H19: Wurz extends leader's advantage

A combination of Wurz's stint, in which he was able to draw away from Stephane Sarrazin, and a safety car period, has given the leader an advantage of nearly two minutes.

The safety car was caused when Harold Primat crashed the #009 Aston Martin heavily at the Porsche Curves. It is believed he escaped serious injury.

The #1 Audi remains in third, but is struggling with turbo issues and looks unlikely to challenge the leading Peugeots if it remains dry. After handing over to Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen admitted: "Our weapon is not as sharp as it should be."

Jan Charouz is now driving the #007 Aston Martin, which maintains fourth, comfortably clear of the #11 ORECA Courage and the #13 Speedy Racing Lola-Aston, currently with Nicolas Prost at the wheel.

The #14 Kolles Audi R10 is a strong seventh, and seconds currently separate Charles Zwolsman from Prost. But Kolles's other car has lost time after Christan Bakkerud crashed the car under safety car conditions and damaged the front end.

The Essex Porsche and Risi #82 Ferrari continue to lead LMP2 and GT2 respectively, but there has been a change at the top of GT1.

Having chased the sister #63 car for much of the race, and being delayed by earlier safety car periods, the #64 machine is now ahead. Oliver Beretta took advantage of the Primat-caused safety car period and pounced on Antonio Garcia at the restart.