Audi tops second Ricard practice

Date published : 09 Apr 2010 - 17:11:21

Audi improved its pace in the second Le Mans Series free practice session at Paul Ricard on Friday to beat the ORECA Peugeot to the top of the timesheet.Dindo Capello and Allan McNish, who are racing without regular team-mate Tom Kristensen this weekend because the Dane is still recovering from a torn heel tendon, bettered the fastest time of the customer 908 by three tenths of a second, as preparations for the season-opening eight-hour race continue.The factory Aston Martin of Adrian Fernandez, Harold Primat and Stefan Mucke was third fastest, albeit two seconds off the pace of the Audi R15 plus. The Mansell family Ginetta was fourth, ahead of the first Rebellion Racing Lola, of Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost, and the Signature customer Aston of Franck Mailleux, Pierre Ragues and Vanina Ickx.The Quifel Ginetta was the quickest of the LMP2 class cars, but only one hundredth of a second faster than the Strakka HPD. The first of the Oak Racing Pescarolos was a distant third.Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz set the pace in GT2 in their Felbermayr Porsche, two tenths quicker than the first of the AF Corse Ferraris. Rob Bell and Darren Turner made it three different makes in the top three in their JMW Aston Martin Vantage.Giancarlo Fisichella and Jean Alesi continued their acclimatisation to GT racing, finsihing the day's second session 10th in class and 35th overall in an AF Corse Ferrari 430.The Rebellion Lola of Andrea Belicchi, Jean-Christophe Boullion and Guy Smith and the ORECA of Soheil Ayari, Didier Andre and Loic Duval both failed to set a time in the 60-minute practice.There is one more hour-long practice session on Saturday morning ahead of qualifying.Pos Driver Class/Team/Car Time 1. Capello/McNish P1 Audi 1:42.801s 2. Panis/Lapierre/Sarrazin P1 ORECA Peugeot 1:43.152s 3. Fernandez/Primat/Mucke P1 Aston Martin 1:44.905s 4. Mansell/Mansell/Mansell P1 Beechdean Ginetta 1:45.111s 5. Prost/Jani P1 Rebellion Lola 1:45.808s 6. Ragues/Mailleux/Ickx P1 Signature Aston 1:47.264s 7. Amaral/Pla/Hughes P2 Quifel Ginetta 1:47.732s 8. Leventis/Watts/Kane P2 Strakka HPD 1:47.743s 9. Hein/Moreau P2 Oak Pescarolo 1:48.840s10. Ojjeh/Greaves/Ebbesvik P2 Bruich. Ginetta 1:48.998s11. Erdos/Newton/Wallace P2 RML Lola 1:50.050s12. Salini/Salini/Gommendy P2 WR-Zytek 1:50.678s13. Lahaye/Nicolet P2 Oak Pescarolo 1:51.355s14. Cioci/Perazzini/Pirri P2 Racing Box Lola 1:51.365s15. Geri/Piccini/Piccini P2 Racing Box Lola 1:51.937s16. Toulemonde/Zollinger/Zampatti LC Formula Le Mans 1:54.027s17. Frey/Meichtry/Dueck P2 Race Perf. Radical 1:54.461s18. Stirling/Hines/Piscopo LC Formula Le Mans 1:55.004s19. Zacchia/Moro/Kaufmann LC Formula Le Mans 1:55.190s20. Kraihamer/de Crem/Delhez LC Formula Le Mans 1:55.345s21. Schell/Metz/da Rocha P2 Pegasus Courage 1:55.811s22. Beche/Pillon/Capillaire LC Formula Le Mans 1:56.310s23. Gardel/Goueslard/Canal GT1 Larbre Saleen 1:56.935s24. Barlesi/Cicognani/Chalandon LC Formula Le Mans 1:58.076s25. Lieb/Lietz GT2 Felbermayr Porsche 1:58.713s26. Companc/Russo GT2 AF Corse Ferrari 1:58.925s27. Kutemann/Basso/Hartshorne LC Formula Le Mans 1:59.023s28. Bell/Turner GT2 JMW Aston Martin 1:59.024s29. Bruni/Melo GT2 AF Cornse Ferrari 1:59.144s30. Narac/Pilet GT2 IMSA Porsche 1:59.573s31. Kirkaldy/Mullen GT2 CRS Ferrari 1:59.819s32. Dumbreck/Coronel/Bleekemolen GT2 Spyker 1:59.843s33. Ragginger/Ried/Long GT2 Felbermayr Porsche 1:59.890s34. Holzer/Westbrook GT2 Prospeed Porsche 1:59.947s35. Fisichella/Vilander/Alesi GT2 AF Corse Ferrari 2:00.241s36. Muller/Werner GT2 BMW 2:00.285s37. Ehret/Quaife/Kaffer GT2 CRS Ferrari 2:00.811s38. Pourtales/Noda/Kennard P2 KSM Lola 2:01.006s39. Farnbacher/Simonsen GT2 Farnbacher Ferrari 2:01.159s40. Belicchi/Boullion/Smith P1 Rebellion Lola no time41. Ayari/Andre/Duval P1 ORECA no time