Hour two: McNish takes lead from Brabham

Audi driver Allan McNish leads the 2000 Le Mans 24 Hours at the two-hour mark from the sister R8 driven by Frank Biela.
The second hour of the race was marked by some great wheel-to-wheel action as Audi and Panoz duelled for the race lead. The Joest team cooled the pace after they had passed the Panoz in an effort to squeeze another lap out of the R8's fuel tank.

The track went green at 1706, and Panoz driver David Brabham immediately came under intense pressure from McNish.

Brabham held up McNish up for just over two laps - and this allowed the Scot's team-mates Michele Alboreto and Frank Biela to close on the leading pair.

McNish finally made it past on lap 16 at the first chicane on the Mulsanne Straight. McNish immediately began to stretch the R8's legs and pull away from Brabham.

The Panoz driver was also swallowed by Alboreto a lap later at exactly the same place.

By lap 19 McNish had built a 4.5 second lead over Alboreto and continued to stretch that lead by half a second a lap over the Italian.

Brabham held-off Biela gamely until the Panoz driver pitted on lap 22 - at the same time as McNish. Both took fuel, no tyres and both stayed in the car. That allowed Biela into the lead by a 31.616-second margin.

He came into the pits on lap 24 - giving the lead back to McNish by a 5.207 second margin. At the same time Brabham took third back from Alboreto.

The number two Panoz Spyder lay in fifth place overall after a spirited drive by Hiroshi Kato in the opening stages of the race.

All the top teams have chosen to double stint drivers over the opening two hours.


GTS polesitter Olivier Beretta has retaken the class lead after the second round of pitstops and had a 1m5s leading margin in the class at the two-hour mark. Dick Barbour Porsche GT3-R driver Dirk Muller now leads GT by 1.4s from Christophe Bouchut's Larbre Porsche.


Christophe Tinseau has sustained burns to his right arm following the fire that halted his DAMS Cadillac on lap six. The Frenchman also lost his eyebrows and eyelashes in the oil fire that consumed his car.Andy Wallace had to pit early after he was forced to switch to the reserve tank and ease off two laps earlier than expected. Co-driver Butch Leitzinger rejoined the race in 15th place. Eric van de Poele spun the other factory Cadillac into the tyrewall on lap 24 at the second chicane on the Mulsanne Straight. He limped back to the pits and retired.

Top 10
Pos No Drivers Car ClassLaps/Time

1 9, L Aiello, A McNish, S Ortelli, Audi R8 (900), 27 laps
2 7, M Alboreto, C Abt, R Capello, Audi R8 (900), 6.976s
3 11, D Brabham, J Magnussen, M Andretti, Panoz Spyder LMP (900), 25.057
4 8, F Biela, T Kristensen, E Pirro, Audi R8 (900), 33.819
5 12, H Katoh, J O'Connell, P H Rapanel, Panoz Spyder LMP (900), 2m19.301
6 10, J Nielsen, K Graf, M Baldi, Panoz Spyder LMP (900), @ 1 lap
7 3, E Bernard, E Collard, F Montagny, DAMS Cadillac (900), @ 1 lap
8 21, M Schiattarella, D de Radiguez, E Naspetti, Lola-Judd B2K (900), @ 1 lap
9 24, S Johansson, J Matthews, G Smith, Reynard 2KQ (900), @ 1 lap
10 1, F Lagorce, B Leitzinger, A Wallace, Cadillac (900)

Fastest Lap:
Class No Driver Car Time
900 9 A NcNish Audi R8 3m39.198s

Class Leaders
Class No Drivers Car Class Time
LMP 675 34, J C Boullion, J Gene, J Policand, ROC VW @ 1 lap
GTS 51, O Beretta, K Wendlinger, D Dupuy, Oreca Viper (GTS) @ 2 laps
GT 83, D Muller, L Luhr, B Wollek, Porsche GT3R @ 3 laps

Retirements
No Drivers Car Laps Reason
4, M Goossens, C Tinseau, K Kolby, DAM'S Cadillac LMP (900), fire - 5 laps
5, Y Dalmas, N Minassian, J P Belloc, ORECA Reynard-Mopar 2KQ (900), oil pressure - 1 lap