Strakka wins as LMP1s crumble

Watts had thrust the HPD onto a heroic overall pole this morning, but was swallowed up by the more powerful LMP1 pack off the line, as the #13 Rebellion Lola of Andrea Bellichi took an early lead ahead of the ORECA Peugeot and the second Rebellion entry.

Bellichi managed to hold off the Peugeot - which had utterly dominated the last round at Portimao - until the first stops, during which the diesel machine got in front. However Bellichi's team-mate Jean-Christophe Boullion managed to tag along behind the 908 until a string of problems dropped it out of contention. The sister car sustained damage when Nicolas Prost crashed in the second hour.

Rebellion's gremlins left ORECA leading from the Signature Lola Aston Martin, in which Vanina Ickx had charged from the back, where the team had started due to changing tyres after Pierre Ragues' qualifying incident.

But then an alternator failure delayed Signature, shortly before the ORECA Peugeot ran into trouble as well, pitting for mechanical repairs and eventually calling it quits after lapping way off the pace for a while in an attempt to make the finish.

With the Beechdean Mansell Ginetta-Zytek also having various dramas, the LMP2s were left to dominate, and it was the Strakka HPD that eventually pulled clear of main rival Quifel-ASM to take victory with a one-lap cushion at the end of a race of incredible attrition.

Behind the Quifel-ASM Lola, the #24 OAK Pescarolo completed the overall podium, with the Beechdean Mansell car the best of the LMP1 survivors in seventh behind the RML Lola, Bruichladdich Ginetta-Zytek and the #29 Racing Box Lola.

Despite being thoroughly beaten in qualifying, Porsche emerged with GT2 victory in the race, as the Felbermayr Proton 997 of Richard Lietz and Marc Lieb got ahead of the #91 CRS Ferrari at the final stops and then won a close late dice in the darkness.

The Jean Alesi/Giancarlo Fisichella/Toni Vilander AF Corse Ferrari had led for a long time until CRS driver Tim Mullen pounced in traffic and then a seat issue caused a slow pitstop, dropping the AF car back to fourth behind the #76 IMSA Performance Porsche.

Pos  Cl   Drivers                         Car                    Time/Gap
 1.  P2   Leventis/Watts/Kane             HPD                6h01m02.752s
 2.  P2   Amaral/Pla                      Ginetta-Zytek           + 1 lap
 3.  P2   Lahaye/Nicolet                  Pescarolo-Judd         + 2 laps
 4.  P2   Erdos/Newton/Collins            Lola-HPD               + 4 laps
 5.  P2   Ojjeh/Greaves/Ebbesvik          Ginetta-Zytek          + 5 laps
 6.  P2   Pirri/Cioci/Perazzinii          Lola-Judd              + 6 laps
 7.  P1   Mansell/Mansell                 Ginetta-Zytek          + 7 laps
 8.  P1   Prost/Jani                      Lola-Rebellion        + 13 laps
 9.  P2   Moreau/Hein                     Pescarolo-Judd        + 14 laps
10.  GT2  Lieb/Lietz                      Porsche               + 14 laps
11.  GT2  Kirkaldy/Mullen                 Ferrari               + 14 laps
12.  GT2  Pilet/Narac                     Porsche               + 14 laps
13.  GT2  Alesi/Fisichella/Vilander       Ferrari               + 14 laps
14.  GT2  Barba/Parente                   Ferrari               + 15 laps
15.  GT2  Bell/Turner                     Aston Martin          + 15 laps
16.  GT2  Ragginger/Ried/Dumas            Porsche               + 16 laps
17.  GT2  Companc/Russo                   Ferrari               + 17 laps
18.  P2   Gates/Garofall/Hughes           MG Lola AER           + 17 laps
19.  GT2  Dumbreck/Coronelaps             Spyker                + 18 laps
20.  GT2  Farnbacher/Simonsen             Ferrari               + 18 laps
21.  GT1  Gardel/Goueslard/Rees           Saleen                + 19 laps
22.  FLM  Barlesi/Cicognani/Chalandon     FLM ORECA             + 19 laps
23.  P1   Ragues/Mailleux/Ickx            Lola Aston Martin     + 22 laps
24.  P2   Frey/Buncombe                   Radical-Judd          + 24 laps
25.  P2   Geri/Babini/Leo                 Lola-Judd             + 27 laps
26.  FLM  Kutemann/Basso/Hartshorne       FLM-ORECA             + 28 laps
27.  GT2  Felbermayr/Felbermayr/Seefried  Porsche               + 32 laps
28.  GT2  Ehret/Quaife                    Ferrari               + 39 laps
29.  FLM  Zacchia/Lombard/Moro            FLM ORECA             + 50 laps
30.  FLM  Kraihamer/De Crem/Delhez        FLM ORECA             + 60 laps
31.  P1   Panis/Lapierre/Sarrazin         Peugeot               + 60 laps

Retirements:

     GT2  Westbrook/Holzer                Porsche            133 laps
     P1   Belicchi/Boullion               Lola-Rebellion     124 laps
     P2   Schell/Da Rocha                 Courage-ORECA      77 laps
     GT1  Van Dam/Lemeret                 Saleen             68 laps
     FLM  Toulemonde/Beche                FLM ORECA          35 laps
     FLM  Firth/Manning                   FLM ORECA          20 laps