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Audi cars occupied the top two spots in free practice for the Le Mans 24 hour race.

The quickest times during the six hour practice session were set during the opening hour before the onset of rain.

At the head of the pack were defending champions Allan McNish, Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen who posted the quickest time at the wheel of the Audi R15.

Scotsman McNish stopped the clock with a best time of 3:30.708, just ahead of the Audi Sport North America car of Lucas Luhr, Mike Rockenfeller and Marco Werner.

The first of the Peugeots featuring David Brabham, Marc Gene and Alex Wurz completed the top three.

The Pescarolo Sport-run Peugeot slotted into fourth place ahead of the Peugeot in the hands of Toro Rosso Formula One driver Sebastien Bourdais.

The third of the factory Audis completed the top six, while the quickest petrol powered car was the Pescarolo Judd in seventh.

The #008 Aston Martin was eighth quickest ahead of the #007, while the third factory Peugeot completed the top ten. Nicolas Minassian, Pedro Lamy and Christian Klien completing more than 1000km of running during the six hours.

The Porsche RS Spyder was the car to beat in LMP2 with the Team Essex car emerging with the fastest time ahead of last year's class winner in the hands of Navi Team Goh.

The pair were the only non-LMP1 cars to post top 20 overall times and were nearly ten seconds clear of the third placed Quifel-ASM Zytek.

The factory Corvettes topped the times in GT1 and Felbermayr-Proton led in GT2 where three different marques took the top three places.

The grid will be decided during qualifying on Thursday.

Free practice times:

1. Capello/Kristensen/McNish Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R15 TDi 3min 30.708secs LMP1

2. Luhr/Rockenfeller/Werner Audi Sport North America Audi R15 TDi 3min 30.762secs LMP1

3. Brabham/Gene/Wurz Peugeot Total Sport Peugeot 908 HDi 3min 31.102secs LMP1

4. Boullion/Treluyer/Pagenaud Pescarolo Sport Peugeot 908 HDi 3min 33.028secs LMP1

5. Bourdais/Montagny/Sarrazin Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi 3min 33.426secs LMP1

6. Bernhard/Dumas/Premat Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R15 TDi 3min 34.716secs LMP1

7. Tinseau/Jouanny/Barbosa Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo Judd 3min 35.868secs LMP1

8. Davidson/Turner/Verstappen Aston Martin Racing Lola Aston Martin 3min 35.996secs LMP1

9. Charouz/Enge/Mucke AMR Eastern Europe Lola Aston Martin 3min 36.732secs LMP1

10. Minassian/Lamy/Klien Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 HDi 3min 37.980secs LMP1

11. Hall/Primat/Kox Aston Martin Racing Lola Aston Martin 3min 38.490secs LMP1

12. Panis/Lapierre/Ayari Team ORECA Matmut AIM Courage-ORECA AIM 3min 44.474secs LMP1

13. Karthikeyan/Zwolsman/Lotterer Kolles Audi R10 TDi 3min 44.508secs LMP1

14. Belicchi/Jani/Prost Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola Aston Martin 3min 44.560secs LMP1

15. Senna/Ortelli/Monteiro Team ORECA Matmut AIM Courage-ORECA AIM 3min 46.202secs LMP1

16. Elgaard/Poulsen/Collard Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder 3min 46.426secs LMP2

17. Ara/Kunimoto/Massen NAVI Team Goh Porsche RS Spyder 3min 48.096secs LMP2

18. Albers/Bakkerud/Mondini Kolles Audi R10 TDi 3min 49.960secs LMP1

19. Ragues/Mailleux/Andre Signature Plus Courage Judd 3min 52.858secs LMP1

20. Campbell-Walter/Ickx/Iannetta Creation Autosportif Creation Judd 3min 54.552secs LMP1

21. Amaral/Pla/Smith Quifel-ASM Team Ginetta Zytek 09S 3min 56.200secs LMP2

22. Hardman/Leventis/Watts Strakka Racing Ginetta Zytek 3min 56.698secs LMP1

23. O'Connell/Magnussen/Garcia Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R 3min 57.876secs GT1

24. Kane/Leuenberger/Pompidou Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola Judd Coupe 3min 58.210secs LMP2

25. Beretta/Gavin/Fassler Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R 3min 59.586secs GT1

26. Lahaye/Ajlani/Moreau Oak Racing Pescarolo Mazda 4min 00.428secs LMP2

27. Newton/Erdos/Dyson RML Lola Mazda Coupe 4min 01.378secs LMP2

28. Noda/de Pourtales/Marsh KSM Lola Mazda Coupe 4min 03.488secs LMP2

29. Lichtner-Hoyer/Gruber/Muller Jetalliance Racing Aston Martin DBR9 4min 06.606secs GT1

30. Lieb/Lietz/Henzler Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 997 RSR 4min 08.304secs GT2

31. Melo/Kaffer/Salo Risi Competizione Ferrari 430 4min 10.980secs GT2

32. Coronel/Bleekemolen/Janis Snoras Spykder Squadron Spyker C8 Laviolette 4min 13.196secs GT2

33. Narac/Pilet/Long IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 997 RSR 4min 14.340secs GT2

34. Bell/Sugden/Kirkaldy JMW Motorsport Ferrari 430 4min 14.584secs GT2

35. Babini/Malucelli/Ruberti BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 430 4min 14.858secs GT2

36. Bergmeister/Neiman/Law Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 997 RSR 4min 15.254secs GT2

37. Companc/Russo/Bruni AF Corse Ferrari 430 4min 16.846secs GT2

38. Simonsen/Farnbacher/Montanari Hankook Team Farnbacher Ferrari 430 4min 17.098secs GT2

39. Piccini/Bobbi/Biagi Racing Box SRL Lola Judd Coupe 4min 18.870secs LMP2

40. Drayson/Cocker/Franchitti Drayson Racing Aston Martin V8 Vantage 4min 23.262secs GT2

41. Ojjeh/Gosselin/Peter GAC Racing Team Zytek 07S 4min 23.788secs LMP2

42. O'Young/Hesnault/Kralev Endurance Asia Team Porsche 997 RSR 4min 24.420secs GT2

43. Tomlinson/Dean/Moore Team LNT Ginetta Zytek 4min 24.700secs LMP1

44. Rodrigues/Lebon/TBA JMB Racing Ferrari 430 4min 26.170secs GT2

45. Mansell/Ehret/Rusinov Team Modena Ferrari 430 4min 26.298secs GT2

46. Kitch/Foster/Dempsey Advanced Engineering Ferrari 430 4min 26.514secs GT2

47. McInerney/McInerney/Vergers Virgo Motorsport Ferrari 430 4min 26.784secs GT2

48. Bruneau/Rostan/Greaves Bruichladdich Bruneau Radical AER 4min 28.252secs LMP2

49. Felbermayr/Felbermayr/Lecourt IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 997 RSR 4min 29.856secs GT2

50. Nicolet/Hein/Yvon Oak Racing Pescarolo Mazda 4min 35.952secs LMP2

51. Alphand/Gregoire/Goueslard Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R 4min 38.342secs GT1

52. Jousse/Maasen/Clairay Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R 4min 42.802secsGT1

53. Krohn/Jonsson/van de Poele Risi Competizione Ferrari 430 4min 44.220secs GT2

54. Barazi/Bennett/Moseley Barazi Epsilon Zytek 07S 5min 00.760secs LMP2

55. Apicella/Yogo/Yamagishi JLOC ISAO Noritake Lamborghini Murcielago No time GT1

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