Petit Le Mans - Live reporting from the VICI Racing pits

6:45 PM As well as the engine, the suspension on all four corners is being changed ahead of the race. Tomorrow morning's warm-up session will be used to bed in the new parts.

6:30 PM The new 4.0-litre Porsche engine has been shipped in today. Each engine has a life measured in hours; this is a routine change ahead of the ten hour race tomorrow. The old unit is now out of the car.

5:45 PM Mechanics Giuseppe and André are under the #18 car preparing to remove the engine. The crew have a long night ahead and will be lucky to see their hotel beds this side of midnight.

5:30 PM The action on track is over for the day and now comes the long job of preparing the #18 car for tomorrow's gruelling 10-hour/1,000-mile race here. A fresh engine will go in as will new suspension parts around. The paddock garage is awash with new parts, all of which will methodically be fitted to the car this evening.

4:00 PM Qualifying is over. Marc was handed the job of qualifying the #18 car during the 25-minute session which got underway on time at 3:25 PM. His first flying lap after 4 mins was a 1:29.234, and the experienced German followed this up with a 1:24.593 (5), 1:22.001 (6) and a 1:22.052 before he dived into the pits after 9 mins. A quick splash of fuel later and Marc was back out after 11 mins, turning in a 1:21.876 (14), 1:22.360 (15) and finally a 1:22.115 (17) before coming in on 18 mins to conclude our participation in the session.

1:30 PM The autograph session takes place outside the teams' trucks in the paddock. Petit Le Mans attracts a lot of race fans and the are keen to find out from Nicky, Marc and Francesco how things are looking for the race.

9:55 AM Francesco pits and hands over to brother Nicky during a red flag period of almost 10 minutes as several stricken cars are cleared from the track. At 9:51 AM the track went to green again and that was to be the last caution period. Nicky got some steady laps in as the team checked set-ups ahead of this afternoon’s qualifying.

9:15 AM The air temperature is 55 degrees and the track temperature 60 degrees as the cars take the green flag at 9:14 AM for the start of the slightly delayed morning practice session, which is now be truncated in order to fit into the 10:05 AM finish time. Francesco is the first driver into the cockpit of the #18 car as the youngster bids to learn more about this track.

7:45 AM Today's program will start off with an hour long practice session (9:05-10:05 AM) before the 25-minute qualifying session for GT1 and GT2 cars gets underway in the mid-afternoon (3:25-3:50 PM).