Toyota fastest in second qualifying session

The second of three qualifying sessions at Le Mans is complete and as it stands, the No. 7 Toyota leads the way. The car, driven by Kazuki Nakajima, put down a time of three minutes and 22.589 seconds with just a minute remaining.

His late-charge pushed the Porsche duo back to second and third provisionally. They were followed by the No. 3 Audi in fourth and the No. 8 Toyota in fifth. The second Toyota had a slight mishap when the left hand door came unhinged and opened on the track. The team believes they've rectified the issue.

The No. 2 and No. 1 Audis ended up sixth and seventh and unfortunately for the No. 1 machine, the session didn't go as smoothly as they had hoped. Lucas Di Grassi was the first to make a time in the new car and at some point during qualifying, he crashed. It's being reported that he lost the rear of the car when exiting Indianapolis, ending up nose-first in the barriers.

Crash for #1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro: Lucas Di Grassi, Marc Gene, Tom Kristensen

Photo by: Patrick Payany

Crash for #1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro: Lucas Di Grassi, Marc Gene, Tom Kristensen

Photo by: Patrick Payany

Then, the No. 29 Pegasus Morgan-Nissan was attempting to pass Di Grassi as he returned his wounded Audi to the pits. The Morgan-Nissan clipped the grass and lost control when he tried to avoid the Audi, which was driving somewhat erratically. It was a massive shunt, but driver Leo Roussel was okay. Both drivers were called to race control as a result of the incident. The Audi team was able to quickly repair the car, with the damage being cosmetic only.

There were a number of other incidents, which seems to be the unfortunate theme of this week. There was a fire on the No. 77 Dempsey Porsche, but the team reported via Twitter that it was just a little fuel leakage and the car is fine now. The No. 47 KCMG Oreca-Nissan, No. 42 Greaves Zytek-Nissan, and various GT cars all went for spins during the session.

The No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari and No. 79 ProSpeed were two of the unlucky ones who made contact with barriers and damaged their cars. The driver of the Ferrari, James Calado, was taken to the hospital with a possible concussion. If that holds to be true, don't expect him to race this weekend. Some believe that the No. 71 Ferrari itself will not participate in the race either, but that is just speculation at the moment.

There was also a multi-car incident when the No. 60 AF Corse Ferrari was being passed by the No. 98 Aston Martin. Contact was made and a tandem spin ensued.

The No. 46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Ligier JS PS - Nissan led LMP2 while the Ferraris led the GTE classes. It was the No. 52 AF Corse entry in GTE Pro and the no. 72 SMP Racing machine in GTE Am.