Dumas: It doesn't look good...

The IMSA Performance Matmut team should have been celebrating pole position in the GT2 class after qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours, but instead the team is left sweating on whether or not it will compete in the race after a heavy accident in the final qualifying session.

The team, rated amongst the favourites for the GT2 title with the #76 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, was looking to build on the pace displayed during the test day two weeks ago with Romain Dumas, Raymond Narac and Luca Riccitelli hitting the front of the pack at the end of the third qualifying session with a best time of 4mins 04.957secs.

That time had been improved further to 4mins 03.438secs at the start of the fourth and final session as the team looked to cement its advantage before disaster hit as Riccitelli went off heavily into the barriers at the Karting curve - leaving both car and driver in far from perfect condition.

"Luca went off in the Karting curve and the car is badly damaged," Dumas said. "A bunch of our mechanics went out to see the state of the car, and it appears that the chassis is bent. Even worse, Luca's ankle has swollen to twice its normal size and we are not at all sure if he will be able to drive this weekend.

"We put in a very good time, and we could have improved it. However, we do not know if we will be able to start the race."