Bentleys, Audis lead the way in preliminaries
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 ...

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 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 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.
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About this article
Series | Le Mans |
Drivers | Anthony Davidson , Tomas Enge , David Brabham , Stefan Johansson , Rinaldo Capello , Tom Kristensen , Jan Magnussen , Guy Smith , Frank Biela , Mika Salo , Darren Turner , Emmanuel Collard , Mark Blundell , Jon Field , Sascha Maassen , Lucas Luhr , Kevin Buckler , Leo Hindery , Jörg Bergmeister , Peter Kox , Timo Bernhard , Hayanari Shimoda , Marco Werner , Christophe Pillon , Luc Alphand , Rick Sutherland , John Nielsen , Marc Lieb , Jérome Policand , Perry McCarthy , Kelvin Burt , Johnny Dumfries , Frederic Dor , Alex Job , Emanuele Pirro , JJ Lehto |
Bentleys, Audis lead the way in preliminaries
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