Le Mans 24hr: Kawasaki lead close qualifying

The SRC Kawasaki squad led by former World Supersport champion Fabien Foret has topped the time sheets for tomorrow’s Le Mans 24 hour race, finishing ahead of a top five separated by under a second and spread across five manufacturers.

However, it was Foret’s teammate Gregory Leblanc who set the fastest time of the all-French team, to be front of the grid for tomorrow’s traditional running start.

They were under 0.02 ahead of the Monster Energy sponsored Yamaha Austria machine, with former World Superbike race winner Max Neukirchner setting their fastest time.

Third was the Lincolnshire-based Honda Racing team, with familiar faces in the British paddock Julien Da Costa, Freddy Foray and Sebastian Gimbert onboard. They were just ahead of former champions Suzuki Endurance Racing Team.

Fifth of the five manufacturers were TT team Penz13.com BMW, just ahead of reigning world champions GMT94 Yamaha. Scotsman Jimmy Storrar was the best of the UK riders in thirteenth, riding for the R2CL Suzuki team.

The race gets underway tomorrow at 2pm UK time, with the entire race live on the Eurosport Player in the UK.