Corvette Racing have been forced to withdraw the No. 63 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R from the 83rd running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans following Jan Magnussen’s major shunt in the first qualifying session of the day.

The Dane understeered off the track in the Porsche curves due to “a mechanical issue” the team admitted, and it then bounced off the wall and across the track to the other side.
The damage to the front and rear of the car meant it is beyond immediate repair on site.

The press release stated:

“After having been helped from the car by the ACO medical crews, Magnussen was sent to the track’s medical center for the standard series of checks."

Mark Kent, director of Chevrolet Racing, added:

"We are thankful that Jan has been checked and released by the ACO medical staff," said
"We are disappointed that the No. 63 Corvette C7.R will be unable to compete at Le Mans this year.
The Corvette Racing team put a lot of work into preparing two C7.Rs for this event, and unfortunately only one will be in the race."

9.00 p.m.
While the Dane mentions only being heavily winded, the barrier repairs bring this session to a premature end.
The third qualifying session will begin at 9.30 local time and will run for 2hr30mins

8.34 p.m.

RED FLAG - Jan Magnussen shunts heavily exiting Porsche Curves in the No. 63 Corvette C7.R. Medical team with him, but he is conscious and took off his own helmet.

QUALIFYING RESULTS
Pos Class Driver Team Car Time
1 LMP1 R.Dumas, N.Jani, M.Lieb Porsche Team Porsche 3m16.887ss
2 LMP1 T.Bernhard, M.Webber, B.Hartley Porsche Team Porsche 3m17.767ss
3 LMP1 N.Hulkenberg, E.Bamber, N.Tandy Porsche Team Porsche 3m18.862ss
4 LMP1 L.di Grassi, L.Duval, O.Jarvis Audi Sport Team Joest Audi 3m19.866ss
5 LMP1 M.Fassler, A.Lotterer, B.Treluyer Audi Sport Team Joest Audi 3m20.561ss
6 LMP1 F.Albuquerque, M.Bonanomi, R.Rast Audi Sport Team Joest Audi 3m20.997ss
7 LMP1 A.Wurz, S.Sarrazin, M.Conway Toyota Racing Toyota 3m23.543ss
8 LMP1 A.Davidson, S.Buemi, K.Nakajima Toyota Racing Toyota 3m23.767ss
9 LMP1 N.Prost, M.Beche, N.Heidfeld Rebellion Racing Rebellion/AER 3m26.874ss
10 LMP1 A.Imperatori, D.Kraihamer, D.Abt Rebellion Racing Rebellion/AER 3m28.930ss
11 LMP1 S.Trummer, P.Kaffer, T.Monteiro Team ByKolles CLM/AER 3m36.825ss
12 LMP1 H.Tincknell, M.Krumm, A.Buncombe Nissan Motorsports Nissan 3m36.995ss
13 LMP1 O.Pla, J.Mardenborough, M.Chilton Nissan Motorsports Nissan 3m37.291ss
14 LMP2 M.Howson, R.Bradley, N.Lapierre KCMG ORECA/Nissan 3m38.032ss
15 LMP1 T.Matsuda, M.Shulzhitskiy, L.Ordonez Nissan Motorsports Nissan 3m38.691ss
16 LMP2 R.Rusinov, J.Canal, S.Bird G-Drive Racing Ligier/Nissan 3m38.939ss
17 LMP2 G.Hirsch, G.Paletou, J.Lancaster Greaves Motorsport Gibson/Nissan 3m38.958ss
18 LMP2 S.Dolan, M.Evans, O.Turvey JOTA Gibson/Nissan 3m39.004ss
19 LMP2 N.Panciatici, P-L.Chatin, V.Capillaire Signatech Alpine Alpine/Nissan 3m39.699ss
20 LMP2 P.Thiriet, T.Gommendy, L.Badey Thiriet by TDS Racing ORECA/Nissan 3m39.805ss
21 LMP2 C.Cumming, L.Vanthoor, K.Estre Oak Racing Ligier/HPD 3m40.058ss
22 LMP2 K.Chandhok, M.Patterson, N.Berthon Murphy Prototypes ORECA/Nissan 3m40.690ss
23 LMP2 G.Yacaman, L.Derani, R.Gonzalez G-Drive Racing Ligier/Nissan 3m40.967ss
24 LMP2 P.Ragues, O.Webb, Z.Amberg Team SARD Morand Morgan/SARD 3m41.250ss
25 LMP2 L.Roussel, D.Cheng, H-Pin Tung Pegasus Racing Morgan/Nissan 3m42.023ss
26 LMP2 M.Mediani, D.Markozov, N.Minassian SMP Racing BR Engineering/Nissan 3m42.077ss
27 LMP2 N.Leventis, D.Watts, J.Kane Strakka Racing Dome/Nissan 3m42.237ss
28 LMP2 M.Aleshin, K.Ladygin, A.Ladygin SMP Racing BR Engineering/Nissan 3m42.417ss
29 LMP2 S.Sharp, R.Dalziel, D.Hansson Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier/HPD 3m42.453ss
30 LMP2 E.Brown, J.van Overbeek, J.Fogarty Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier/HPD 3m44.631ss
31 LMP2 T.Krohn, N.Jonsson, J.Barbosa Krohn Racing Ligier/Judd 3m44.854ss
32 LMP2 P.Perret, I.Bellarosa, J.Ibanez Ibanez Racing ORECA/Nissan 3m45.350ss
33 LMP2 J.Nicolet, J-M.Merlin, E.Maris Oak Racing Ligier/HPD 3m52.843ss
34 GTE Pro F.Rees, A.MacDowall, R.Stanaway Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 3m54.928ss
35 GTE Pro G.Bruni, T.Vilander, G.Fisichella AF Corse Ferrari 3m55.025ss
36 GTE Am P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 3m55.102ss
37 GTE Pro D.Turner, S.Mucke, R.Bell Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 3m55.466ss
38 GTE Pro D.Rigon, J.Calado, O.Beretta AF Corse Ferrari 3m55.582ss
39 GTE Pro M.Sorensen, C.Nygaard, N.Thiim Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 3m55.783ss
40 GTE Pro J.Magnussen, A.Garcia, R.Briscoe Corvette Racing Chevrolet 3m55.963ss
41 GTE Pro R.Lietz, M.Christensen, J.Bergmeister Porsche Team Manthey Porsche 3m56.618ss
42 GTE Am F.Perrodo, E.Collard, R.Aguas AF Corse Ferrari 3m56.723ss
43 GTE Am V.Shaitar, A.Bertolini, A.Basov SMP Racing Ferrari 3m56.877ss
44 GTE Pro P.Pilet, F.Makowiecki, W.Henzler Porsche Team Manthey Porsche 3m56.922ss
45 GTE Pro O.Gavin, T.Milner, J.Taylor Corvette Racing Chevrolet 3m57.081ss
46 GTE Am J.Bleekemolen, B.Keating, M.Miller Riley Motorsports-Ti Auto SRT/Dodge 3m57.836ss
47 GTE Am P.Dempsey, P.Long, M.Seefried Dempsey Racing - Proton Porsche 3m57.842ss
48 GTE Am C.Ried, K.Al Qubaisi, K.Bachler Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Porsche 3m58.259ss
49 GTE Am D.Cameron, M.Griffin, A.Mortimer AF Corse Ferrari 3m58.433ss
50 GTE Am P.Mann, R.Giammaria, M.Cressoni AF Corse Ferrari 3m58.695ss
51 GTE Am B.Sweedler, T.Bell, J.Segal Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 3m58.946ss
52 GTE Am G.Roda, P.Ruberti, K.Poulsen Larbre Competition Chevrolet 3m59.522ss
53 GTE Am A.Al Faisal, K.Giermaziak, M.Avenatti JMW Motorsport Ferrari 3m59.612ss
54 GTE Am R.Goethe, S.Hall, F.Castellacci Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 4m01.146ss
55 GTE Am H.C.Chen, G.Vannelet, M.Parisy Team AAI Porsche 4m01.243ss
56 GTE Am J.San Chen, A.Kapadia, X.Maassen Team AAI Porsche 4m01.270ss[color:#663300][/color]

Chevrolet has withdrawn the #63 Corvette C7.R from this weekend's Le Mans 24 Hours after the car was seriously damaged when Jan Magnussen crashed during final qualifying on Thursday.

Magnussen was uninjured in the accident in the Porsche Curves, but the Corvette cannot be repaired on site.

There is no spare chassis available because all three C7.Rs in existence are entered for the race, two by the factory Corvette Racing squad in GTE Pro and one by Larbre Competition in GTE Am.

Mark Kent, director of Chevrolet Racing, said:

"We're disappointed that the #63 Corvette C7.R will be unable to compete at Le Mans this year.

"The Corvette Racing team put a lot of work into the two C7.Rs for this event and unfortunately only one will be in the race."

Chevrolet confirmed that a mechanical issue was the cause of the accident, but released no further details.

Magnussen, who was sharing the car with Ryan Briscoe and Anthony Garcia, crashed into the outside wall on the exit of the double left-hander in the Porsche Curves and then spun across the track and hit the wall for a second time.

Garcia's best time from Wednesday time had put the car sixth in the GTE Pro qualifying classification.

The #63 car came back to finish a close second in GTE Pro at Le Mans last year with Magnussen, Garcia and Jordan Taylor driving, despite losing two laps early in the race.

Jan Magnussen's accident during final qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours on Thursday, which led to the withdrawal of the #63 GTE Pro Chevrolet Corvette, was caused by a stuck throttle.

( C7.Rs do NOT use drive by wire as street Corvettes do :-(

The Dane hit the wall on the right-hand-side of the track in the middle of the Porsche Curves, rebounding across the track and suffering a second impact with the concrete wall on the left side, resulting in damage that could not be repaired at the track. Magnussen had been set to start his 17th Le Mans 24 Hours.

The Corvette Racing team has discovered the throttle was stuck open as a result of debris caught in the throttle-return linkage.


This is the system that leads to the throttle closing when the driver comes off the pedal, meaning Magnussen was unable to slow for the second part of the double left-hander in the middle of Porsche Curves.

Although the 41-year-old attempted to slow the car with what little space he had, applying around 1400 PSI of pressure to the brake pedal, the stuck throttle meant he had no chance to avoid the accident.

The withdrawal of one of only two works Corvettes, which Magnussen shared with Antonio Garcia and Ryan Briscoe, reduces the GTE Pro field to eight cars.

The sister #64 car of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor will start seventh in class.