The nr1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro continued to lead from the front in the first qualifying session of the 2012 24 Heures du Mans after setting the fastest time in the earlier Free Practice session. The 2-hour night session saw Andre Lotterer finish 1 second ahead of his teammate Tom Kristensen in the sister hybrid Audi and another two tenths ahead of Loic Duval in the nr3 Audi R18 Ultra. The nr 7 Toyota Racing TS030 of Nicolas Lapierre pushed the nr4 Audi Sport North America R18 Ultra down to 5th place, finishing the session just 1.7 seconds behind the lead car, a significant improvement on Free Practice.

The nr21 Strakka Racing HPD-Honda, with Danny Watts at the wheel, was once again the fastest private team entry, ahead of the two Rebellion Racing Lola-Toyotas.

The leading FIA WEC entered car in LMP2 was the nr44 Starworks Motorsport HPD-Honda, with Tom Kimber-Smith posting a time of 3:40.639, which was good enough for third in the class behind the nr46 Thiriet by TDS Racing and the nr48 Murphy Prototypes Oreca-Nissans.

In the LMGTE Pro class the nr59 Luxury Racing Ferrari 458 Italia of Frederic Makowiecki was the quickest FIA WEC car, just 0.166 seconds behind Oliver Gavin’s time in the nr74 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Oliver Gavin. The nr99 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 was third quickest in the LMGTE Am class, with Allan Simonsen posting a time of 3:58:725 which was good enough to put it ahead of the rest of the WEC entered cars in the class.

Tomorrow two further qualifying sessions which will decide the grid for the 80th edition of the 24 Heures du Mans which gets underway at 3pm on Saturday 16 June.