minimum weight (1000 kg), minimum size and maximum power-to-weight ratio (with the 6.1L BMW V12 engine) that a good race-car always has. The ACO's air restrictors limited its engine to 636 bhp, just 9 more than the road-going version. Other returning marques in GT1 included Jaguar, Ferrari and Porsche, with single works entries also from Venturi and Lister. In GT2, the ubiquitous Porsche 911s were up against Callaway, Honda and newcomers Marcos. Qualification Qualifying proved to be one of the greatest days for the small French Welter Racing team, rivaling its 400 km/h speed record on the Mulsanne straight in 1988. Ever the builder of small, nimble and very fast prototypes, Gérard Welter's latest version, the WR LM95, was no exception: both cars, driven by William David and Patrick Gonin locked out the front row of the grid for the great race. David was the first driver to take pole on debut. Curiously, it was also the first time that two single-seaters had been on the front row at Le Mans since the 1967 French F1 GP that was run there. Behind them were the three Courages of van der Poele, Wollek and Lagorce, although the van der Poele car was then disqualified from starting for being found 17 kg underweight after an engine change. The Wollek/Andretti/Hélary Courage was the only car in the field where all three drivers lapped in under 4 minutes in practice. Fifth on the grid was the Stuck/Boutsen/Bouchut Kremer K8, then came the first of the GT1 cars: three Ferrari F40s, headed by the Ennea Ferrari Club #41 of Ayles/Monti/Mancini, shocking the McLaren teams by beating out the Kokusai McLaren and the works Venturi. The EuroMotorsport Ferrari prototype was kept out of most of the qualifying while the ACO argued with the team about checking the maximum engine revs - in the end it was 17th on the grid. Fastest in the GT2 class was the best of the Agusta Callaways, in 23rd, well up the grid from the Swiss Porsche of Enzo Calderari in 32nd, and the private Japanese Honda NSX. Back of the grid was the private American team in their overweight Corvette ZR1 in GT1, nearly 20 seconds slower than the Callaway Corvette pole in GT2. Race Start This was one of the wettest Le Mans on record, but at the start of the race the weather was clear. Five cars, including