By alley - Jun 12, 2015, 9:01 AM ET

LM24: Grid penalty for Nissan LMP1s

The three Nissan LMP1s will start from the back of the Le Mans 24 Hour prototype field after failing to meet the 110 percent qualifying minimum.

Two of the GT-LM NISMOs qualified ahead of the best LMP2 contender and the third right behind it, but they will line up on the grid in 30th, 31st and 32nd positions. That puts them behind all but one of the 19-strong LMP2 field after they failed to set times within the minimum prescribed by the rules.

Only the Ibanez ORECA will start behind the Nissans, because one of its drivers failed to meet the minimum requirements.

Nissan global motorsport boss Darren Cox predicted that the improvement that allowed Harry Tincknell to get down to a 3m36.995s in final qualifying would continue in the race.

"Every time we make a change to the car, we go faster – Harry was on course to do a 3m35s when he got a yellow flag at the end," Cox told AUTOSPORT. "I wouldn't be surprised if we do our fastest lap of the race at 2:30pm on Sunday afternoon, depending on the conditions."

Cox insisted that he was not disappointed by the qualifying performance.

"We have made excellent progress and we are going to continue to do so," he said.

The performance follows statements from Cox that the GT-R LM would be "significantly faster" than an LMP2; the reality was that Tincknell's best for Nissan was only just over a second faster than the P2 pole-winning KCMG ORECA.

The three Nissans will be started by Lucas Ordonez (#21), Tincknell (#22) and Jann Mardenborough (#23).

AF CORSE COPS GTE PRO PENALTY

The #71 Ferrari, which had qualified fourth in GTE Pro, will start the race second from last after one of its drivers failed to complete a time within 120 percent of the fastest Porsche LMP1.

Six-time Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Olivier Beretta's time was a 4m00.819s, adrift of the 3m57.406s cut-off.

James Calado had put the Ferrari fifth overall in GTE, three spots behind the sister #51 car, after recovering from a track-limits penalty that stripped the #71 of its times on Wednesday.

The penalty means the AF Corse 458 Italia drops to 54th on the grid, 10 rows behind the GTE Pro polesitting #99 Aston Martin Vantage.

AF team manager Battistino Pregliasco told AUTOSPORT it did not make sense to apply the 120 percent rule to the Pro cars, given the ACO made an exception for the Am entries.

"I would like the stewards to interpret the rules not just apply them," he said. "It's 24 hours so it doesn't matter to start last. It's just frustrating for James had made a super time."

REVISED LE MANS 24 HOUR STARTING GRID:

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	LMP2	M.Howson, R.Bradley, N.Lapierre	KCMG	ORECA/Nissan	3m38.032ss
12	LMP2	R.Rusinov, J.Canal, S.Bird	G-Drive Racing	Ligier/Nissan	3m38.939ss
13	LMP2	G.Hirsch, G.Paletou, J.Lancaster	Greaves Motorsport	Gibson/Nissan	3m38.958ss
14	LMP2	S.Dolan, M.Evans, O.Turvey	JOTA	Gibson/Nissan	3m39.004ss
15	LMP2	N.Panciatici, P-L.Chatin, V.Capillaire	Signatech Alpine	Alpine/Nissan	3m39.699ss
16	LMP2	P.Thiriet, T.Gommendy, L.Badey	Thiriet by TDS Racing	ORECA/Nissan	3m39.805ss
17	LMP2	C.Cumming, L.Vanthoor, K.Estre	Oak Racing	Ligier/HPD	3m40.058ss
18	LMP2	K.Chandhok, M.Patterson, N.Berthon	Murphy Prototypes	ORECA/Nissan	3m40.690ss
19	LMP2	G.Yacaman, L.Derani, R.Gonzalez	G-Drive Racing	Ligier/Nissan	3m40.967ss
20	LMP2	P.Ragues, O.Webb, Z.Amberg	Team SARD Morand	Morgan/SARD	3m41.250ss
21	LMP2	L.Roussel, D.Cheng, H-Pin Tung	Pegasus Racing	Morgan/Nissan	3m42.023ss
22	LMP2	M.Mediani, D.Markozov, N.Minassian	SMP Racing	BR Engineering/Nissan	3m42.077ss
23	LMP2	N.Leventis, D.Watts, J.Kane	Strakka Racing	Dome/Nissan	3m42.237ss
24	LMP2	M.Aleshin, K.Ladygin, A.Ladygin	SMP Racing	BR Engineering/Nissan	3m42.417ss
25	LMP2	S.Sharp, R.Dalziel, D.Hansson	Extreme Speed Motorsports	Ligier/HPD	3m42.453ss
26	LMP2	E.Brown, J.van Overbeek, J.Fogarty	Extreme Speed Motorsports	Ligier/HPD	3m44.631ss
27	LMP2	T.Krohn, N.Jonsson, J.Barbosa	Krohn Racing	Ligier/Judd	3m44.854ss
28	LMP2	J.Nicolet, J-M.Merlin, E.Maris	Oak Racing	Ligier/HPD	3m52.843ss
29	LMP1	S.Trummer, P.Kaffer, T.Monteiro	Team ByKolles	CLM/AER	3m36.825ss
30	LMP1	H.Tincknell, M.Krumm, A.Buncombe	Nissan Motorsports	Nissan	3m36.995ss
31	LMP1	O.Pla, J.Mardenborough, M.Chilton	Nissan Motorsports	Nissan	3m37.291ss
32	LMP1	T.Matsuda, M.Shulzhitskiy, L.Ordonez	Nissan Motorsports	Nissan	3m38.691ss
33	LMP2	P.Perret, I.Bellarosa, J.Ibanez	Ibanez Racing	ORECA/Nissan	3m45.350ss
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	M.Sorensen, C.Nygaard, N.Thiim	Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin	3m55.783ss
39	GTE Pro	R.Lietz, M.Christensen, J.Bergmeister	Porsche Team Manthey	Porsche	3m56.618ss
40	GTE Am	F.Perrodo, E.Collard, R.Aguas	AF Corse	Ferrari	3m56.723ss
41	GTE Am	V.Shaitar, A.Bertolini, A.Basov	SMP Racing	Ferrari	3m56.877ss
42	GTE Pro	P.Pilet, F.Makowiecki, W.Henzler	Porsche Team Manthey	Porsche	3m56.922ss
43	GTE Pro	O.Gavin, T.Milner, J.Taylor	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet	3m57.081ss
44	GTE Am	J.Bleekemolen, B.Keating, M.Miller	Riley Motorsports-Ti Auto	SRT/Dodge	3m57.836ss
45	GTE Am	P.Dempsey, P.Long, M.Seefried	Dempsey Racing - Proton	Porsche	3m57.842ss
46	GTE Am	C.Ried, K.Al Qubaisi, K.Bachler	Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing	Porsche	3m58.259ss
47	GTE Am	D.Cameron, M.Griffin, A.Mortimer	AF Corse	Ferrari	3m58.433ss
48	GTE Am	P.Mann, R.Giammaria, M.Cressoni	AF Corse	Ferrari	3m58.695ss
49	GTE Am	B.Sweedler, T.Bell, J.Segal	Scuderia Corsa	Ferrari	3m58.946ss
50	GTE Am	G.Roda, P.Ruberti, K.Poulsen	Larbre Competition	Chevrolet	3m59.522ss
51	GTE Am	A.Al Faisal, K.Giermaziak, M.Avenatti	JMW Motorsport	Ferrari	3m59.612ss
52	GTE Am	R.Goethe, S.Hall, F.Castellacci	Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin	4m01.146ss
53	GTE Am	J.San Chen, A.Kapadia, X.Maassen	Team AAI	Porsche	4m01.270ss
54	GTE Pro	D.Rigon, J.Calado, O.Beretta	AF Corse	Ferrari	3m55.582ss
55	GTE Am	H.C.Chen, G.Vannelet, M.Parisy	Team AAI	Porsche	4m01.243ss