Indian driver Karun Chandhok's JRM Racing team finished 11th quickest overall at the opening night qualifying session at the 2012 24 hours of Le Mans.
JRM made the step up to Le Mans after its FIA GT1 World Championship title victory last year with the trio of Australian David Brabham, Brit Peter Dumbreck and Karun Chandhok driving the Honda HPD ARX-03a in the LMP1 category.
Earlier in the day, David opened running in the practice session for JRM with three runs in the first 90 minutes. The Le Mans 2009 winner recorded the team’s best time of 3:34.641, 10th in the overall classification.
David then handed the HPD over to Karun, but the Indian reported some instability on the rear of the car on his second run and ran wide into the gravel on the first corner. He returned to the pits for checks before David got back in the car to compare set-ups with the beginning of the session. .
Dumbreck was behind the wheel next, completing four timed laps with the team’s overall best time of 3:37.088.
At the head of the order, the Audi factory team continued its expected domination, with the radical
'e-tron' hybrid entries narrowly outpacing their in-house 'Ultra' rivals and the pair of debutant Toyota TS030 Hybrids.
Full classification below:
Pos Cl Drivers Team/Car Time
1. P1 Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer Audi e-tron 3m25.453s
2. P1 Capello/Kristensen/McNish Audi e-tron 3m26.536s
3. P1 Dumas/Duval/Gene Audi Ultra 3m26.694s
4. P1 Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima Toyota 3m27.191s
5. P1 Bonanomi/Jarvis/Rockenfeller Audi Ultra 3m27.554s
6. P1 Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin Toyota 3m28.295s
7. P1 Leventis/Watts/Kane Strakka HPD 3m32.750s
8. P1 Belicchi/Primat/Bleekemolen Rebellion Lola-Toyota 3m33.140s
9. P1 Prost/Jani/Heidfeld Rebellion Lola-Toyota 3m33.211s
10. P1 Ara/Minassian/Bourdais Pescarolo Dome-Judd 3m34.716s
11. P1 Brabham/Chandhok/Dumbreck JRM HPD 3m37.088s
12. P1 Moreau/Baguette/Kraihamer OAK Pescarolo-Judd 3m38.414s
13. P2 Beche/Thiriet/Tinseau TDS ORECA-Nissan 3m39.252s
14. P2 Firth/Hughes/Hartley Murphy ORECA-Nissan 3m39.877s
15. P2 Potolicchio/Dalziel/Kimber-Smith Starworks HPD 3m40.639s
16. P2 Briere/Petersen/Nakano Boutsen ORECA-Nissan 3m40.727s
17. P2 Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla OAK Morgan-Judd 3m40.902s
18. P2 Dolan/Hancock/Kurosawa Jota Zytek-Nissan 3m41.287s
19. P2 Sims/Buurman/Iannetta Status Lola-Judd 3m41.451s
20. P2 Heinemeier Hansson/Leinders/Martin OAK Morgan-Nissan 3m41.721s
21. P2 Martin/Charouz/Graves ADR ORECA-Nissan 3m41.791s
22. P2 Perez-Companc/Ayari/Kaffer Pecom ORECA-Nissan 3m41.916s
23. P2 Ordonez/Brundle/Brundle Greaves Zytek-Nissan 3m42.125s
24. P2 Panciatici/Ragues/Rusinov Signatech ORECA-Nissan 3m42.157s
25. P2 Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz Level 5 HPD 3m42.224s
26. CDNT Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama Highcroft Delta Wing Nissan 3m42.612s
27. P2 Mailleux/Lombard/Tresson Signatech ORECA-Nissan 3m44.495s
28. P2 Zugel/Gonzalez/Julian Greaves Zytek-Nissan 3m47.408s
29. P2 Holzer/Schultis/Moro Kodewa Lola-Lotus 3m48.067s
30. P2 Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry Race Performance ORECA-Judd 3m48.124s
31. P2 Giroix/Johansson/Badey Gulf Lola-Nissan 3m50.526s
32. P2 Haezebrouck/Thirion/Papin Extreme Limite Norma-Judd 3m51.012s
33. GTE P Gavin/Milner/Westbrook Corvette 3m55.910s
34. GTE P Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher Luxury Ferrari 3m56.076s
35. GTE P Taylor/Garcia/Magnussen Corvette 3m57.181s
36. GTE P Fernandez/Mucke/Turner Aston Martin 3m57.466s
37. GTE P Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci AF Corse Ferrari 3m57.509s
38. GTE A Neiman/Pilet/Pumpelly Flying Lizard Porsche 3m57.594s
39. GTE P Lieb/Lietz/Henzler Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 3m57.648s
40. GTE P Alfaisal/Curtis/Edwards IMSA Porsche 3m58.035s
41. GTE P Bergmeister/Long/Holzer Flying Lizard Porsche 3m58.717s
42. GTE A Simonsen/Nygaard/Poulsen Aston Martin 3m58.725s
43. GTE A Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy Larbre Corvette 3m59.192s
44. GTE A Ried/Roda/Ruberti Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 3m59.529s
45. GTE A Armindo/Narac/Pons IMSA Porsche 4m00.332s
46. GTE A Ehret/Montecalvo/Jeannette Luxury Ferrari 4m00.849s
47. GTE P Walker/Cocker/Wills JMW Ferrari 4m00.883s
48. GTE A Bourret/Gibon/Belloc Larbre Corvette 4m03.021s
49. GTE A Rodrigues/Ferte/Illiano JMB Ferrari 4m04.416s
50. GTE A Perazzini/Cadei/Griffin AF Corse Ferrari 4m04.493s
51. GTE A Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo Krohn Ferrari 4m04.698s
52. GTE A Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers AF-Waltrip Ferrari 4m04.861s
53. GTE A Camathias/Daniels/Palttala JWA Porsche 4m08.170s
54. P2 Deletraz/Ihara/Quick Gulf Lola-Nissan 4m14.086s
55. P1 Collard/Boullion/Hall Pescarolo-Judd 3m39.656s
56. GTE P Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander AF Corse Ferrari 3m57.735s