Seven Cars Moved to Rear of LMP, GTE Grids at Le Mans
The starting grid issued on Friday listed the No. 4 ByKolles CLM P1/01 AER, the three Nissan GT-R LM NISMOs in LMP1 and the No. 45 Ibanez Racing Oreca 03R Nissan in LMP2 all moved to the rear of the LMP2 field.
Additionally, the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia and No. 68 Team AAI Porsche 911 RSR were moved to the back of the GTE-Am field.
The race stewards issued a notice on Friday that read, “On proposal of the FIA Race Director, to admit drivers who did not comply with the minimum qualifying lap times to start the race, the Stewards decide to authorize the following drivers to take part in the warm-up & the race (ref: Article 68 B 2.8.2 of the Sporting Regulations)."
Drivers then listed but still allowed to start the race included all drivers from Nissan and ByKolles, along with Pierre Perret (Ibanez), Olivier Beretta (AF Corse) and Han-Chen Chen (AAI).
All four of the LMP1 cars listed were more than 110 percent off the pace of the polesitting time of 3:16.887, set by Neel Jani. The 110 percent time was 3:36.575, with the ByKolles CLM at a 3:36.825 and the Nissans at 3:36.995 or slower.
This takes the ByKolles car from 11th to 29th on the overall grid, and the three Nissans from 12th, 13th and 15th to 30th, 31st and 32nd, respectively. The Ibanez Oreca will start 33rd.
The AF Corse car’s penalty sees it dropped from fourth in the GTE-Pro field back to eighth and last in the now-eight-car class, following the withdrawal of the No. 63 Corvette C7.R.
Meanwhile the penalty for the AAI car moves it behind the team’s second car, the No. 67 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, which was in the process of being repaired Friday following a fire sustained on Thursday. sportscar365