LM24 H11: Allan McNish resumes, Audi remains in control
Allan McNish climbed behind the wheel of the #1 Audi for the second time and continued to stretch away from the chasing pack as the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours neared its halfway mark
The Briton inherited a one-lap lead from team-mate Tom Kristensen and continued where the Dane had left off, easing away from the chasing Toyota TS030s.
Anthony Davidson, who took over from Stephane Sarrazin in the #8 HYBRID, surrendered around one second per lap to McNish across the final 30 minutes of the 11th hour.
Nicolas Lapierre in the sister #7 machine was able to lap slightly faster and closed to within 18s of the Briton.
Oliver Jarvis is keeping both Toyotas honest in fourth, like McNish able to gain time on Toyota with every lap of the La Sarthe track.
Long-time race leader Andre Lotterer meanwhile resumed control of the #1 Audi, which dropped down the field with a motor generator issue in the seventh hour.
Marcel Fassler completed a three-hour stint before handing over to Lotterer, equalling the five-stint shift Kristensen put in for the #2 squad.
Andrea Belicchi continues to lead the sister Rebellion Lola-Toyota by three laps in the fight for fifth overall. Nick Heidfeld is now installed in the second machine.
There were driver changes too in LMP2, with Alex Brundle relieving Olivier Pla following the latter's superb stint in the #24 OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan.
The Briton continued Pla's steady pursuit of its leading sister #35 car, although the gap widened to just over one minute as the pitstops cycled through. Brundle has been regularly lapping three seconds faster than Ricardo Gonzalez however.
Oliver Turvey moved ahead of fellow Zytek-Nissan driver Lucas Ordonez in the battle for third, with Ordonez just ahead of a storming Lotterer in 11th overall.
The battle for GTE Pro class honours continues to rage, although Rob Bell preserved the #99 Aston Martin's breathing space over the #92 Manthey Porsche and sister #97 Vantage.
Darren Turner in the latter machine was just one second behind Lieb at the end of the 11th hour.
Jean-Karl Vernay meanwhile moved into the lead of the GTE Am class, his cause aided when Patrick Dempsey was tipped into a spin in the Dunlop Esses.
The American's #77 squad now lies fourth in class, behind the #55 and #61 AF Corse Ferraris.
POSITIONS AFTER 11 HOURS Pos Cl Car Drivers Laps Gap 1. P1 #2 Audi Kristensen/McNish/Duval 166 2. P1 #8 Toyota Davidson/Sarrazin/Buemi 165 + 1 Lap 3. P1 #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima 165 + 17.120s 4. P1 #3 Audi Gene/Jarvis/di Grassi 164 + 2 Laps 5. P1 #13 Lola Beche/Belicchi/Cheng 161 + 5 Laps 6. P1 #12 Lola Prost/Jani/Heidfeld 159 + 7 Laps 7. P1 #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts 159 + 18.004s 8. P2 #35 Morgan Baguette/Plowman/Gonzalez 156 + 10 Laps 9. P2 #24 Morgan Pla/Brundle/H Hansson 156 + 1m09.546s 10. P2 #38 Zytek Dolan/Turvey/Luhr 155 + 11 Laps 11. P2 #42 Zytek Krumm/Mardenborough/Ordonez 155 + 58.520s 12. P2 #26 Oreca Rusinov/Martin/Conway 155 + 2m02.713s 13. P1 #1 Audi Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler 155 + 2m10.586s 14. P2 #46 Oreca Thiriet/Badey/Martin 155 + 2m38.362s 15. P2 #49 Oreca P-Companc/Kaffer/Minassian 155 + 3m24.578s 16. P2 #43 Morgan Gachnang/Mailleux/Lombard 153 + 13 Laps 17. P2 #33 HPD Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe 151 + 15 Laps 18. P2 #32 Lotus Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz 151 + 1.674s 19. P2 #47 Morgan Imperatori/Howson/Tung 151 + 39.427s 20. GTP #99 Aston Makowiecki/Senna/Bell 150 + 16 Laps 21. GTP #92 Porsche Lieb/Richard Lietz/Dumas 150 + 1m03.031s 22. GTP #97 Aston Mucke/Turner/Dumbreck 150 + 1m04.077s 23. P2 #48 Oreca Hartley/Chandhok/Patterson 149 + 17 Laps 24. P2 #30 Lola Mowlem/Burgess/Hirschi 149 + 27.769s 25. GTP #91 Porsche Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard 149 + 29.740s 26. GTP #51 Ferrari Bruni/Fisichella/Malucelli 148 + 18 Laps 27. GTP #71 Ferrari Beretta/Kobayashi/Vilander 148 + 1m10.529s 28. GTP #74 Corvette Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 148 + 1m17.171s 29. GTP #98 Aston Dalla Lana/Lamy/Auberlen 148 + 1m49.273s 30. GTP #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor 147 + 19 Laps 31. P2 #34 Oreca Frey/Niederhauser/Bleekemolen 147 + 1m36.603s 32. P2 #45 Morgan Nicolet/Merlin/Mondolot 146 + 20 Laps 33. P2 #36 Alpine Ragues/Panciatici/Gommendy 146 + 1m19.026s 34. P2 #41 Zytek Rossi/K-Smith/Lux 146 + 1m37.236s 35. GTA #76 Porsche Narac/Vernay/Bourret 145 + 21 Laps 36. GTA #55 Ferrari Perazzini/O'Young/Case 145 + 39.276s 37. GTP #93 SRT Wittmer/Kendall/Bomarito 144 + 22 Laps 38. GTA #61 Ferrari Gerber/Griffin/Cioci 144 + 15.676s 39. GTA #77 Porsche Dempsey/Foster/Long 144 + 1m20.119s 40. GTA #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti 144 + 2m58.100s 41. P2 #40 Oreca Dagoneau/Downs/Younessi 143 + 23 Laps 42. GTP #53 SRT Farnbacher/Goossens/Dalziel 143 + 1m31.212s 43. GTA #75 Porsche Collard/Perrodo/Crubile 143 + 2m14.003s 44. GTA #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor 143 + 2m25.856s 45. GTA #96 Aston Goethe/Campbell-Walter/Hall 143 + 2m37.945s 46. GTA #67 Porsche Gibon/Milesi/Henzler 142 + 24 Laps 47. GTP #66 Ferrari Bertolini/Faisal/Qubaisi 142 + 1m08.550s 48. GTA #54 Ferrari Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank 135 + 31 Laps 49. P2 #39 Lola Porta/Brandela/Raffin 134 + 32 Laps 50. GTA #81 Ferrari Potolicchio/Aguas/Bright 133 + 33 Laps 51. GTA #70 Corvette MacNeil/Rodrigues/Dumas 131 + 35 Laps 52. GTA #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Mediani 111 Retired 53. P2 #25 Oreca Graves/Hamilton/Nakano 101 Retired 54. P2 #28 Lola Giroix/Haezebrouck/Ihara 22 Retired 55. P2 #31 Lotus Weeda/Rossiter/Bouchut 17 Retired 56. GTA #95 Aston Simonsen/Nygaard/Poulsen 2 Retired
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