Le Mans-Startnotes 1

Subj:  LE MANS - STARTNOTES 1		Section: F-1/Internat'l News
  To:  ALL				Saturday, June 15, 1996 7:54:14 AM
From:  RIS/EUR-Jacquie Groom, 100045,3717#819420

RACING INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Le Mans - RIS - France

The Porsche GT1 cars made a great start at 3 pm today, taking the 
first two places on the first lap,  while pole-leader, car 8, driven 
by Didier Theys,  dropped to fourth place, behind Racing for Belgium 
Ferrari No. 17, driven by Eric van de Poele.

Results at the end of the first Lap
          
.Ps.Ql.No.  Driver , Car                                         
Driver
.-- -- ---- ----------------------------------------------------- 
----- -------
. 1  4  26  Wendlinger/Dalmas/Goodyear     Porsche GT1           
Dalmas 
. 2  5  25  Stuck/Boutsen/Wollek           Porsche GT1           
Wollek 
. 3  3  17  V.D.Poele/Goossens/Bachelart   Ferrari               
VDPoel 
. 4  1   8  Alboreto/Martini/Theys         TWR Porsche WSC      Theys
. 5  2   3  Policand/Cottaz/Alliot         Courage Porsche C36   
Cottaz 
. 6  6   7  Reuter/Jones/Wurz              TWR Porsche WSC       Jones 
 
. 7  8  38  Laffite/Soper/Duez             McLaren BMW F1 GTR LM Soper 
 
. 8 10  33  Bellm/Weaver/Lehto             McLaren BMW F1 GTR LM Lehto 
 
. 9  7  19  Taylor/Pace/Sharp              Riley & Scott 
OldsmobiTaylor 
.10  9   4  Andretti/Lammers/Warwick       Courage Porsche C36   
Andretti
.11 11   1  Bouchut/Toivonen/Lassig        Kremer Porsche/Spyder 
Bouchut
.12 20  53  Sala/Giroix/Deletrax           McLaren BMW F1 GTR LM 
Giroix 
.13 14  34  Raphanel/Owen Jones/Brabham    McLaren BMW F1 GTR LM 
Raphanel
.14 15  39  Piquet/Cecotto/Sullivan        McLaren BMW F1 GTR LM 
Cecotto
.15 13  18  Evans/Muller/Velez             Ferrari               Evans 
 

Second lap :

Andy Evans, in the No 8 Scandia Ferrari, went into the gravel at the 
Mulsanne corner.  He climbed out, and with the marshalls, pulled it 
out and got back to the pits.  It will be out again when the creased 
front end is sorted out.

Third Lap :

Bob Wollek, in the Porsche GT1 25, took the lead from fellow Porsche 
driver Dalmas in the 26, at Mulsanne.

Didier Theys, car 8, who had the pole position, but dropped down to 
4th position at the start, regained the first place on 6th lap.

Lap Seven :

Davy Jones pulled into the lead at the start of lap seven, overtaking 
his fellow-Joest driver Didier Theys, and soon pulled out a lead of 4 
seconds.

Cars at end of lap 7 :

.1   1   8  Alboreto/Martini/Theys         TWR Porsche WSC      Theys
.2  6   7  Reuter/Jones/Wurz              TWR Porsche WSC       Jones
.3  5  25  Stuck/Boutsen/Wollek           Porsche GT1           Wollek 
.4  4  26  Wendlinger/Dalmas/Goodyear     Porsche GT1           Dalmas 
.5 17  V.D.Poele/Goossens/Bachelart   Ferrari               VDPoel    
.6 1  Bouchut/Toivonen/Lassig        Kremer Porsche/Spyder Bouchut

Kellener was leading the GT2 class in Porsche 79, followed by the 
Marcos driven by Cor Euser.

Having completed 10 laps, the first pit stops are starting - including 
the leading car, Joest prototype 7 driven by Davy Jones, which cost 
him 5 places.

A note about pits stops  - there is a pit lane speed limit of 80 kms. 
 For a first offence, they will be given a 30 second stop/go penalty. 
 A second offence will get them a 4 minute stop/go penalty.  There are 
no limiters on the cars, unlike the F1 cars.

lap 11
.1  25  25  Stuck/Boutsen/Wollek           Porsche GT1           
Wollek 
.2 26  26  Wendlinger/Dalmas/Goodyear     Porsche GT1           Dalmas 
.3 33 33  Bellm/Weaver/Lehto             McLaren BMW F1 GTR LM Lehto  
.4   7  7  Reuter/Jones/Wurz              TWR Porsche WSC       Jones
.5  38 38  Laffite/Soper/Duez             McLaren BMW F1 GTR LM Soper 
 
.6    8  8  Alboreto/Martini/Theys         TWR Porsche WSC      Theys

The Racing for Belgium Ferrari, No. 17, which started so well, dropped 
back due to tyre problems.  It seems that their Pirelli tyres were 
blistering badly in the heat, and had to be changed for a different 
compound.  

Didier Cottaz, in the No 3 Courage, had electronic problems and a loss 
of power, and had to pit for a while.

Regards, Jacquie Groom,  Jon Baker, Martin Buck