[LM24] How works Le Mans qualifying?

[vandijk]

I know that;

-we have two sessions, Wednesday and Thursday, to qualify. On each day we have a session from 7 - 9pm and one from 10 to 12pm. So 4 sessions in total.

-all drivers must at least do three laps at night (if not they will be placed at the back of the starting grid)

-drivers shall achieve a laptime equal to 125% of the avarage of the 3 best laps set by 3 cars of different makes (wow ;-)

-drivers shall achieve a laptime equal to 110% of the best time achieved by the fastest car in each catagory.

My questions are;
a) do all of the 4 sessions count for grid places and is it just due to the fine tuning of the car and the lower air temperature that the best times are likely be set in the last session on Thursday?

b) can someone recall that drivers did not meet one of the last two points (par 9.8)? What did the ACO decide to do? Would they allow them to start at the back of the grid?

Thanks!
Sander.

[Truckosaurus]

Originally posted by vandijk
My questions are;
a) do all of the 4 sessions count for grid places and is it just due to the fine tuning of the car and the lower air temperature that the best times are likely be set in the last session on Thursday?

b) can someone recall that drivers did not meet one of the last two points (par 9.8)? What did the ACO decide to do? Would they allow them to start at the back of the grid?

a) All the sessions do count. Normally the fast times are set on the Wednesday and teams use the Thursday for fuel calculations. Sometimes you get special circumstances, eg. when Eric v/d Poele binned his Nissan at Tertre Rouge the (weds?) the 2nd session started an hour earlier so the cars had colder air but it was still daylight, so got some good times in.

b) I believe drivers (and cars) can be allowed to start at the discretion of the ACO.

[Aysedasi]

Yes, the ACO has been prevailed upon to relax the rules from time to time, but, then again, has also on occasion refused to do so. I well remember the BRM (from 92 was it?), which ended up with just one driver because the other two never got a chance to qualify in it.

[paul-collins]

...and there was a GT driver who was disallowed in 2002 IIRC (and, to rub salt in the wound, he was a "gentleman" driver who had taken the place of Johnny Mowlem - so the two remaining drivers had to do the whole race.

[Fab]

Confirmed : there was a car with only two drivers in 2003, due to this rule...