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06.05.2003  LE MANS PRELIMINARY TEST: REPORT & OFFICIAL TIMES


LE MANS, France (May 4, 2003) - Bentleys and Audis led the way overall Sunday as racing teams had eight hours of testing at the Circuit de La Sarthe to help them prepare for next month's running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Regular American Le Mans Series teams were well-represented, setting the fastest times in two classes and running close to the front in others. 
 
The fastest overall time of the day was set by defending American Le Mans Series champion Tom Kristensen, driving a Bentley Speed 8 Prototype to a lap of 3:34.820 around the 8.625-mile French racing circuit. Kristensen has been on the winning team four times at Le Mans, including the past three years in a row when he drove for the factory Audi team. The Dane will share one of the two Bentleys with Rinaldo Capello and Guy Smith. 

The Veloqx Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranello, which regularly competes in American Le Mans Series events, set the fastest time of the day in the GTS class for production-based cars with Tomas Enge of the Czech Republic at the wheel. Enge, whose co-drivers are Peter Kox and Jamie Davies, turned a lap of 3:57.180. 

The Racers Group Porsche 911 GT3 RS, winner of the GT class last year in th 24 Hours of Le Mans, was the fastest of the day in the GT class with a lap of 4:08.636. Kevin Buckler of Sonoma, Calif., will share the car with Timo Bernhard and Jorg Bergmeister of Germany, all regular competitors in ALMS events. 

The 50 cars that have been invited to compete in the June 14-15 event, plus six reserve cars, were required to take part in the testing session. Among the 50 invited teams are 21 that regularly race in the American Le Mans Series, and 32 that competed in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring that opened the 2003 ALMS season in March. Three of the reserve cars are ALMS regulars. 

Because of the relationship that exists between the ALMS and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), organizers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, race teams that regularly compete in ALMS events receive special consideration in the selection process for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

The Bentley led the GTP class, while the LMP 900 class for open-cockpit Prototypes was led by the Team Goh Audi R8, which Jan Magnussen of Denmark drove to the second-fastest lap of the day overall at 3:38.385. Magnussen will share the car with Marco Werner and Seiji Ara. Magnussen's time was the fastest of the day overall until Kristensen beat the time in the closing minutes of the day with a flying lap. 

Third overall was the second Team Bentley entry of David Brabham, Johnny Herbert and Mark Blundell at 3:38.769, followed by the Audi Sport UK entry of Frank Biela, Mika Salo and Perry McCarthy at 3:39.016. The ADT Champion Racing Audi R8 of JJ Lehto, Emanuele Pirro and Stefan Johansson was fifth-fastest overall at 3:39.077. 

Second-fastest in the GTS class was the second Veloqx Prodrive Ferrari driven by Anthony Davidson, Kelvin Burt and Darren Turner at 3:58.185, followed by a third Ferrari fielded by the Luc Alphand team and driven by Alphand, Frederic Dor and Jerome Policand at 3:58.785. 

Second-fastest in the GT class was the Porsche 911 GT3 RS of Alex Job Racing, driven by Lucas Luhr, Sascha Maassen and Emmanuel Collard to a lap of 4:11.316. The Job team is fielding the car at Le Mans in a cooperative effort with White Lightning-Petersen Motorsports as the two ALMS regular teams combined forces for a first Le Mans appearance. Orbit Racing, another regular ALMS team, was third in the GT class with a lap of 4:13.141, its Porsche driven by Marc Lieb, Leo Hindery and Peter Baron. 

The LMP 675 class for smaller Prototypes was led by RN Motorsports in a DBA Zytek at 3:47.708. The car driven by John Nielsen, Hayanari Shimoda and Johnny Dumfries was more than 10 seconds ahead of the second-place car in the class, the Reynard 2KQ LM of Jean-Luc Maury-Larbiere, Pascal Fabre and Christophe Pillon at 3:57.760. Intersport Racing, with defending ALMS LMP 675 champion Jon Field of Dublin, Ohio, at the wheel, overcame some early-session difficulties to set the third-fastest speed with limited track time. The Lola-MG, which Field will share with Duncan Dayton and Rick Sutherland, ran a lap of 3:58.044. 


Pos  Drivers  Car  Class  Time  R# 
1.  Tom Kristensen, Rinaldo Capello, Guy Smith  Bentley Speed 8  LMGTP  3:34.820   
2.  Jan Magnussen, Marco Werner, Seiji Ara  Audi R8  LMP900  3:38.385   
3.  Johnny Herbert, David Brabham, Mark Blundell  Bentley Speed 8  LMGTP  3:38.769   
4.  Frank Biela, Perry McCarthy, Mika Salo  Audi R8  LMP900  3:39.016   
5.  JJ Lehto, Emanuele Pirro, Stefan Johanson  Audi R8 LMP900  3:39.077   
6.  Jan Lammers, Andy Wallace, John Bosch  Dome S101 Judd  LMP900  3:41.535   
7.  J. Matthews, M. Goossens, C. Tinseau  R&S MkIIIC-Yates  LMP900  3:41.856   
8.  F. Ortiz, Beppe Gabbiani, Tristan Gommendy  Dome S101-Judd  LMP900  3:42.185   
9.  Eric Helary, Soheil Ayari, Nicolas Minassian  Courage C60-Peugeot  LMP900  3:42.485   
10.  J. Cochet, S. Gregoire, Boris Derichebourg  Courage C60-Judd  LMP900  3:42.535   
11.  Olivier Beretta, Max Papis, Gunnar Jeannette  Panoz LMP01  LMP900  3:44.694   
12.  Ukyo Katayama, Masahiko Kondo, Ryo Fukuda  Dome S101-Mugen  LMP900  3:44.748   
13.  J.-C. Boullion, F. Lagorce, S. Sarrazin  Courage C60-Peugeot  LMP900  3:46.987   
14.  J. Nielsen, H. Shimoda, Johnny Dumfries  DBA4-03S-Zytek  LMP675  3:47.708   
15.  S. Maxwell, D. Saelens, Benjamin Leuenberger  Panoz LMP01  LMP900  3:48.546   
16.  J. Campbell-Walter, N. Kinch, J.-D. Deletraz  Lister Storm LMP  LMP900  3:48.983   
17.  Justin Keen, Phil Andrews, Christian Vann  Lola B2K40-Judd  LMP900  3:53.805  R1 
18.  S. Boulay, M. Rugolo, Jean Bernard Bouvet Durango-MG  LMP900  3:55.589   
19.  Tomas Enge, Peter Kox, Jamie Davies  Ferrari 550 Maranello  GTS  3:57.180   
20.  Robbie Stirling, Bryan Herta, Romain Dumas  Reynard 01Q-Cswrth  LMP900  3:57.472   
21.  J.-L. Maury-Laribiere, P. Fabre, C. Pillon  Reynard 2KQ-Lehman  LMP675  3:57.760   
22.  Jon Field, Duncan Dayton, Rick Sutherland  Lola EX257-MG  LMP675  3:58.044   
23.  Anthony Davidson, Kelvin Burt, Darren Turner  Ferrari 550 Maranello  GTS  3:58.185   
24.  Luc Alphand, Frederic Dor, Jerome Policand  Ferrari 550 Maranello  GTS  3:58.785   
25.  Oliver Gavin, Kelly Collins, Andy Pilgrim  Corvette C5-R  GTS  3:58.895   
26.  Franz Konrad, Toni Seiler  Saleen S7R  GTS  3:59.071   
27.  Olivier Porta, Yojiro Terada  WR LMP01-Peugeot  LMP675  3:59.370   
28.  Phillippe Alliot, David Hallyday  Courage C65-JI  LMP675  4:00.022   
29.  C. Bouchut, Patrice Goueslard, S. Zaccha  Chrysler Viper GTSR  GTS  4:00.896   
30.  Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell, Franck Freon  Corvette C5-R  GTS  4:01.727   
31.  Edouard Sezionale, Patrice Roussel, L Lassere  Norma M2000/2-Ford  LMP900  4:03.192   
32.  Mike Newton, Tommy Erdos, Gavin Pickering  Saleen S7R  GTS  4:03.432  R4 
33.  Pedro Chaves, Miguel Ramos, Ni Amorim  Saleen S7R  GTS  4:06.089   
34.  K. Buckler, Timo Bernhard, Jorg Bergmeister  Porsche 911 GT3 RS  GT  4:08.636   
35.  W. Brun, Jesus Villaroel, Jean-Francois Yvon  Saleen S7R  GTS  4:08.908  R2 
36.  Mike Hezemans, Anthony Kumpen, David Hart  Pagani Zonda  GTS  4:11.273   
37.  L. Luhr, Sascha Maassen, Emmanuel Collard  Porsche 911 GT3 RS  GT  4:11.316   
38.  Leo Hindery, Peter Baron, Marc Lieb  Porsche 911 GT3 RS  GT  4:13.141   
39.  T. Borcheller, R. Kelleners, Anthony Lazzaro  Ferrari 360 Modena  GT  4:13.583   
40.  Robin Liddell, David Warnock, Piers Masarati  Porsche 911 GT3 RS  GT  4:16.004   
41.  Butch Leitzinger, Johnny Mowlem, Shane Lewis  Ferrari 360 Modena  GT  4:16.777   
42.  Ian Khan, Michael Neugarten, Nigel Smith  Porsche 911 GT3 RS  GT  4:17.105   
43.  David Terrien, Fabrizio de Simone  Ferrari 360 Modena  GT  4:17.798   
44.  David Shep, Tony Burgess, John Lloyd  Porsche 91 GT3 RS  GT  4:17.821   
45.  Norman Simon, Hans Hugenholtz, Tom Coronel  Spyker C8 Double12R  GT  4:18.232   
46.  Chris McMurry, Bryan Willman, Jeff Bucknum  Pilbeam MP91-Willma  LMP675  4:20.097   
47.  Atsushi Yogo  Porsche 911 GT3 RS  GT  4:20.834   
48.  J.-R. de Fournoux, S. Daoudi, Bastien Briere  WR LMP02-Peugeot  LMP675  4:20.858   
49.  V. Ickx, Patrick Bourdais, Roland Berville  Porsche 911 GT3 RS  GT  4:20.867   
50.  M. Franchitti, J. Ruffier, Olivier Thevenin  Porsche 911 GT3 RS  GT  4:20.889  R6 
51.  Luis Marques, Rene Metge, Christian Lavieille  Chrysler Viper GTSR  GTS  4:21.135   
52.  Paul Daniels, Pierre Ehret, Werner Groebl  Porsche 911 GT3 RS  GT  4:22.332  R3 
53.  Gregor Fisken, Ian Donaldson, Bart Hayden  Porsche 911 GT3 RS  GT  4:23.413  R5 
54.  A Barde, Michel Ferte, G Lesoudier  Ferrari 360 Modena  GT  4:28.749   
55.  Richard Stanton, Richard Hay, Rob Barff  TVR Tuscan T400R  GT  4:32.681   
56.  Tim Sugden, Michael Caine, Mike Jordan  TVR Tuscan T400R  GT  4:42.521   
           
R#  Reserve cars         

THE LUC ALPHAND ADVENTURES SOLUTION F FERRARI 550 MARANELLO AT THE LE MANS PRELIMINARY TEST ON SUNDAY

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