Audi Presents Petit Le Mans - 06/10/2001   Friday Morning Autumn Chills   © Janos Wimpffen It escapes everyone as to why there is an eight o’clock practice session the morning after the night session for a race that will not take place during this ungodly hour. But the stalwarts are here. Actually many teams have opted not to run, with the cool temperatures providing little useful information. The no. 42 BMW appears that it will be repaired as work continues on it. The crew was here till 04.00 and did not find any structural damage during the teardown. Neither it nor its sister no. 43 are expected out this morning, based on the team’s schedule. Both of the Panozes are ready and out for practice. The problem with no. 50 was some delamination around the pickup points. Apparently one of the Gulf Audi mechanics was lacking in the sleep department and forgot to clamp down the front bodywork. Nearing the end of its out lap, the bonnet parted company, landing in the middle of the track. Give that crew member a cup of coffee, please. After a brief pause and a brief set of laps later it was the Bucknum Pilbeam’s turn to take a spill. It bent some rear suspension pieces in the process. The Nissan powered LMP 675 has not exactly been doing much on the lap charts. The session restarted and continued to run smoothly. Pirro emerged fastest, with Magnussen’s Panoz not far behind. Wallace continues to be quick, as he was all day yesterday. The Corvettes are now 1-2 (car numbers 4-3) in GTS, with the principal Konrad Saleen next up. This class continues to brighten with the Prodrive Ferrari and the de facto Carsport Holland Viper improving each session. The PTG BMWs are largely unchallenged in GT. While the Job Porsches are lined up next, the Callaway is finally showing some potential. The story of the morning in this class has been the progress of Johnny Mowlem in the Petersen Motorsports Porsche. He is now within shouting distance of the Alex Job pair. Similar to last night, the Riley & Scott put in some fine laps towards the end and moved into the top four. This time it was the old man, Elliott Forbes-Robinson, setting the time, with James Weaver being no slouch either. Unlike the night session, when times tended to be slower in the late going, the morning air is warming slightly and the dew is slowly dissipating. Thus times are tumbling. As the session wound down, the Joest Audi 1-2 reasserted itself, but now their competition suddenly became both Panozes, with Klaus Graf up in no. 51. He is perhaps the most experienced driver at this circuit, having tested at the manufacturer’s home circuit quite often. David Brabham is the quicker of the Panoz pair in no. 50. In GTS, the Saleens are again on the move. Terry Borcheller puts the no. 26 Ford powered car ahead of Franck Freon’s Chevrolet, with Oliver Gavin third in class with the Park Place car. Klaus Graf had a mighty spin towards the end of the session. And within moments of adding that remark, here are two images (will it all come right on race day for this team?): The weather is bit questionable. The forecast is for a brief shower to pass through this afternoon, perhaps disrupting qualifying. However, race day should be clear after all. Team Notes: The no. 32 Orbit car has added Doc Lowman to the driving list. He had been listed with the Broadfoot car that ran briefly yesterday before crashing. Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport