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Porsche 1-2-3 in Le Mans first quali

LE MANS, France - Porsche has dominated the first qualifying session for the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours, with Neel Jani leading a 1-2-3 for the automaker at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, Mains in France on Wednesday (June 10).

According to Autosport.com, Jani set a 3m16.887s laptime to take provisional pole, fast enough to be the quickest for the race in terms of time since 1989 - should it not be beaten.

FRONT-RUNNERS

Jani's #18 Porsche and Timo Bernhard's #17 entry set markers as soon as the two-hour session began. They were joined upfront by the third #19 car, driven by Nick Tandy.

Other manufactures tried their best to get on par with the Porsche drivers, like Audi’s Loic Duval in the #8 R18 e-tron Quattro, but his lap was nearly three seconds adrift of Jani's mark, claims Autosport.

Next up was Toyota trying to battle for best as Marco Bonanomi took the #9 car into fifth early in the session and Benoit Treluyer setting the best laps for the #7 car in the final 30 minutes.

BAD TURNS

It wasn’t all roses and sunshine for Audi though, the motoring site said, as driver Rene Rast spun the #9 car at Mulsanne corner, while Treluyer lost the #7 car at the first Mulsanne chicane before he managed his run of quick laps at the end.

Treluyer hit trouble again at the first chicane at the end of the session, clouting the left-hand kerb and sending himself into the gravel on the outside.

Toyota, 2014’s leader, was missing in action as the first qualifying laps were posted. Autosport reported the TS040s ended the session more than six seconds off the pace of the Porsches, with a late effort from Stephane Sarrazin jumping the #2 car ahead of the #1 machine in their lonely battle for seventh place.

The news agency claims Nissan completed its first qualifying session with mixed fortunes for its three cars, which were led by the #23 entry in 12th overall with Jann Mardenborough at the wheel.

The #22 Nissan was 20th overall driven by Harry Tincknell, while the troubled #21 entry of  Lucas Ordonez was 30th.

Read the original story here.

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