Le Mans 24 Hours: #1 Audi leads thanks to sister car turbo change
The #1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro driven by Tom Kristensen, Lucas di Grassi and Marc Gene moved to the top of the field at the Le Mans 24 Hours when its sister car encountered problems
Marcel Fassler brought the #2 Audi into the pits shortly before the end of the 16th hour with turbocharger issues that resulted in the car being pulled back into its garage.
An attempted quick-fix failed and the Audi Sport Team Joest squad opted to change the turbo, the total loss of time ending up at 23 minutes.
That converted a lead of more than two laps for Fassler and team-mates Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer into a two lap deficit and dropped them to third place behind the #20 Porsche 919 Hybrid with Mark Webber at the wheel.
Gene was able to extend his lead over Webber over the course of the hour when the top two cars ended up behind different safety cars during a short caution period.
The #1 Audi was rebuilt on Wednesday night following Loic Duval's shunt during free practice, with Gene drafted in to replace him.
In LMP2, the #35 G-Drive-backed OAK Racing Ligier continues to lead, although Shulzhitskiy's advantage over the #36 Signatech Alpine ORECA has been reduced.
Aston Martin Racing moved back into the lead in GTE Pro with the Vantage shared by Darren Turner, Stefan Mucke and Bruno Senna after Giancarlo Fisichella made a two-minute stop during the safety-car period, although the AF Corse Ferrari moved back into a narrow lead when the Aston made a scheduled stop at the end of the hour.
POSITIONS AFTER 17 HOURS Pos Cl Car Drivers Laps Gap 1. LMP1 #1 Audi Di Grassi/Gene/Kristensen 262 2. LMP1 #20 Porsche Bernhard/Webber/Hartley 262 + 1m53.847s 3. LMP1 #2 Audi Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer 260 + 2 Laps 4. LMP1 #8 Toyota Davidson/Lapierre/Buemi 254 + 8 Laps 5. LMP1 #14 Porsche Dumas/Jani/Lieb 253 + 9 Laps 6. LMP2 #35 Ligier Brundle/Mardenborough/Shulzhitskiy 247 + 15 Laps 7. LMP2 #36 Alpine Chatin/Panciatici/Webb 247 + 1m58.932s 8. LMP2 #46 Ligier Thiriet/Badey/Gommendy 246 + 16 Laps 9. LMP1 #12 Rebellion Prost/Heidfeld/Beche 246 + 2m29.117s 10. LMP2 #34 Oreca Frey/Mailleux/Lancaster 245 + 17 Laps 11. LMP2 #38 Zytek Dolan/Tincknell/Turvey 244 + 18 Laps 12. LMP2 #24 Oreca Rast/Charouz/Capillaire 243 + 19 Laps 13. LMP2 #43 Morgan Klien/Hirsch/Brandela 242 + 20 Laps 14. LMP2 #33 Ligier Cheng/Tung/Fong 239 + 23 Laps 15. LMP2 #42 Zytek Kimber-Smith/McMurry/Dyson 237 + 25 Laps 16. GTEP #51 Ferrari Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella 235 + 27 Laps 17. GTEP #97 Aston Turner/Mucke/Senna 235 + 7.800s 18. LMP2 #29 Morgan Schell/Leutwiller/Roussel 234 + 28 Laps 19. GTEP #92 Porsche Holzer/Makowiecki/Lietz 233 + 29 Laps 20. LMP2 #50 Morgan Ragues/Taylor/Ihara 233 + 2m21.120s 21. GTEP #73 Chevrolet Magnussen/Garcia/Taylor 232 + 30 Laps 22. LMP2 #27 Oreca Zlobin/Salo/Ladygin 232 + 57.455s 23. GTEA #95 Aston Poulsen/Heinemeier-Hansson/Thiim 232 + 3m39.582s 24. GTEA #88 Porsche Ried/Bachler/Al Qubaisi 229 + 33 Laps 25. GTEA #61 Ferrari Perez-Companc/Cioci/Venturi 228 + 34 Laps 26. GTEA #90 Ferrari Montecalvo/Roda/Ruberti 228 + 1m25.549s 27. GTEP #74 Chevrolet Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 227 + 35 Laps 28. GTEA #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Collins 227 + 23.304s 29. GTEA #77 Porsche Dempsey/Foster/Long 227 + 35.534s 30. GTEA #70 Ferrari Nakano/Ehret/Rich 226 + 36 Laps 31. GTEA #66 Ferrari Al Faisal/Neiman/Pumpelly 225 + 37 Laps 32. GTEA #58 Ferrari Barthez/Pons/Ayari 225 + 2m59.797s 33. GTEA #76 Porsche Narac/Armindo/Hallyday 224 + 38 Laps 34. GTEA #98 Aston Dalla Lana/Lamy/Nygaard 224 + 1m45.237s 35. GTEP #79 Porsche MacNeil/Curtis/Bleekemolen 219 + 43 Laps 36. GTEA #67 Porsche Maris/Merlin/Helary 218 + 44 Laps 37. GTEA #53 Ferrari Mowlem/Patterson/Hamilton 217 + 45 Laps 38. GTEP #91 Porsche Pilet/Bergmeister/Tandy 205 + 57 Laps 39. GTEA #62 Ferrari Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank 198 + 64 Laps 40. GTEA #75 Porsche Perrodo/Collard/Palttala 192 + 70 Laps 41. LMP1 #7 Toyota Wurz/Sarrazin/Nakajima 219 Retired 42. GTEA #72 Ferrari Bertolini/Shaitar/Basov 196 Retired 43. GTEP #52 Ferrari Griffin/Parente/Leo 140 Retired 44. LMP2 #26 Morgan Rusinov/Pla/Canal 120 Retired 45. GTEA #60 Ferrari Mann/Case/Giammaria 115 Retired 46. LMP2 #47 Oreca Howson/Bradley/Imperatori 87 Retired 47. LMP1 #13 Rebellion Kraihamer/Belicchi/Leimer 73 Retired 48. LMP2 #48 Oreca Berthon/Gonzalez/Chandhok 73 Retired 49. LMP2 #41 Zytek Munemman/Latif/Winslow 31 Retired 50. GTEP #71 Ferrari Rigon/Kaffer/Beretta 28 Retired 51. LMP1 #3 Audi Albuquerque/Bonanomi/Jarvis 25 Retired 52. GTEA #81 Ferrari Wyatt/Rugolo/Bird 22 Retired 53. LMP2 #37 Oreca Ladygin/Minassian/Mediani 9 Retired 54. CDNT #0 Nissan Ordonez/Reip/Motoyama 5 Retired
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