Bentley sets the pace in warm-up

Le Mans echoed with the sounds of Bentleys, Audis, Porsches and many other famous names during the morning-warm up as cars, caravans and coaches full of spectators rolled into the circuit for the 71st running of Le Mans 24 Hours race.

Not even a heavy rain storm in the hours leading up to the start could dampen the enthusiasm of the thousands of spectators who had gathered opposite the pit lane to watch the cars assemble on the grid, the drivers' presentation and other pre-race ceremonies.

Bentley dominated the morning warm-up session with the number 8 car of David Brabham, Johnny Herbert and Mark Blundell covering 12 laps, more than any other car, and lapping two and a half seconds faster than the sister Bentley of Tom Kristensen, Rinaldo Capello and Guy Smith. The Audi Sport UK car of Mika Salo, Frank Biela and Perry McCarthy finished third despite a quick spin early on in the session

In the LMP675 class the RN Motorsport DBA 4-Zytek car of John Nielson, Hayanari Shimoda and Casper Elgaard was fastest, ahead of the flying Noel del Bello Racing Reynard-Lehmann of Christophe Pillon, Didier Andre and Jean-Luc Maury-Laribiere which had qualified in fourth position.

Veloqx Prodive Ferrari 550 Maranello of Kelvin Burt, Anthony Davidson and Darren Turner was fastest in GTS, while the sister car, the pole position Ferrari of Jamie Davies, Peter Kox and Tomas Enge, could only manage fourth place.

In GT, The Racer's Group Porsche 911 GT3-RS car of Kevin Buckler, Jorg Bergmeister and Timo Bernhard, which qualified in second place, finished the warm-up fastest. The pole position Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT3-RS of Sascha Maassen, Lucas Luhr and Emmanuel Collard only completed four laps and finished second from last.

With two and a half hours to go before the start the weather remained overcast but the rain, which had been falling for a couple of hours, had stopped. The race will begin at 4pm local time (+2 hours GMT) today.

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