Just twenty minutes into the session, Team Nasamax’s plans went badly awry. After a short delay while the car’s main battery was changed, the team’s American driver, Bryan Herta, touched the brakes at the end of the Mulsanne Straight at 200mph and the car spun a long way, eventually impacting the tyre wall, causing considerable damage.

The car was brought back in on a flat bed trailer an hour later, and the team has started on the long list of repairs. These include the rear and front suspensions, rear crash box, rear wing, diffuser, rear underbody, the ripped-off tail, the side pods and the front underbody section. The chassis appears to have survived intact, and the team hopes to have the Reynard Cosworth back out again later this afternoon.

Twenty-seven and a half laps had been completed by the time of Bryan Herta’s incident. The bio-ethanol fuelled car had set a best lap of 3:58.599.