The Care Racing owned Prodrive Ferrari 550 Maranello of Jamie Davies, Tomas Enge and Peter Kox set the fastest time of the day in the early part of the second two-hour session, just as daylight was fading. Enge, who was at the wheel, lapped the 14km circuit at 3:53.278 – over two seconds ahead of the team’s nearest rivals, Corvette. Car nr.80, driven by Kelvin Burt, Anthony Davidson and Darren Turner, was third quickest in the category with a time of 3:56.287.

Having passed through scrutineering successfully on Tuesday afternoon, even surviving the “adoption” of the scarlet cars by the demonstrators from the CGT Union  (red being the official colour of the Union), the Veloqx Prodrive team was anxious for the track action to begin. Although the quickest GTS car in the official test day, nothing had been taken for granted by the team, and the only way of accurately assessing the true level of competition was when the running began.

Tomas Enge had shown the promise of the car early in the evening, setting a time of 3:57.544 on race tyres. He commented after the end of the two practice sessions: “I am very happy with my fastest lap, it was good, very nice, and I was lucky I had a clean run without too much traffic. The car was working perfectly at the end of the first qualifying session, ready to go straight away for the second one, and so I think everything is looking good for our race preparation, going according to plan.”

Darren Turner spent the first two hours, along with his team mates, setting up the car for the race and working on the balance. The three Britons were not quite as happy with the feel of their car as the car 88 crew, but – by the end of the evening – were satisfied they were moving in the right direction. 

He was philosophical afterwards: “It was my first time on Michelin’s qualifying rubber and I could feel the difference straight away. I messed up the lap though at the first chicane on the Mulsanne, coming across one of the Vipers, so I know there’s a lot more to come out of the car. We’ve got a few things to address but we’ll have another go tomorrow and hopefully we’ll be right up there with the other car.”

All six drivers completed their night laps and are therefore qualified for the race.