Spa Francorchamps Proximus 05/08/2001   Thursday Night Qualifying   © Janos Ximpffen Photographs by Bernard Lorquet www.spa-francorchamps.be link The first qualifying begins at 21:45. It has officially been declared wet thanks to a very light sprinkle that occurred about half hour before the start of the session. With headlights ablaze, Frederic Bouvy is the early leader with no. 11 Belmondo Viper. His 2:25.314 is quickly eclipsed by Tassin’s 2:24.853. The highly experienced Sebastien Ugeux is not only first in Category 2, but leads all the N-GT cars as well from 8th place overall. Pompidou is quickest of the N-GT regulars with the no. 58 Freisinger car. Fifteen minutes in and van de Poele is on a charge with the Rafanelli Ferrari, up to second overall. The Haberthur #60 seems to be done for. The body damage is too great. Jacques Marquet was at the wheel. Also in trouble is the lone Marcos. It blew a motor this afternoon and the team plans a leisurely overnight change in time for tomorrow’s final session. Alas, the Barth story was a joke foisted upon the GT world by one Stephane Ratel; sort of like the Japanese driver, Kamiya Iwanalaya. The second Larbre car has Bourdais / Goueslard / Dumez, the latter having recovered from an inner ear problem at Le Mans where he was spelled by Chereau, the car's co-owner. Chereau has not been here today. A half-hour into the session and it is still Tassin on the provisional pole. The N-GT contest has begun to shape with Terrien fastest and quicker than any of the Category 2 and 3 entries. Ugeux still heads Category 2, but has dropped down the overall board. Peter Schmarch (Land Motorsport Porsche) heads Category 3. The oddity of starting qualifying in the dark is that times will not improve as the session unwinds. They are already some two seconds above the daytime laps. The main purpose for the teams is to give each driver their minimum dark laps, a process that takes up to an hour for the four-person crews. Tomorrow morning’s daylight session should establish the actual pole. Z Z Z z z z A very light, generally persistent, here and there, kind of rain has set for the last 45 minute night session. This meant that very few cars have taken to the circuit. The order of Hezemans, v. d. Poele, Bouvy, Kumpen, Vosse, J-M Martin (second Carsport entry), Daems (GL PK), Mollekens (PSI Porsche), Dierick (Silver Racing Viper), and Terrien (N-GT leader) will be the top 10 going into tomorrow’s final session. Kumpen: "The track was dry but the kerbs were still quite wet from a earlier rain shower, so I stayed well away from them. Other than that, because of the low cloud, it was dark early so both of tonight's sessions were in complete darkness." Hezemans: "I was impressed by the others' lack of speed. If everything works well, I can do a 2:20.5." Terrien: "The car is absolutely perfect. The qualifying today was like a lottery. You need to go out at the right time with the right tyres to find a clear lap. I was lucky." Bouchut: "We are here to race for 24 hours and not to set pole position. We went out on inters when it was dry and then changed to slicks when it started raining." Duez: "We did not aim to set pole position - we did everything not to set it." Ortelli "It is a brand new car, it was just finished yesterday. Yokohama has made a lot of progress." Ickx: "I still have to adapt to the car as it is the first time I am driving a Porsche. At least I know the track." Riccitelli: "I could not see a thing. It is very dark and fast out there. Suddenly you realise you are on the grass." Franchitti: "I love it here in the dark. It is just amazing. It's the best thing I've ever done." Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport