (No. 1 Audi): We had a few problems on the set up and I was on used tyres, but I had a slow puncture.

No. 9 Dome is being pushed back in, not under its own steam.
No. 20 Ascari finally goes out with Toivonen at the wheel.
No. 19 (Speedy SMG) is having lots of adjustments to the suspension. Some is now holding a torch underneath so they can see what they are doing.

The No. 7 Bentley went through just now with its number decals glowing an odd shade of green. It looks very spooky.
No. 21 Ascari has just gained two places with Xavier Pompidou at the wheel so despite the general opinions here it looks as if there could be more improvements yet. The No. 8 Bentley just improves too with Le Mans expert Andy Wallace at the wheel.
No. 19 has been sent out again, while the No. 6 Cadillac just came in.
No. 18 comes in now and there is a driver change.

The No. 34 MG is back in again so presumably that's sorted the qualifying question, while No. 18 is pushed into the garage. No. 17 is also being pushed away and the teams seem to be playing musical cars to get them in there.

Philippe Gache is driving the No. 19 Speedy SMG now with new tyres so someone thinks it's worth the effort of trying to get more times out of their car.

Xavier Pompidou gets a further improvement from his Ascari.

The No. 7 Bentley is being examined closely, especially around the cooling systems. The No. 20 Ascari is in with the rear engine cowling off. And the No. 21 car come sin too.

Harri Toivonen: "Well, that was the plan - a quick installation lap because we have now the race engine on and we are just checking everything for the race at the moment, Werner is going to do the same things. The engine can go in one lap or it can last three days. We are very optimistics (!) about it."
There are new tyres on the No. 8 Bentley and Wallace gets in ready to go out.
No. 34 MG is in.

Hughes: "It's very strange in the dark. I don't feel familiar with it in the daylight. It's bloody difficult, I do know that. The thing is we've had problems in testing so we're very limited in what we've been able to do - this is basically out of the box. Even here we've forgone the evening session to make sure it was all in order. There's a hell of a lot more time in the car around here."

The Rowan Racing Pilbeam (No. 35) is in to the pits for more adjustments. The No. 62 RML Saleen is in as well.
The Dome drivers seem to be trying to communicate in semaphore, waving their arms around desperately at each other. Who knows what they are trying to say!!!
The No. 6 Cadillac has just done its fastest time of the day with Max Angelelli at the wheel.
And a trip by our colleagues to Audi has netted a flask of coffee and vast quantities of sugar so things may get more sensible here but I wouldn't guarantee it.
The No. 6 Cadillac is now back in.

The No. 33 MG is having problems, which suggests the leprechauns have come for Kevin McGarrity (he claims to be very unlucky because he must have once unknowingly set fire to a household of leprechauns). Hugh Chamberlain: "The car has become incontinent. It needed a nappy. There's oil in places that it shouldn't be so we're investigating. The trouble is it's incredibly difficult to find out where it's coming from."

Most of the Audis are back in the pits at present, as is the No. 30 Welter Gerard WR.

First Hour Placings:
2 (overall and LMP900), 1, 3, 9, 4, 16, 7 (LM GTP pole), 5, 8, 19, 15, 6, 17, 10, 34 (LMP675 pole), 14, 33, 20, 12, 18, 11, 21, 38, 36, 30, 60 (GTS pole), 63, 58, 64, 32, 37, 62, 61, 35, 57, 56, 55, 70 (GT pole), 80, 83, 72, 77, 79, 76, 74, 82, 75, 71.

Lots of people are complaining about traffic, which is a bit odd, but of course the different categories are so varied in speed levels, which means that you might think you have a gap but there's something slower in it.

Jan Lammers: "Well, we still have to see if the car can last. We've been very fortunate. We're driving without a clutch at the moment. We deliberately left it in. It's failed now. Now we're working on the gearbox to try and get it right, and the gearbox area is crucial."
No. 18 gets wheeled back out and goes off out to work.
Butch Leitzinger is out in the No. 8 Bentley.

Andy Wallace (No. 8 Bentley): "This is a Bentley. It's lovely and green, and it goes like a bomb!"
The No. 6 & 5 Cadillacs come back in together, following each other home.
The No. 9 Dome stalls in the pits and has to be pushed.
No. 21 car has been wheeled back out with Xavier Pompidou at the wheel again.
There is a new fastest lap for the No. 33 MG with Anthony Reid at the wheel, in the dark and with less than an hour of qualifying to go.

The No. 20 is sitting in the garage with no one taking any notice of it - maybe they don't trust Ben Collins to switch the lights on this time! He didn't last night.
The No. 15 Oreca Viper returns to base again as does the No. 34 MG.
The No. 21 Ascari gets sent back out again after a brief lap. It looks like they are also setting up for the race.

It seems to be getting very quiet out there all of a sudden.
The No. 10 Dome just re-entered the pits sounding utterly dreadful - I'm sure it shouldn't sound like that at all.
Jan Magnussen is about to go back out in the No. 12. Panoz. The No. 11 car has suffered from a left-hand rear wheel working loose and is being stripped down.
David Price (Panoz boss): "Things would have to look up after yesterday! We've just got a small problem with this one here (11) but not a big drama. Hopefully we've got the big ones out of the way."

The No. 10 Dome is pushed away into its garage, which may be just as well.
The No. 12 Panoz goes out with Jan Magnussen at the wheel.
The No. 2 Audi comes back in too.
The No. 18 Pescarolo car comes back in again.
The No. 1 Audi is in too, maybe because the No. 2 is. It can get lonely out there in the dark.
The No. 12 Panoz is now 19th fastest, with Franck Lagorce out there, and Jamie Davies is in the No. 11, which is now up to 21st so maybe the Panoz nightmare is about to end. No. 17 goes back out again.
The No. 3 Audi returns to the pits too.
The No. 2 Audi comes back in too again. The Audis seem to be spending more time going up and down the pit lane than on the track but that's probably because they really don't need to try any harder. The No. 17 Pescarolo is back again for further adjustments, as is the No. 9 Dome, which is pushed into the garage. Maybe they don't want to push it too hard without a clutch!

Dindo Capello: "Yesterday I felt a big potential in the car but in the second session I lost a lot of time behind a GT car. I knew I had to try again. I asked to my engineer to try again tonight and got a much better lap and lost only tenths and from Tertre Rouge to the end was really quick."
The No. 18 Pescarolo Peugeot is in doing a practice pit stop.
The No. 71 Porsche comes in for a pit stop too.

Anthony Reid has taken the No. 34 MG out and just set another faster lap for that car to move up to 14th at the expense of the Nielsen Dome. Why is he doing this in the dark? Is he barking? Possibly, after all he's here and he knows what it's like. Anyway, he's just come back in after that effort. The car has qualifying tyres on. Hugh Chamberlain: "He wasn't supposed to do that!"

The No. 10 Dome comes back in for a conference, while the No. 9 Racing for Holland one has numerous mechanics running after it down the pit lane with intent to bring it back to where they want it. Why did they let it get away is the question. Anyway, they finally get it back out on the track. With the strange chequered design it's not easy to watch - your eyes tend to cross when you see it. But Jan Lammers and his team seem to have hit on the great stunt of selling off each square to individual sponsors. If you have around £1,500 to spare, you too could have your name on the car.

The No. 1 Audi keeps on coming back in, with the No. 2 behind it again.
Anthony Reid: "I can't tell you how good this chassis is. It's sensational. We've got a very good package. Yesterday was the first time I've driven the car at racing speeds. It feels like a single seater. It changes speed very quick and it has a lot of grip. It's great fun to drive."

There are 10 minutes left and the Bentley fans in the grandstand seem to have woken up. They're not as good as the Japanese flag wavers two years ago; they seem to stop after a few seconds. I'm sure they could do better than that if they try.

The No. 62 RML comes in again, and there seems to be very little left circulating now. It's time they stopped really it seems. Having said that, the No. 21 Ascari goes back out again for the last few minutes. Johnny Mowlem: "We're just scrubbing tyres and trying to get the car better and better because we're playing catch up all the time. We're just looking for a good race set up." He doesn't feel confident about the car yet because he hasn't had enough time in it and is also ignoring unhelpful advice e-mailed in by Allan McNish to Radio Le Mans suggesting that he takes certain corners flat.

The No. 5 Cadillac comes back in, closely followed by the No. 6 car. And the migraine-inducing No. 9 Dome returns again.

Oliver Gavin (No. 60 Saleen): They sent me out on the good tyres to see what I could get out of it. When I came past and save 52.8 I was surprised because I'd made a couple of mistakes. The next lap I missed a gear at the second chicane. It was very enjoyable to drive, great fun."

Final positions:
2 (overall and LMP900), 1, 3, 9, 4, 16, 7 (LM GTP pole), 5, 8, 19, 15, 6, 17, 34 (LMP675 pole), 10, 14, 33, 20, 12, 18, 11, 21, 38, 36, 30, 60 (GTS pole), 63, 58, 64, 32, 37, 62, 61, 35, 57, 56, 55, 70 (GT pole), 80, 83, 72, 77, 79, 76, 74, 82, 75, 71.