2002 24 Hours of Le Mans
[1][2] The race was first held in 1923 after the automotive journalist Charles Faroux, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) general secretary Georges Durand and the industrialist Emile Coquile agreed to hold a test of vehicle reliability and durability.
[3] After the Bugatti Circuit was reconstructed, the organisers of the race and automotive group, the ACO, announced improvements requested to the circuit by the governing body of motorcycle racing, the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, between the Dunlop Bridge and the entry to the Esses complex of corners.
Audi and Corvette also earned berths for securing victories in their respective classes at the Petit Le Mans race and Pescarolo Sport of the LMP900 category, GTS entrants Ray Mallock Limited and Freisinger Motorsport in the LMGT class were granted invitations for winning the 1000 km of Estoril.
[8][9] On 21 March 2002, the selection committee of the ACO announced the full 50-car entry list for Le Mans, plus six reserves.
[13] A mandatory pre-Le Mans testing day split into two daytime sessions of four hours each was held at the circuit on 5 May, involving all 48 entries as well as all six reserve cars.
2 Audi R8 of Rinaldo Capello in the final ten minutes of the second session, followed by Stéphane Sarrazin in the No.
27 MG-Lola EX257 driven by Mark Blundell was fifth overall, and he was in front of the sole LMGTP entry, Eric van de Poele's No.
58 Prodrive Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello, set the category's fastest time and he was more than two seconds faster than Christophe Bouchut in the No.
16 Racing for Holland Dome S101 set an early pace of 3 minutes and 31.355 seconds just before the end of the first qualifying session's first hour.
[16] Rickard Rydell in the Prodrive Ferrari led the LMGTS category by more than four seconds over the leading Corvette of Andy Pilgrim and the LMGT class was topped by The Racer's Group Porsche 911 of Lucas Luhr.
71 Ferrari got beached in the gravel trap at the Dunlop Curve, bringing an early end to the session with ten minutes to go.
27 MG-Lola from seventh to fifth overall despite a collision with a LMGT Porsche through the Tetre Rouge Esses complex of corners at about 135 mph (217 km/h).
[22] Teams running with more powerful engines for qualifying stopped utilising them and installed the power units they would use for the race in order to comply with an ACO regulation that forbade teams changing engines before the final qualifying session and the race.
[23] Dalmas' session was ended early with an electrical failure that caused him to abandon his Audi at the side of the track.
[25] Although it stopped on its first lap with a transmission fault, the Prodrive Ferrari continued to lead the LMGTS category,[25] and The Racer's Group Porsche maintained the LMGT class lead despite Luhr making a driver error that put the car into the gravel trap at the Dunlop Chicane,[25][26] and a broken water sealant when Kevin Buckler was driving the vehicle.
[23] The session was stopped halfway through for ten minutes to allow marshals to dry a large amount of spilled oil at the Ford Chicanes.
[23][25] As temperatures cooled in the final qualifying session, over a third of the field improved their fastest laps, but Capello's pole position time was unchallenged.
27 MG-Lola fell to sixth as it did not take part in the session as it underwent a change of engine and Beretta put the No.
[29][30] Enge earned Prodrive the LMGTS pole position by improving the class' fastest lap time to a 3 minutes and 54.091 seconds although he damaged the rear of his Ferrari in a crash against a trackside wall.
The Racer's Group Porsche 911 of Luhr lowered its best lap to 4 minutes and 10.803 seconds and took pole position in the LMGT category.
