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LM24 H12: Allan McNish keeps Audi in control at half distance

Allan McNish tightened Audi's grip at the front of the field at the halfway point of the 81st Le Mans 24 Hours

The two-time Le Mans winner continued to edge away from Toyota, which in turn saw its hold on second and third weakened as Oliver Jarvis moved the #3 R18 onto the same lap.

The Briton dived past Davidson on the outside of the Porsche Curves to effectively unlap himself and gain parity with the second TS030.

He now trails Nicolas Lapierre in the #7 HYBRID by just under two minutes, with Davidson effectively one lap up the road.

Audi's resurgence also extended to the #1 machine, with Andre Lotterer also able to scythe his way past the Toyotas and regain one of the laps lost due to an alternator issue in the seventh hour.

Lotterer still remains someway off the front however, currently trailing McNish by 10 laps and the two Toyotas by nine.

The on-track battle between Davidson, Lotterer and Jarvis - the first true fight between the marques since the first hour - came after a lengthy safety car brought about by a massive crash for Tony Burgess in the #30 Status Lola.

Burgess speared off at the Porsche Curves, the impact ripping out his gearbox and demolishing the rear of his car. Burgess was able to walk from the crash, but was taken to hospital for precautionary checks.

The full course caution, which lasted for around half an hour, did not affect the battle for LMP2 class honours, which continues to be waged between OAK's sister Morgan-Nissans.

Alex Brundle returned the #24 car to the front of the field as the pitstops cycled through, but once back in sequence found himself one minute down on Martin Plowman in the #35 machine.

Oliver Turvey stayed third in the #38 Jota Zytek-Nissan, with ahead of Michael Krumm in the Greaves-run counterpart machine.

The #26 G-Drive and #46 TDS ORECA-Nissans remain in podium contention, the latter thanks largely to a magnificent stint from Maxime Martin. He has now handed over to Pierre Thiriet.

The GTE Pro class lead changed hands twice as the pitstops cycled, with first Marc Lieb and then Darren Turner moving to the front once Frederic Makowiecki pitted in the lead #99 Aston Martin.

Lieb swapped for Romain Dumas and returned in second, while Turner pitted one lap later and handed over to Stefan Mucke.

The team will have to stop again shortly however to repair a damaged car number of the illuminated panel of the #97 Vantage.

The #76 Imsa Porsche continues to lead in GTE Am, with Christophe Bourret now at the wheel.

AF Corse's #61 and #56 458s remain Bourret's closest challengers.

POSITIONS AFTER 12 HOURS

Pos Cl      Car       Drivers                         Laps  Gap
 1. P1  #2  Audi      Kristensen/McNish/Duval         180   
 2. P1  #8  Toyota    Davidson/Sarrazin/Buemi         179   +     1 Lap
 3. P1  #7  Toyota    Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima          178   +    2 Laps
 4. P1  #3  Audi      Gene/Jarvis/di Grassi           178   + 2m23.823s
 5. P1  #13 Lola      Beche/Belicchi/Cheng            175   +    5 Laps
 6. P1  #12 Lola      Prost/Jani/Heidfeld             172   +    8 Laps
 7. P1  #21 HPD       Leventis/Kane/Watts             172   + 1m15.835s
 8. P2  #35 Morgan    Baguette/Plowman/Gonzalez       169   +   11 Laps
 9. P1  #1  Audi      Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler       169   + 1m14.281s
10. P2  #24 Morgan    Pla/Brundle/H Hansson           169   + 1m38.192s
11. P2  #38 Zytek     Dolan/Turvey/Luhr               168   +   12 Laps
12. P2  #42 Zytek     Krumm/Mardenborough/Ordonez     168   +   21.187s
13. P2  #46 Oreca     Thiriet/Badey/Martin            168   + 1m40.600s
14. P2  #26 Oreca     Rusinov/Martin/Conway           168   + 2m16.195s
15. P2  #49 Oreca     P-Companc/Kaffer/Minassian      167   +   13 Laps
16. P2  #43 Morgan    Gachnang/Mailleux/Lombard       166   +   14 Laps
17. P2  #47 Morgan    Imperatori/Howson/Tung          164   +   16 Laps
18. P2  #32 Lotus     Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz        164   +   23.692s
19. P2  #33 HPD       Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe       163   +   17 Laps
20. GTP #99 Aston     Makowiecki/Senna/Bell           163   + 3m20.069s
21. GTP #97 Aston     Mucke/Turner/Dumbreck           162   +   18 Laps
22. GTP #92 Porsche   Lieb/Richard Lietz/Dumas        162   + 1m19.311s
23. GTP #91 Porsche   Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard      162   + 2m15.443s
24. P2  #48 Oreca     Hartley/Chandhok/Patterson      161   +   19 Laps
25. GTP #51 Ferrari   Bruni/Fisichella/Malucelli      161   + 1m51.234s
26. GTP #71 Ferrari   Beretta/Kobayashi/Vilander      160   +   20 Laps
27. GTP #74 Corvette  Gavin/Milner/Westbrook          160   + 2m37.280s
28. GTP #73 Corvette  Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor         159   +   21 Laps
29. GTP #98 Aston     Dalla Lana/Lamy/Auberlen        159   +   21.991s
30. P2  #34 Oreca     Frey/Niederhauser/Bleekemolen   159   + 1m48.308s
31. P2  #36 Alpine    Ragues/Panciatici/Gommendy      159   + 1m52.736s
32. P2  #41 Zytek     Rossi/K-Smith/Lux               159   + 3m13.181s
33. P2  #45 Morgan    Nicolet/Merlin/Mondolot         158   +   22 Laps
34. GTA #76 Porsche   Narac/Vernay/Bourret            157   +   23 Laps
35. GTP #93 SRT       Wittmer/Kendall/Bomarito        157   + 1m29.077s
36. GTA #55 Ferrari   Perazzini/O'Young/Case          157   + 2m00.878s
37. GTA #61 Ferrari   Gerber/Griffin/Cioci            156   +   24 Laps
38. GTA #77 Porsche   Dempsey/Foster/Long             156   +   13.539s
39. GTA #88 Porsche   Ried/Roda/Ruberti               156   + 2m11.797s
40. P2  #40 Oreca     Dagoneau/Downs/Younessi         155   +   25 Laps
41. GTP #53 SRT       Farnbacher/Goossens/Dalziel     155   +    5.771s
42. GTA #96 Aston     Goethe/Campbell-Walter/Hall     155   + 1m22.665s
43. GTA #50 Corvette  Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor         155   + 2m58.992s
44. GTA #75 Porsche   Collard/Perrodo/Crubile         155   + 3m03.510s
45. GTA #67 Porsche   Gibon/Milesi/Henzler            154   +   26 Laps
46. GTP #66 Ferrari   Bertolini/Faisal/Qubaisi        154   + 1m41.387s
47. GTA #54 Ferrari   Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank        146   +   34 Laps
48. GTA #81 Ferrari   Potolicchio/Aguas/Bright        145   +   35 Laps
49. P2  #39 Lola      Porta/Brandela/Raffin           140   +   40 Laps
50. GTA #70 Corvette  MacNeil/Rodrigues/Dumas         132   +   48 Laps
51. P2  #30 Lola      Mowlem/Burgess/Hirschi          153       Retired
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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