Communiqué N° 04
- Saturday 17th June
Warm-Up
Audi quickest - ROC show their speed
The Warm-up was run in warm conditions and the works Audis confirmed
their practice performances. At 9h15, No.7 driven by Capello got round
in 3 mn 40.918 secs just before Dane, Christian Kolby stuffed his No.4
Cadillac into the guardrail at the second Ford chicane... The car was brought
back to the pits with heavy damage to the left-hand rear end and the Dams
mechanics will have to pull out all the stops to get it repaired for the
race as they also have to cope with sensor problems on the No.3 car driven
by Bernard-Collard-Montagny.
Ferrari-Maserati : Legends on the track
Almost fifty Ferraris and Maseratis took part in the historic race.
Both these makes have made an enormous contribution to the Le Mans legend
and even if Maserati has never won, Ferrari has triumphed in the Sarthe
on nine occasions plus numerous class successes. The event was won by David
Franklin's Daytona in the colours of Charles Pozzi from David Piper's green
250 LM, the Englishman very pleased to be back on a circuit where he often
distinguished himself. All in all it was a marvellous spectacle as the
drivers spared neither themselves nor their very valuable motor cars.
The No.22 TV Asahi Dragon team Panoz driven by Japanse pop star, Masahiko
Kondo, came back to its pit at 9h25 with the bonnet slightly damaged after
an 'off' at Arnage.
At 9h30 the No.8 Audi (Biela-Kristensen-Pirro) topped the list with
a time of 3 mn 39.403 secs but it was quickly disloged by its team-mate
No.9 (Aiello-McNish-Ortelli) which lapped in 3 mn 38.108 secs.
Behind the German cars the next quickest was the No.24 Reynard-Judd
of Johansson-MathewsSmith in 3 mn 42.944 secs just ahead of the works
Panoz Spyder No.11 in the hands of Brabham-Magnussen-Andretti.
Just before the end of the Warm-up Abt topped the time sheets with
a lap in 3 mn 37.924 secs in Audi No.7, less than a second under his practice
best. He then did the slowing-down lap behind the pace car in order to
check the oil and water temperatures at low speed in anticipation of the
out lap for the flying start. Wily Joest leaves nothing to chance !.
The two Reynard-VWs entered by ROC also shone confirming their role
as favourites for the LMP 675 Category. In No.34 Boullion-Policand-Gene
finished ninth fastest in 3 mn 47.643 secs (ahead of several LMP 900 cars)
while in the sister car No.33 Deletraz-Kelleners-Terrien were eleventh
in 3 mn 47.968 secs. The No.36 WR will have an engine change as a precautionary
measure while No.35 (Fukuyama-Daoudi-Pompidou) finally found the right set-up.
The No.73 LM GT Porsche, whose bodywork was badly damaged on Thursday
evening, will start as it was repaired by a local craftsman !.
