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H4: Audi settle in the lead

Having taken the lead during the third hour, the No.2 Audi of Allan McNish/Tom Kristensen/Rinaldo Capello continued to lead during the fourth hour of the Le Mans 24 Hours

Marc Gene had got the No.7 Peugeot to within 30 seconds of the leading Audi prior to the stops, but his handover to Nicolas Minassian dropped the car back. Minassian started to close on Capello, who stayed in at the Audi's stop, as the Peugeots continue to make up for their earlier delays.

The No.9 Peugeot is third, over half a minute clear of the chasing No.3 and No.1 Audis.

The third Peugeot, the No.8 car that led until its gearbox problem, is flying through the field. Alex Wurz set the race's fastest lap in the later stages of the hour and the car has now made it back into the top 18.

The Japanese Dome lost the lead of the unofficial petrol class after a slow pitstop, handing the advantage to the No.5 Courage Oreca of Laurent Groppi, currently in sixth overall.

In LMP2 the pendulum has swung towards the Team Essex Porsche. The similar No.34 machine of Van Merksteijn had led the class, but John Nielsen (Essex) caught and passed Peter Van Merksteijn in the No.34 car during the fourth hour.

GT1 continues to be a hard-fought battle between the works Aston Martin and Chevrolet teams. The No.64 Corvette jumped ahead of the class-leading No.009 Aston at the stops, by dint of not changing tyres.

With a new set of rubber, however, Darren Turner in the No.009 car closed down Olivier Beretta with a string of fastest laps. He swept into the lead of the class into the Dunlop Curve towards the end of the hour.

The No.63 Corvette is still in touch, around 30 seconds ahead of the second works Aston Martin of Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

The rest of the GT1 field continues to struggle in the works cars' wake. At the start of the hour the Team Modena Aston suffered a puncture, while the No.50 Saleen lost around 40 minutes in the pits after a wheel fell off at the end of the third hour.

The Risi Ferrari of Mika Salo/Jaime Melo and Gianmaria Bruni continues to lead GT2, with the No.77 Felbermayr Porsche keeping the gap under 50 seconds.

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