After a pretty damp and rainy couple of days of scrutineering, the first qualifying day was dry but quite cool. The atmosphere is building now as the first wave of race fans begins to break on the campsites. As the late afternoon sun was peeking through layers of cloud, the first roar and crackle of race engines broke the calm.
The evening was planned with two sessions, but that was just the plan. After only 45 minutes of the session, Eric Van Der Poele had a huge straight-on at Tertre Rouge when he experienced throttle failure. The car hit the tyre wall with such feroicity that the barrier behind was almost snapped. It took a worrying 15 minutes to extract the driver, but we understand that Eric is not seriously injured but has a spinal problem and will require a few weeks of ‘lying down’.
This accident caused a protracted delay and effectively concluded the first session, with Toyotas in 1-2-3 and BMW in 4 and 5 positions. Mercedes lay at that time in positions 6,7 and 8. Martin Brundle seems to still have it his way with the Toyota, keeping it in top spot for the duration of the evening and breaking the qualifying lap record by 5.5 seconds according to the Toyota press realease. Katayama blew the dust off the drivers book of excuses when he claimed that traffic on his hot laps had caused his lower than expected times.
Mercedes seemed to be pushing hard to make the times and looked pretty ragged compared with the Toyotas. It is hard to believe that the Mercs are sandbagging. Photographer Hal Crocker has offered me a bet; he gets to pick two teams and I get the rest of the field. I have not taken him up yet as I am pretty sure of what he will pick!
It is notable that only one of the leading teams has ever won here before, and that in recent years it has been lucky to have a rookie on the squad. Mercedes fill both requirements.