Release n°2

1^st qualifying session

Brundle and Beretta, the stars : records fall !

Le Mans 
The pole position for the Le Mans 24 Hours, although symbolic to this world class endurance race, takes on a very important psychological role and is the focal point of media attention during race week.
With one session left, nothing has been decided as of yet. Two drivers used the Wednesday practice session, however, to set the pace for their categories. From the start, the engines roared frenetically with Martin Brundle in his no.28 Toyota GT 1 clocking in, for his first full lap, at 3mn 46.514 secs and then bettering his own time with 3mn 44.928 secs; the no.36 Mercedes challenging the Japanese entry with a two second lead, while in the Prototype category Tom Kristensen in the no.1 BMW took an early lead.

The GT1s in a class of their own

It was soon obvious that the prototypes were not in a position to challenge the GT1s. The Porsche-Haberthur no.67 had to stop because of serious gearbox problems while Brundle continued to better his time with each successive lap. At 7:30 he timed in at 3mn 41.956 secs, almost as fast as the 1997 pole set by Michele Alboreto's TWR-Porsche. In the Porsche camp Allan McNish, who set the fastest time in the pre-qualifying sessions (3mn 37.687 secs), decided the time had come to take on Brundle and his Toyota. In ideal weather conditions, he dialed in a lap that was quick enough to give him second place but over a second behind the Japanese car. The first of the CLK-LM Mercedes, No. 36, registered the third best time. (Gounon-Bouchut-Zonta).
In the LMP 1 Category, the No. 1 BMW was still fastest, but no match for the GTl cars. The No.8 Joest-Porsche (Raphanel-Murry-Weaver) broke down in Les Hunaudières chicane.
In the GT2 category, the Vipers led by the Beretta-Lamy-Archer car (no.51) ran true to their prequalifying "form", despite strong competition from the Jarier-Donovan-Rosenblad 911 GT2 Porsche. In the LMP1 Category, the BMWs began to drop back while, as expected, Toyota, Mercedes and Porsche declared the much touted war on one another! The Nissans went about their practice at their own speed as did the three R39OGT1. Were they trying to fake out the competition? As 8:00 pm rolled around, Zonta in the No.36 Mercedes went off in the Dunlop chicane but managed to returned to his pit.

A GT2 under the 4 minute barrier !

Just before 8:00pm, NcNish and his Porshce captured the number 1 position with a time of 3 mn 40.843 secs, and Boutsen also knocked Brundle back into third place. In the LMP 1 category, Alboreto, sixth overall, snatched the quickest time in this category from the BMW (the fastest of the Ferraris, No.5 entered by the JB-Giesseteam was down in the 13th position). The GT2 Viper (No.52) was still leading its category on the time sheets, nothwitstanding opposition from the No.60 Porsche (Chereau-Larbre Competition). The No.8 LMP 1 Porsche was stuck in its pit with serious sequential gearbox problems.
Between 8:00 and 9:00 pm, lap times began to come down. The Toyota (number 27), driven by Katayama-Suzuki-Tsuchiya grabbed the top spot by just 4/10 secs but in the last fifteen minutes Martin Brundle pulled head and completed a lap in 3 mn 37.404 secs; his closest rival was the Mercedes-Benz, No.35, with Bernd Schneider at the wheel and trailing two seconds behind. As the session came to an end, Christophe Bouchut changed tires and took his AMG-Mercedes round in 3 mn 38.423 secs -- not quite quick enough, however, to dethrone Brundle! Alzen in the factory Porsche snatched third in the final remaining seconds, and David Brabham made a courageous attempt around the Sarthe Circuit in the Panoz giving him the ninth quickest time overail, followed by the first of the Nissans in the number 10 position. In the LMP 1 Category the No.2 BMW of Martini-Winkelhock-Cecotto closed in on Alboreto's Porsche.
The highpoint of the final few minutes was, however, Olivier Beretta's outstanding performance: He became the first GT2 category driver ever to break the 4 minute mark when he and his Oreca-entered Viper (No. 51) lapped in at 3 mn 59.951 secs !.

Helary : "We can do a 3mn 35 sec lap"

The record breaking did not, however, stop there! Taking advantage of the cooler conditions, optimal for his turbo engine, the incomparable Martin Brundle put in a flat-out lap of 3 mn 36.552 secs(138.456 mph) and subsequently shattered the records set in last year's race and in 1998 pre-qualifying session. In the LMLP 1 Category, the No. 1 BMW was still unable to better the feversih pace of the No.7 Porsche. Its sister car No.8, finally left the pits as midnight rolled around and put in a few quick laps. The No.45 Panoz of Brabham-Wallace-Davies moved up a place to eighth overall. The No. 13 Courage-Nissan also moved up the time sheets, and Cottaz captured fourth place behind the 2 BMWs and the Porsche in the LMP 1 Category.
Eric Helary, Brundle's team-mate said : "Martin really put in a superlap and I hope we'll be on pole tomorrow evening, as a 3 mn 35 secs lap is within our possibilities. As for race reliability, some uncertaintly looms as the car is here for the first time. But the Toyota is quick and remarkably well-built so we must be in with a good chance".