H18: McNish extends Audi's advantage
The No.2 Audi extended its lead during the 18th hour of this year's Le Mans 24 Hours, as Marc Gene suffered tyre problems in the chasing Peugeot
The weather conditions have also favoured the three Audis, as more rain fell and the Peugeots were unable to keep up.
Allan McNish managed to build up his lead when Gene had to pit early with tyre problems, and Nicolas Minassian has been unable to keep the pace in the No.7 Peugeot.
Behind them, Christian Klien has struggled against a charging Lucas Luhr in the battle for third since taking over the No.9 car, and his advantage has been reduced to less than 20 seconds.
The gap had been more than 40 seconds, and Luhr had lost some time by going straight on at a chicane when a Porsche spun in front of him.
The No.1 Audi remains fifth, while the No.8 Peugeot's lonely race in sixth was livened up when Pedro Lamy had a spin at Arnage corner.
The No.17 Pescarolo is still the top petrol car despite a spin for Benoit Treluyer, while the No.34 van Merksteijn Porsche still comfortably leads LMP2.
The No.009 Aston Martin now has a one lap lead over the chasing No.63 Corvette, while the Risi Competizione Ferrari holds a similar margin over the Virgo Motorsport car.
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments