Having ticked off everything on his wish list by the end of qualifying on Wednesday, Mike Pickup could look forward to the second day knowing that there was nothing more that needed to be done. Anything achieved tonight would be a bonus, and if that meant improving Paul Daniel's personal best, or setting a better qualifying time overall, then better still. The main aim, however, was simply to get the car ready for the race. That would include some work on fuel data, scrubbing in a few more sets of tyres, and giving Paul as many more laps as time would allow. There was also the question of “running in” the new race engine and gearbox, fitted earlier in the day.

David Warnock went out first of all, completing a brief series of exploratory laps before handing over to Jim Matthews, who did much the same. By the time Paul Daniels climbed into the car the session was less than half an hour old, and he then had the best part of an hour to try and get his times down into the sub-thirties, if he could. It certainly looked likely when his first flying lap, a 4:30.269, was as quick as he's gone on Wednesday. A couple more in the same area were followed by his best yet, a time of 4:29.751. He'd broken through the half-minute, and not a moment too soon. Shortly afterwards the class pole, which had stood at 4:09.679 since the night before, was finally improved when Maassen came through with a time of 4:07.394.

After this Paul's times tailed off slightly, although were still consistent around the low four-thirties. With it unlikely that he'd make any further improvement Paul was called back in at eight fifteen , leaving Mike and the team to debate their immediate plans. The car sat untouched on the apron for several minutes before it was finally agreed that David would be sent out at the end of this first session to have a stab at using his set of qualifying tyres. “I'm really looking forward to getting my chance to use them,” said David, clearly both nervous and excited, “but they only last a lap! I've not qualified a car myself for ages. I've always been able to rely on someone else. I'd love to get two shots at it, to be honest, but I probably won't. I don't really know what to expect, but they tell me it will feel fantastic.” He was strapped into the car and set off with half an hour remaining – plenty of time.

David's initial exploratory laps; out, round and back in again, were completed on the old rubber. The car was then fitted with the sticky Dunlops and, with just a quarter of an hour remaining, David headed out on the first set of qualifying tyres he'd used, probably in as long as he can remember – or cares to admit. At 8:51 he started his flying lap, but as he swept up the main pit straight, with just a single lap to make the most of those precious Dunlops, the Racer's Group Porsche emerged ahead of him from the pitlane, just far enough in front to be up to some sort of a speed as the PK Porsche came upon it, most inappropriately, through the Dunlop Curves. Worse was yet to come. The two cars ran nose-to-tail out of Tetre Rouge, and then sped down towards the first of the Mulsanne chicanes. As they neared the entry to the right-hander, the Racer's Group driver got it all wrong, compounded by being on relatively cold tyres, and spun right in front of David. He was forced to brake, and with that his only chance at exploiting the true potential of the tyres had gone. “He held me up all the way to that first chicane, and then promptly spun,” he groaned.

David crossed the line in a time of 4:25.831, and followed that, with the tyres now past their best, with a 4:26 . “I was baulked by traffic at almost every turn,” he said later. “As I came through the Porsche Curves this numpty in an LMP2 decided he was going to force his way through on the inside, and I ended up on the grass.”

The chequered flag dropped at nine and David returned to the pitlane, hot and frustrated. “I was two seconds slower tonight than I was yesterday, in the dark, on old tyres. That takes quite a bit of doing!” In truth, the time was not representative of what David should have been capable of, and when you've only got one real chance of exploiting qualifying tyres, it takes just a single incident to ruin a whole lap. When that happens so soon into the lap, and you know that the remaining four minutes are going to be a waste of time, then the frustration is doubly galling. What he didn't know then, and the team wouldn't discover for some while, was that a very minor fault was depriving the car of top-end power.

With the session over Mike put a gentle gloss over what David was seeing as a personal failure, but the rest of the team believed was an unavoidable force of circumstances. “We've done everything we needed to,” insisted Mike. “Right from the start it has never been our intention to go for a fast qualifying lap. Instead we've been able to improve Paul's best time this evening, as well as give him some more running in the car. We've also establish some valuable fuel tank data, scrubbed in some tyres ready for the race, and checked out a number of engine management issues. It's a pity that traffic scuppered David's qualifying run, but it doesn't honestly matter.”

At that stage it was intended that the team would pack the car away for the night, job done. Eventually, however, Mike had a change of heart, and offered David another chance of fresh tyres in the second period. He went out on older scrubbed tyres right at the start, just to complete the usual exploratory lap, and then returned immediately for the new Dunlops. With darkness falling he began his flyer at twenty past ten , and the opening two sectors both showed green on the timing screens, signifying an improvement. It was an encouraging start, but it couldn't last. Meeting traffic through the Porsche Curves, where cars often start to slow if they are completing an in-lap, David lost out heavily and crossed the line with yet another 4:26 . It had been his last shot, and with the tyres past their best already, he headed back to the pits.

While the team packed everything away for the night Mike and David examined the telemetry data from both runs. Something didn't quite fit, and the engine looked as though it wasn't pulling as strongly at high speed as perhaps it should. A brief meeting with Porsche technicians confirmed their suspicions. “We had one of the small feed wires to the in-tank pumps not working. These pumps force fuel into the main tanks, and without them David lost at least five or six seconds a lap. By rights, he should have been posting times in the high fifteens. You can argue that we're disappointed, and of course we are, but there's a bonus to all this. At least we've discovered what the problem is now, rather than during the race. In fact, I don't think we could have found a fault like that under race conditions.”

David Warnock was probably the most relieved to discover that his apparent inability to post a quick time wasn't a failing on his part. “Obviously I thought a significant improvement on my time would be possible, perhaps an eighteen, which I did in the test in April, so I was stunned when the best I could manage was a twenty-five. I know the traffic was bad as well, but even so, with the qualifying tyres I'd hoped for better. To know we had a minor problem that meant I couldn't get full power from the engine is a relief.” he admitted.

The chances are that Paul Daniels would also have been quicker without the fault, but he wasn't aware of this at the time. “I would have liked to have been a bit quicker,” he conceded, “but I'm qualified, with no damage, and that's what really matters. Things are moving in the right direction, and I'm confident I can still find another three or four seconds.” Many drivers, especially those new to Le Mans , find that their best laps come in the race itself. When you can never test on the full circuit, and each lap takes more than four minutes, there's an awful lot for the dubutant to learn, and much of it under intense pressure. Once the race is under way and a driver faces a full hour's stint at the wheel, free of the self-imposed expectations of qualifying, then quicker times can come.

So we should expect Paul's lap times in the race to be quicker than his qualifying best of 4:29.751, but his times on Thursday were satisfying in another way. “Getting into a 4:30 straight away felt so much better,” he said, “and then I was pleased to lap consistently around that time from then on.” This fact wasn't lost on those watching his times from the garage. “My target today was a twenty-seven, but a twenty-nine isn't too disappointing. Taking a risk before a twenty-four hour race doesn't make sense and it been better for me to take the conservative approach.”

Mike Pickup was in a relaxed mood by the time the team gathered in the hospitality area later, pleased to have completed qualifying without a serious hitch. “All the expectations that I came here with have been exceeded,” he said. Yes, I'd like to be a bit higher up the grid, but that's never been the plan. Qualifying was all about getting the drivers through and preparing the car for the race. We've done that, and more. I know it's a different angle of approach from our previous years, but our race tyres are all scrubbed and ready and we've got a well-balanced, comfortable and easy car to drive. Let's just hope it's also a reliable one. Nothing went wrong and nothing fell off, which is a testament to all the hard work the guys have put into the preparation.”

While the drivers have a relaxing Friday to look forward to, their only obligations being the morning autograph session in the pitlane, and then the Parade des Pilotes through Le Mans centre in the evening, the engineers and mechanics have a busier day. Fortunately much of their work is done, with the #78 having come through qualifying unscathed and with the race engine and gearbox already fitted and run-in. Even so, there's plenty to occupy the day.