[chernaudi]

It also can be said that it also favors teams willing to burn up an extra set of tires. Porsche used two of 8 sets of tires in qualifying, while Audi stayed on the same set the whole session on both cars.

Either Porsche are expecting good tire wear or Audi are betting on Porsche's heat cycled tires not offering up the performance that they did when they were bolted on the car.

But I do sort of agree with Rinke's assessment. We have the whole driver average deal to try and make sure that there's cars out there for qualifying and that the fans get their money's worth instead of most of 2012 where Audi and Toyota would just run a banker lap and park for most of the session.

But when only the two fastest laps count, it's already a foregone conclusion that the car that's fastest over one lap will likely win the pole.

IMO, if the ACO/FIA want cars out there and fans get their money's worth, I'd favor a LM-style qualifying format where the fastest lap from any session can determine the line up. Or, since Audi don't hugely focus on qualifying, give the LMP1 teams 1-2 extra sets of tires to burn that don't count against race tire allotments.