Le Mans 24 Hours: Audi closing on one-two into final hour
Audi closed in on a one-two finish as the Le Mans 24 Hours neared its conclusion, while both Porsches stopped with technical problems
After Mark Webber's second-placed 919 Hybrid slowed dramatically at the end of the 22nd hour, the car was wheeled into the garage and the team quickly decided against trying to fix whatever had caused the problem.
That allowed the #1 Audi into second place behind the leading #2 R18, while Anthony Davidson moved Toyota back into a podium position with the #8 TS040.
The second Porsche of Marc Lieb then joined its sister car in the garage, but that was still being worked on at the top of the hour, suggesting it could return to the track to take the finish.
Oliver Turvey, a late stand-in for the #38 Jota Zytek squad after Marc Gene was called up by Audi, leads LMP2, although he will imminently pit to hand the lead to the #46 TDS Ligier of Tristan Gommendy.
LMP2 is set to produce a close finish, with less than half a minute likely to separate the top two after Turvey stops and the Signatech Alpine ORECA of Nelson Panciatici on the lead lap in third ahead of the recovering #35 OAK Ligier of Mark Shulzhitskiy.
The AF Corse Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella, Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander is just one hour away from completing a controlled GTE victory.
Fisichella continued his impressive performance over the course of the race to maintain the advantage the #51 458 Italia has held over the field since the 19th hour.
Behind, Antonio Garcia jumped the #73 Corvette C7.R ahead of Frederic Makowiecki after the Frenchman was delayed in the pits.
Garcia had been taking large chunks out of the gap to the Manthey Porsche but an on-track pass was not necessary when mechanics swarmed over the 911 RSR's front end when Makowiecki pitted for new tyres.
Aston Martin survived a scare for the Am class-leading #95 Vantage, which stopped at the pitlane exit just as Kristian Poulsen had taken over from Nicki Thiim.
Poulsen lost a couple of minutes with the delay but remains well clear of the #88 Proton Competition Porsche, with the #61 AF Corse Ferrari third.
POSITIONS AFTER 23 HOURS Pos Cl Car Drivers Laps Gap 1. LMP1 #2 Audi Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer 362 2. LMP1 #1 Audi Di Grassi/Gene/Kristensen 359 + 3 Laps 3. LMP1 #8 Toyota Davidson/Lapierre/Buemi 356 + 6 Laps 4. LMP1 #14 Porsche Dumas/Jani/Lieb 347 + 15 Laps 5. LMP1 #20 Porsche Bernhard/Webber/Hartley 346 + 16 Laps 6. LMP1 #12 Rebellion Prost/Heidfeld/Beche 343 + 19 Laps 7. LMP2 #38 Zytek Dolan/Tincknell/Turvey 339 + 23 Laps 8. LMP2 #46 Ligier Thiriet/Badey/Gommendy 338 + 24 Laps 9. LMP2 #36 Alpine Chatin/Panciatici/Webb 338 + 2m38.140s 10. LMP2 #35 Ligier Brundle/Mardenborough/Shulzhitskiy 337 + 25 Laps 11. LMP2 #24 Oreca Rast/Charouz/Capillaire 337 + 57.060s 12. LMP2 #43 Morgan Klien/Hirsch/Brandela 335 + 27 Laps 13. LMP2 #33 Ligier Cheng/Tung/Fong 330 + 32 Laps 14. LMP2 #34 Oreca Frey/Mailleux/Lancaster 326 + 36 Laps 15. LMP2 #50 Morgan Ragues/Taylor/Ihara 324 + 38 Laps 16. GTEP #51 Ferrari Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella 323 + 39 Laps 17. GTEP #73 Chevrolet Magnussen/Garcia/Taylor 322 + 40 Laps 18. GTEP #92 Porsche Holzer/Makowiecki/Lietz 322 + 2m00.962s 19. LMP2 #29 Morgan Schell/Leutwiller/Roussel 321 + 41 Laps 20. GTEA #95 Aston Poulsen/Heinemeier-Hansson/Thiim 319 + 43 Laps 21. GTEP #74 Chevrolet Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 316 + 46 Laps 22. GTEA #88 Porsche Ried/Bachler/Al Qubaisi 316 + 52.784s 23. GTEA #61 Ferrari Perez-Companc/Cioci/Venturi 315 + 46 Laps 24. GTEA #90 Ferrari Montecalvo/Roda/Ruberti 314 + 47 Laps 25. GTEA #77 Porsche Dempsey/Foster/Long 313 + 48 Laps 26. GTEA #98 Aston Dalla Lana/Lamy/Nygaard 313 + 1m03.952s 27. GTEA #66 Ferrari Al Faisal/Neiman/Pumpelly 312 + 49 Laps 28. LMP2 #42 Zytek Kimber-Smith/McMurry/Dyson 312 + 1m02.858s 29. GTEA #70 Ferrari Nakano/Ehret/Rich 311 + 50 Laps 30. GTEA #58 Ferrari Barthez/Pons/Ayari 310 + 51 Laps 31. GTEA #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Collins 309 + 52 Laps 32. GTEA #76 Porsche Narac/Armindo/Hallyday 308 + 53 Laps 33. GTEP #97 Aston Turner/Mucke/Senna 305 + 56 Laps 34. GTEP #79 Porsche MacNeil/Curtis/Bleekemolen 303 + 58 Laps 35. GTEA #53 Ferrari Mowlem/Patterson/Hamilton 303 + 51.472s 36. GTEA #67 Porsche Maris/Merlin/Helary 301 + 60 Laps 37. LMP2 #27 Oreca Zlobin/Salo/Ladygin 295 + 66 Laps 38. GTEP #91 Porsche Pilet/Bergmeister/Tandy 293 + 68 Laps 39. GTEA #62 Ferrari Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank 280 + 81 Laps 40. LMP1 #7 Toyota Wurz/Sarrazin/Nakajima 219 Retired 41. GTEA #72 Ferrari Bertolini/Shaitar/Basov 196 Retired 42. GTEA #75 Porsche Perrodo/Collard/Palttala 194 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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