Le Mans 2016: Rast takes LMP2 pole position

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11 drivers from the Formula E line-up take part in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, one of the most prestigious races in the world of motorsports. In the qualifying sessions, taking place on Wednesday and Thursday, Team Aguri’s Rene Rast took the spotlight: the German set the fastest time in the LMP2 class, while the other Formula E drivers had rather mixed successes.

With heavy rain on Thursday, the qualifying was more of a challenge than usual. It would already be the first session on Wednesday that counted, after little on-track time to set up the car. Every LMP1 car (with the exception of the #4 ByKolles car, who did not take part in the session due to a fire in free practice) had set their fastest lap time in the only dry session.

Venturi duo Mike Conway and Stéphane Sarrazin put their Toyota TS050 – Hybrid #6 on third place, one second off pole-sitter Neel Jani in the #2 Porsche 919 – Hybrid, despite an accident in the final stage of the session. Sébastien Buemi (Renault e.dams) in the sister car #5 also had a moment when he stopped his Toyota on track, but he was able to continue the session after a system reset and was classified in fifth place, one second slower than Sarrazin.

The #8 Audi R18 of Lucas di Grassi (ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport) and Loic Duval (Dragon Racing) had a trouble-stricken qualifying: At first a mechanical problem prevented the car from running in the first half of the practice session, and when it was finally able to leave the track, the focus was more on getting the required track time for all drivers and traffic meant that it was not able to set a fastest lap in clean air until the very end, which saw them classified in sixth place behind the second Audi.

Among the privateers, Nicolas Prost (Renault e.dams), Nelson Piquet Jr. (NEXTEV TCR), and Nick Heidfeld (Mahindra Racing) put their #12 Rebellion R-One AER car on eighth place, being outclassed by their sister car.

In the LMP2 class however, Rast fared much better than his electric colleagues: The Audi factory driver, who is loaned out to G-Drive Racing for the 2016 season, was the fastest man in his class with his #26 Oreca 05 Nissan. Rast was half a second faster than the second-placed LMP2 car, and 9 seconds off the pace of the LMP1 car of Prost, Piquet Jr., and Heidfeld.

The second Mahindra driver, Bruno Senna (RGR Sport by Morand), was four seconds off the pace of Rast which saw him classified 13th in the LMP2 class, while DS Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird (AF Corse) put his Ferrari 458 Italia on the sixth place of the LMGTE Pro category.

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Image courtesy of FIA Formula E Media

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