LM24 H10: Kristensen takes command, puts Toyota one lap down
Tom Kristensen strengthened the #2 Audi's grip on this year's Le Mans 24 Hours by putting both Toyotas one lap down in the first hour of Sunday morning
The Dane's ability to regularly lap below the 3m30s mark allowed him to gradually ease away from Stephane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima in the chasing TS030s.
Sarrazin, the quicker of the Toyota pair, remains within touching distance of the lead Audi, with Nakajima 35 seconds down the road.
The latter's #7 HYBRID has only stopped 11 times however, compared to 12 stops for the sister Toyota and 13 for the lead R18.
Lucas di Grassi now trails Nakajima by just over one lap, although like Kristensen he has been able to regularly lap faster than the two Toyotas through the 10th hour of racing.
Andrea Belicchi continues to lead the non-hybrid prototypes in fifth, three laps ahead of the sister Rebellion Lola currently being driven by Nicolas Prost.
Ricardo Gonzalez took over from Bertrand Baguette and kept the #35 OAK Morgan-Nissan at the head of the LMP2 standings, despite losing time in the pitlane at the end of the ninth hour.
A storming stint by Olivier Pla has brought the polesitting #24 OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan back into play however, with the Frenchman - into his second straight quadruple stint - just 33s away from reclaiming the class lead.
Pla's surge means Lucas Ordonez now sits third, half a minute ahead of fellow Zytek-Nissan driver Oliver Turvey.
The #43 Morand Morgan-Judd continues to be the highest-placed car devoid of Nissan power in eighth.
Across in GTE Pro Rob Bell extended his and the #99 Aston Martin squad's class lead, which now stands at just over 80s.
Marc Lieb has kept the #92 Manthey Porsche second, although his cause was aided when Darren Turner - able to run slightly longer stints in the #97 Vantage - went through the gravel at Arnage.
Patric Niederhauser had also gone off at the same spot earlier in the hour, while GTE Am class leader Gianluca Roda beached his car when he ran off at the Esses.
His #88 Proton Porsche dropped to fifth as a result, with Patrick Dempsey - taking over for the #77 team he co-owns - promoted into the lead.
POSITIONS AFTER 10 HOURS Pos Cl Car Drivers Laps Gap 1. P1 #2 Audi Kristensen/McNish/Duval 149 2. P1 #8 Toyota Davidson/Sarrazin/Buemi 148 + 1 Lap 3. P1 #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima 148 + 35.055s 4. P1 #3 Audi Gene/Jarvis/di Grassi 147 + 2 Laps 5. P1 #13 Lola Beche/Belicchi/Cheng 145 + 4 Laps 6. P1 #12 Lola Prost/Jani/Heidfeld 142 + 7 Laps 7. P1 #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts 142 + 1m05.002s 8. P2 #35 Morgan Baguette/Plowman/Gonzalez 140 + 9 Laps 9. P2 #24 Morgan Pla/Brundle/H Hansson 140 + 33.839s 10. P2 #42 Zytek Krumm/Mardenborough/Ordonez 139 + 10 Laps 11. P2 #38 Zytek Dolan/Turvey/Luhr 139 + 22.629s 12. P2 #26 Oreca Rusinov/Martin/Conway 139 + 1m45.517s 13. P2 #46 Oreca Thiriet/Badey/Martin 139 + 2m09.179s 14. P2 #49 Oreca P-Companc/Kaffer/Minassian 139 + 2m29.558s 15. P1 #1 Audi Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler 138 + 11 Laps 16. P2 #43 Morgan Gachnang/Mailleux/Lombard 137 + 12 Laps 17. P2 #32 Lotus Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz 135 + 14 Laps 18. P2 #47 Morgan Imperatori/Howson/Tung 135 + 53.590s 19. GTP #99 Aston Makowiecki/Senna/Bell 135 + 1m26.804s 20. P2 #33 HPD Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe 135 + 1m26.960s 21. GTP #97 Aston Mucke/Turner/Dumbreck 134 + 15 Laps 22. GTP #92 Porsche Lieb/Richard Lietz/Dumas 134 + 1.018s 23. GTP #91 Porsche Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard 134 + 1m55.263s 24. P2 #30 Lola Mowlem/Burgess/Hirschi 134 + 2m51.360s 25. P2 #48 Oreca Hartley/Chandhok/Patterson 134 + 3m18.625s 26. GTP #51 Ferrari Bruni/Fisichella/Malucelli 133 + 16 Laps 27. GTP #74 Corvette Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 133 + 43.961s 28. GTP #71 Ferrari Beretta/Kobayashi/Vilander 132 + 17 Laps 29. GTP #98 Aston Dalla Lana/Lamy/Auberlen 132 + 15.014s 30. GTP #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor 132 + 2m35.919s 31. P2 #45 Morgan Nicolet/Merlin/Mondolot 132 + 3m21.668s 32. P2 #34 Oreca Frey/Niederhauser/Bleekemolen 131 + 18 Laps 33. P2 #36 Alpine Ragues/Panciatici/Gommendy 130 + 19 Laps 34. GTA #55 Ferrari Perazzini/O'Young/Case 130 + 10.295s 35. GTA #77 Porsche Dempsey/Foster/Long 130 + 1m06.447s 36. GTA #76 Porsche Narac/Vernay/Bourret 130 + 1m11.499s 37. P2 #41 Zytek Rossi/K-Smith/Lux 130 + 2m05.443s 38. GTP #93 SRT Wittmer/Kendall/Bomarito 130 + 3m20.589s 39. GTA #61 Ferrari Gerber/Griffin/Cioci 129 + 20 Laps 40. GTA #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti 129 + 1m00.714s 41. P2 #40 Oreca Dagoneau/Downs/Younessi 128 + 21 Laps 42. GTA #75 Porsche Collard/Perrodo/Crubile 128 + 25.280s 43. GTA #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor 128 + 1m16.255s 44. GTP #53 SRT Farnbacher/Goossens/Dalziel 128 + 1m58.512s 45. GTA #96 Aston Goethe/Campbell-Walter/Hall 128 + 2m53.658s 46. GTP #66 Ferrari Bertolini/Faisal/Qubaisi 127 + 22 Laps 47. GTA #67 Porsche Gibon/Milesi/Henzler 127 + 1m54.437s 48. P2 #39 Lola Porta/Brandela/Raffin 124 + 25 Laps 49. GTA #70 Corvette MacNeil/Rodrigues/Dumas 124 + 40.697s 50. GTA #54 Ferrari Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank 122 + 27 Laps 51. GTA #81 Ferrari Potolicchio/Aguas/Bright 119 + 30 Laps 52. GTA #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Mediani 111 + 38 Laps 53. P2 #28 Lola Giroix/Haezebrouck/Ihara 21 + 128 Laps 54. P2 #25 Oreca Graves/Hamilton/Nakano 101 Retired 55. P2 #31 Lotus Weeda/Rossiter/Bouchut 17 Retired 56. GTA #95 Aston Simonsen/Nygaard/Poulsen 2 Retired
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