LM24 H5: Duval closes in on Audi team-mate Treluyer at front
Audi continues to exert a stranglehold on the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours, with all three of its R18s stretching away from the chasing Toyotas despite now having made one more stop than the Japanese machines
The #1 e-tron quattro of 2012 race winners Benoit Treluyer, Marcel Fassler and Andre Lotterer continues to lead the way, although poleman Loic Duval began to close heading into the final stages of the hour.
In spite of occasional problems coming through traffic, Frenchman Duval ended the fifth hour just 38 seconds behind Treluyer, a reduction of 16s since the start of the hour.
Oliver Jarvis, having spent the past hour at the wheel of the #3 Audi, also upped his pace in the final minutes.
While unable to match the speed of the sister cars, he was able to stretch one more lap between his fifth and sixth stops. He now lies just over 1m20s off the lead.
Toyota meanwhile dropped further back, although both TS030 HYBRIDs remain on the lead lap.
Sebastien Buemi and Alexander Wurz were both regularly surrendering more than 3s per lap to their Audi counterparts.
Behind the lead quintet, Strakka's #21 HPD - now in the hands of Jonny Kane - has split the two Rebellion Lola-Toyotas.
Across in LMP2 the lead changed just before the hour, with Martin Plowman in the #35 OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan taking over at the front.
David Heinemeier Hansson is just 15s down the road in the sister #24 machine, with Roman Rusinov's #26 G-Drive/Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan a similar distance again in third.
The highest non-Nissan powered car is the #34 Race Performance ORECA-Judd, currently seventh in class.
Frederic Makowiecki meanwhile stormed into the lead of GTE Pro, converting a deficit of around 10s into a 22s lead.
Stefan Mucke in the sister #97 Aston Martin Vantage upped his pace in response but was unable to stick with Makowiecki.
He was at least able to pull away from the chasing #92 Manthey-run works Porsche being driven by Romain Dumas.
The Frenchman regularly surrendered more than 3s per lap to the Vantages, sinking to a deficit of more than 60s.
As was the case at the start of the hour, the #61 AF Corse Ferrari continues to lead GTE Am, with Jack Gerber taking over from Matt Griffin.
POSITIONS AFTER 6 HOURS Pos Cl Car Drivers Laps Gap 1. P1 #1 Audi Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler 73 2. P1 #2 Audi Kristensen/McNish/Duval 73 + 38.607s 3. P1 #3 Audi Gene/Jarvis/di Grassi 73 + 1m24.097s 4. P1 #8 Toyota Davidson/Sarrazin/Buemi 73 + 1m47.788s 5. P1 #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima 73 + 2m09.792s 6. P1 #12 Lola Prost/Jani/Heidfeld 71 + 2 Laps 7. P1 #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts 71 + 33.996s 8. P1 #13 Lola Beche/Belicchi/Cheng 71 + 41.874s 9. P2 #26 Oreca Rusinov/Martin/Conway 69 + 4 Laps 10. P2 #35 Morgan Baguette/Plowman/Gonzalez 69 + 16.283s 11. P2 #24 Morgan Pla/Brundle/H Hansson 69 + 30.887s 12. P2 #46 Oreca Thiriet/Badey/Martin 69 + 1m24.865s 13. P2 #49 Oreca P-Companc/Kaffer/Minassian 69 + 1m40.268s 14. P2 #38 Zytek Dolan/Turvey/Luhr 69 + 2m09.890s 15. P2 #34 Oreca Frey/Niederhauser/Bleekemolen 68 + 5 Laps 16. P2 #33 HPD Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe 68 + 15.563s 17. P2 #42 Zytek Krumm/Mardenborough/Ordonez 68 + 31.382s 18. P2 #32 Lotus Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz 68 + 2m28.353s 19. P2 #43 Morgan Gachnang/Mailleux/Lombard 68 + 2m56.817s 20. GTP #99 Aston Makowiecki/Senna/Bell 67 + 6 Laps 21. GTP #97 Aston Mucke/Turner/Dumbreck 67 + 22.911s 22. GTP #92 Porsche Lieb/Richard Lietz/Dumas 67 + 49.809s 23. GTP #91 Porsche Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard 66 + 7 Laps 24. P2 #30 Lola Mowlem/Burgess/Hirschi 66 + 53.543s 25. GTP #71 Ferrari Beretta/Kobayashi/Vilander 66 + 2m04.717s 26. GTP #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor 65 + 8 Laps 27. GTP #74 Corvette Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 65 + 19.280s 28. GTP #98 Aston Dalla Lana/Lamy/Auberlen 65 + 54.797s 29. P2 #45 Morgan Nicolet/Merlin/Mondolot 65 + 2m39.588s 30. GTP #51 Ferrari Bruni/Fisichella/Malucelli 65 + 3m38.218s 31. P2 #25 Oreca Graves/Hamilton/Nakano 65 + 3m38.754s 32. GTA #61 Ferrari Gerber/Griffin/Cioci 65 + 3m44.887s 33. P2 #48 Oreca Hartley/Chandhok/Patterson 64 + 9 Laps 34. P2 #47 Morgan Imperatori/Howson/Tung 64 + 23.788s 35. GTP #93 SRT Wittmer/Kendall/Bomarito 64 + 30.207s 36. P2 #36 Alpine Ragues/Panciatici/Gommendy 64 + 32.531s 37. GTA #55 Ferrari Perazzini/O'Young/Case 64 + 57.586s 38. GTA #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti 64 + 1m00.126s 39. GTA #76 Porsche Narac/Vernay/Bourret 64 + 2m17.102s 40. GTA #67 Porsche Gibon/Milesi/Henzler 64 + 2m24.170s 41. GTA #96 Aston Goethe/Campbell-Walter/Hall 64 + 2m30.797s 42. GTA #77 Porsche Dempsey/Foster/Long 64 + 2m36.813s 43. GTA #81 Ferrari Potolicchio/Aguas/Bright 64 + 2m42.711s 44. P2 #41 Zytek Rossi/K-Smith/Lux 64 + 2m56.333s 45. P2 #40 Oreca Dagoneau/Downs/Younessi 63 + 10 Laps 46. GTA #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor 63 + 56.629s 47. GTP #53 SRT Farnbacher/Goossens/Dalziel 63 + 1m19.758s 48. GTA #75 Porsche Collard/Perrodo/Crubile 63 + 2m39.992s 49. GTP #66 Ferrari Bertolini/Faisal/Qubaisi 62 + 11 Laps 50. P2 #39 Lola Porta/Brandela/Raffin 61 + 12 Laps 51. GTA #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Mediani 61 + 3m32.880s 52. GTA #70 Corvette MacNeil/Rodrigues/Dumas 61 + 4m19.233s 53. GTA #54 Ferrari Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank 60 + 13 Laps 54. P2 #28 Lola Giroix/Haezebrouck/Ihara 19 + 54 Laps 55. P2 #31 Lotus Weeda/Rossiter/Bouchut 17 + 56 Laps 56. GTA #95 Aston Simonsen/Nygaard/Poulsen 2 Retired
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