Last year's winning driver partnership of Allan McNish, Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen remain at the top of the timesheets at Le Mans after rain and squalling winds struck in the third hour of free practice for the 24 Hours.
The No. 1 Audi R15's time of 3:30.708 was just half a tenth of a second quicker than the sister car driven by Mike Rockenfeller, Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr.
"We are all still working through a number of different setups," said Kristensen, "so the times are not representative, and I think there is plenty still to come from Peugeot."
Although the No. 9 908 shared by David Brabham, Alex Wurz and Marc Gene was the fastest Peugeot in the dry, it was Sebastien Bourdais who set the pace in the wet, lapping in the 3:56 bracket – around five seconds faster than the leading Audis.
Capello spun the No. 1 R15 at Mulsanne Corner but was able to continue with no obvious damage.
The No. 9 Peugeot lost 30 minutes in the garage to a clutch change. Both Kolles Audis have been off the pace of the leaders and the No. 15 car has gone through the gravel at Indianapolis.
Several cars have yet to complete enough night laps to qualify. The No. 68 Lamborghini Murcielago stopped on track on its out-lap and the No. 41 GAC Zytek remains grounded in its garage with transmission trouble.