LM24 H16: Loic Duval opens up one-lap advantage for Audi
Audi re-established its one-lap advantage over Toyota as the Le Mans 24 Hours reached two-thirds distance; Loic Duval continuing to stretch his lead over Sebastien Buemi
Duval's pace in the #2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro was matched only by the recovering #1 machine of Benoit Treluyer, 11 laps behind in eighth, and the former made the most of this to put a lap on the second-placed TS030 HYBRID of Buemi.
The #3 Audi of Marc Gene had closed to within two minutes of Alex Wurz's #7 Toyota, but dropped a lap behind after making an additional stop.
Mathias Beche remained fifth in the Rebellion-Lola while Treluyer closed on the #21 Strakka HPD for seventh and is now a little over two minutes behind.
Bertrand Baguette moved the #35 OAK Morgan-Nissan to the front of the LMP2 class, the first of the two Morgan-Nissans establishing a 35s lead over team-mate Olivier Pla, who had previously been 20s clear himself.
Jann Mardenborough continued to run third in the #42 Greaves Zytek-Nissan despite running off the track at the Ford and first Mulsanne chicanes. He is now under pressure from Mike Conway in the G-Drive/Delta-ADR #26 ORECA-Nissan.
The #33 Level 5 HPD - ninth in class -caught the eye thanks to another fire in the pitlane. Marino Franchitti, who handed the car over to Scott Tucker, confirmed the regular infernos were affecting the driveability of the car's engine.
Romain Brandela again attracted negative attention - this time an off on his own at Mulsanne Corner after making a mistake in the #39 DKR Lola-Judd.
The #32 Lotus-Praga also went off at Mulsanne Corner, though Dominik Kraihamer went much further and ended up deep into the gravel, requiring a tow.
A near-four minute pitstop to change the brake discs on the #92 Manthey Porsche of Richard Lietz handed the GTE Pro lead to Bruno Senna. He initially had a 45s lead over Lietz, but the Austrian narrowed the margin to 39s.
The #76 Imsa Porsche continued to lead the GTE Am class. Jean-Karl Vernay took over from Raymond Narac and remains ahead of the #55 and #61 AF Ferraris after Jack Gerber spun the latter machine.
POSITIONS AFTER 16 HOURS Pos Cl Car Drivers Laps Gap 1. P1 #2 Audi Kristensen/McNish/Duval 236 2. P1 #8 Toyota Davidson/Sarrazin/Buemi 235 + 1 Lap 3. P1 #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima 235 + 2m14.820s 4. P1 #3 Audi Gene/Jarvis/di Grassi 234 + 2 Laps 5. P1 #13 Lola Beche/Belicchi/Cheng 229 + 7 Laps 6. P1 #12 Lola Prost/Jani/Heidfeld 226 + 10 Laps 7. P1 #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts 226 + 1m52.012s 8. P1 #1 Audi Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler 225 + 11 Laps 9. P2 #24 Morgan Pla/Brundle/H Hansson 222 + 14 Laps 10. P2 #35 Morgan Baguette/Plowman/Gonzalez 222 + 27.135s 11. P2 #42 Zytek Krumm/Mardenborough/Ordonez 221 + 15 Laps 12. P2 #26 Oreca Rusinov/Martin/Conway 220 + 16 Laps 13. P2 #46 Oreca Thiriet/Badey/Martin 220 + 1m14.018s 14. P2 #49 Oreca P-Companc/Kaffer/Minassian 220 + 3m23.858s 15. P2 #43 Morgan Gachnang/Mailleux/Lombard 218 + 18 Laps 16. P2 #38 Zytek Dolan/Turvey/Luhr 215 + 21 Laps 17. P2 #33 HPD Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe 215 + 2m26.860s 18. P2 #48 Oreca Hartley/Chandhok/Patterson 214 + 22 Laps 19. P2 #47 Morgan Imperatori/Howson/Tung 214 + 57.137s 20. GTP #99 Aston Makowiecki/Senna/Bell 213 + 23 Laps 21. GTP #92 Porsche Lieb/Richard Lietz/Dumas 213 + 39.017s 22. GTP #97 Aston Mucke/Turner/Dumbreck 213 + 1m10.177s 23. GTP #91 Porsche Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard 212 + 24 Laps 24. GTP #51 Ferrari Bruni/Fisichella/Malucelli 212 + 2m22.143s 25. P2 #36 Alpine Ragues/Panciatici/Gommendy 211 + 25 Laps 26. P2 #34 Oreca Frey/Niederhauser/Bleekemolen 211 + 2m08.752s 27. GTP #71 Ferrari Beretta/Kobayashi/Vilander 211 + 2m16.614s 28. P2 #41 Zytek Rossi/K-Smith/Lux 211 + 2m41.153s 29. GTP #74 Corvette Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 210 + 26 Laps 30. GTP #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor 209 + 27 Laps 31. P2 #32 Lotus Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz 209 + 1m42.488s 32. GTA #76 Porsche Narac/Vernay/Bourret 207 + 29 Laps 33. GTP #98 Aston Dalla Lana/Lamy/Auberlen 206 + 30 Laps 34. GTA #55 Ferrari Perazzini/O'Young/Case 206 + 11m25.778s 35. GTA #61 Ferrari Gerber/Griffin/Cioci 206 + 12m52.722s 36. GTA #77 Porsche Dempsey/Foster/Long 205 + 31 Laps 37. GTP #53 SRT Farnbacher/Goossens/Dalziel 205 + 2m10.365s 38. GTA #67 Porsche Gibon/Milesi/Henzler 204 + 32 Laps 39. GTA #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor 204 + 56.072s 40. P2 #40 Oreca Dagoneau/Downs/Younessi 203 + 33 Laps 41. GTP #93 SRT Wittmer/Kendall/Bomarito 203 + 2m22.424s 42. GTA #96 Aston Goethe/Campbell-Walter/Hall 202 + 34 Laps 43. GTP #66 Ferrari Bertolini/Faisal/Qubaisi 202 + 3m57.551s 44. GTA #75 Porsche Collard/Perrodo/Crubile 201 + 35 Laps 45. GTA #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti 199 + 37 Laps 46. P2 #45 Morgan Nicolet/Merlin/Mondolot 197 + 39 Laps 47. GTA #81 Ferrari Potolicchio/Aguas/Bright 195 + 41 Laps 48. P2 #39 Lola Porta/Brandela/Raffin 182 + 54 Laps 49. GTA #70 Corvette MacNeil/Rodrigues/Dumas 171 + 65 Laps 50. P2 #30 Lola Mowlem/Burgess/Hirschi 153 Retired 51. GTA #54 Ferrari Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank 147 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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