By Tarek Ramchani
The action has started at Le Mans with a single free practice session this afternoon. Audi started very well, taking full control of the four-hour session.
The session started in damp and humid conditions. At the first hour mark the session was red flagged after a car had a severe crash. Moving on into the session the track started to dry and the drivers improved their lap times. In front the Audi drivers battled with each other for the lead. In the end it was a Audi R18 e-tron quattro 1-2-3. The session was red flagged with less than 30 minutes to go after another big crash for a Ferrari GT car. The #2 Audi of Loic Duval, Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen lead the pack with a time of 3:25.415. The #1 Audi was second with drivers André Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fässler. The #3 Audi shared by Oliver Jarvis, Lucas di Grassi and Marc Gené was in third. Behind them the factory Toyota TS030 Hybrids were fourth and fifth. Rebellion Racing's pair of Lola Toyotas were classified sixth and seventh, whilst the Strakka Racing HPD was eighth.
After a two hour break the teams and drivers will take part in the first qualifying session. A two-hour session between 22:00 and 00.00 CET.
LMP1 free practice session results:
1 #2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro 3:25.415
2 #1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro 3:26.060
3 #3 Audi R18 e-tron quattro 3:28.458
4 #8 Toyota TS030 Hybrid 3:29.573
5 #7 Toyota TS030 Hybrid 3:30.866
6 #12 Lola B12/60 Toyota 3:32.116
7 #13 Lola B12/60 Toyota 3:33.706
8 #21 HPD ARX 03C Honda 3:39.638
Photo credit: Audi Media
