24 Hours of Le Mans 2008 Qualifying Tests
It was an eventful qualifying tests session, with many crashes and record lap times. Peugeot rules
the qualifying tests by scoring one lap record after after another and, as predicted by everybody -
Tom Kristensen included - they are on the way to secure the pole position on the Le Mans 2008
starting grid. However, going fast means taking more risks. Ricardo Zonta crashed the Peugeot 908
HDi FAP number 9 this evening. The car was badly damaged and had to be taken away on repair truck.
The Peugeot team will be hard at work tonight to get the number 9 running again.
Peugeot wasn't the only team in trouble these last two days. Roland Dumas who drives for Penske's Porsche RS Spyder in the American Le Mans Series crashed the Pescarolo Sport number 16 after the Team Modena Aston Martin in front of him started to leak motor oil on the track just before the Porsche corner. This caused Dumas to loose control and seriously damage the car. The Pescarolo team will do its best to get the car running in time for the race.
In another series of accidents, after hitting a rabbit at the Mulsanne corner, former Formula 1 driver Olivier Panis failed to brake at the Arnage corner and crashed his Courage Oreca number 6. The car was able to slowly enter the pits.
The situation is more dramatic for the Lola Mazda number 44 of Kruse Shiller Motorsport which was completely destroyed in a violent crash at the Dunlop curve. The driver, Hideki Noda, was extracted from the wreck by the commisaires de course. He was in deep shock but able to walk on his own.
In the GT categories, the Team Modena Aston Martin number 59 lost a wheel on the Hounodieres straight while the JMB Racing Ferrari number 99 crashed at the Dunlop curve.
Audi played it safe by not taking any risks and still managing to place their cars right behind the Peugeots on the grid.
