Le Mans Classic Qualifying - Who Tops the Plateaus?
The 24-hours of race action for the six ‘plateaus’ of race cars starts at 4pm local time at the Le Mans Classic today, competitors already have completed day and night qualifying sessions, the last of which ended at gone 3am this morning. In the earlier plateaus it has tended to be the newer cars that have dominated, while in plateau four from the 1960s it looks like the Ford GT40 is the weapon of choice and the Lola T70s top the times in plateau five.
The increase in pace though each plateau provides an intriguing guide to the development of race cars through the years, but with each plateau having four 43-minute races ahead fo them at six hour intervals, it will be a hard days racing and a test of the more venerable machines!
Le Mans Classic Final Qualifying Times:
Plateau 1 (1923-1939)
1 C Traber/S Trenery (1934 Talbot 105 BGH 21) 5m52.974s
2 J Bronson/G Burnett (1937 Lagonda LG 45) 6m18.977s
3 M Bugler (1933 Talbot 105) 6m22.715s
4 P Neumark/A Hall (1938 BMW 328) 6m24.911s
5 J Bally/B Lesur (1939 BMW 328) 6m 25.309s
Plateau 2 (1949-1956)
1 A Wallace (1955 Jaguar D-Type) 5m02.061s
2 C Ward (1952 Jaguar C-type) 5m04.564s
3 C Monteverde/G Pearson (1055 Jaguar D-Type) 5m15.033s
4 N Chambon (1955 Maserati 300 S) 5m15.607s
5 S Guyot-Sionnest/F Lagorce (1954 Austin Healey 11 S) 5m21.056s
Plateau 3 (1957-1961)
1 C Ward (1959 Lister Costin) 4m46.937s
2 J Cottingham/A Smith (1959 Tojeiro-Jaguar) 4m51.646s
3 T Alexander/A Willmott (1960 Aston Martin DB4 GT) 4m59.038s
4 S Brooks/P Blakeney-Edwards (1958 Lister Jaguar Flat Iron) 5m01.352s
5 U Schumacher/M Werner (1961 Maserati T63 Birdcage) 3m02.086s
Plateau 4 (1962-1965)
1 A Smith/J Cottingham (1965 Ford GT40) 4m31.485s
2 D Ferrao/J Fuster (1965 Ford Gt40) 4m37.396s
3 C van Viet (1965 Ford GT40) 4m38.176s
4 S Lynn (1965 Ford GT40) 4m44.625s
5 R Macedo Silva/P Macedo Silva (1965 Ford GT40 Roadster) 4m46.014s
Plateau 5 (1966-1971)
1 C Nahum/B Thuner (1968 Lola T70 MkIII) 4m21.415s
2 E Mestdagh (1973 Lola T70 MkIIIB) 4m2.176s
3 Mr John of B/D Ferrer/A Ayari (1971 Ligier JS3 DFV) 4m23.747s
4 E de Doncker (1969 Lola T70 MkIIIB) 4m24.514s
5 G Ratazzi/E Pirro (1969 Alfa Romeo T33/s) 4m25.512s
Plateau 6 (1972-1979)
1 Y Scemama (1976 Toj SC 34) 4m08.292s
2 C MacAllister (1973 Gulf Mirage) 4m10.853s
3 D Guenat (1976 Lola T286) 4m12.840s
4 P Lafargue (1979 Lola T298 BMW) 4m14.114s
5 U Schumacher/M Werner (1982 Porsche 936) 4m14.141s
