Two Days to go – Le Mans 24 Hour 2018

Qualifying 1 (Q1) for the Le Mans 24 Hour went off on Wednesday night without too much fanfare or drama. Before that Free Practice 1 (FP1) in the afternoon offered the teams the opportunity to put their cars and drivers through the paces at will and so not too much can be read into the times posted then. But the first night session was obligatory as all the drivers have to spend time behind the wheel in both daylight and at night in order to qualify for the race on the weekend.

Thankfully the heavy, intermittent showers of the previous couple of days had left us, and the whole of Q1 was run in dry warm conditions. For the four works cars, it was business as usual as these cars and drivers took up the challenge for the top of the lap charts. With the exception of ‘Gimmi’ Bruni (#91), all other eleven works drivers are very familiar with the 911. Bruni, while being one of the most experienced of the GTE drivers in the entire field, has had the least amount of time behind the wheel of a 911. Only thing was though, that nobody told Bruni that little fact, and so the likeable Italian proceeded to set the fastest lap of the session on his first lap out, a time that was a second and a half quicker than anybody else for that entire session.