H16: Lotterer leads for Audi
Andre Lotterer leads the Le Mans 24 Hours for Audi by 23 seconds from the Peugeots of Sebastien Bourdais and Marc Gene
The course was neutralised for just over 20 minutes after the #59 Luxury Racing Ferrari 458 crashed and erstwhile LMP2 leader David Hallyday took the nose off the #48 ORECA. After the dramatics of the previous hour, Anthony Davidson's work was undone by the safety car and after Gene took over the car it fell behind the #9 entry driven by Bourdais.
Lotterer took over the #2 Audi from Marcel Fassler, falling to third in the process, and on fresh tyres set a succession of quick laps - including the fastest one of the race. Bourdais responded by beating Lotterer's time, only for the #2 Audi to go faster still.
Peugeot pitted the #8 car just before the green flag and when it emerged, with Franck Montagny still at the wheel, the three factory 908s ran in formation - albeit with the #8 car a lap down - as Gene held station behind Bourdais. Montagny unlapped himself from Gene and then made himself large in Bourdais' mirrors.
When all three Peugeots broke for the pits shortly after the turn of the hour, Lotterer moved back into the lead.
Christophe Tinseau leads the denuded field of petrol-powered LMP1s by two laps in the #16 Pescarolo from the sole remaining Rebellion Lola, currently driven by Neel Jani, running in fifth and sixth overall. Nicolas Lapierre is a lap down on Jani in the delayed ORECA Peugeot 908.
Hallyday's accident ceded the lead of LMP2 to Tom Kimber-Smith in the Greaves Motorsport Zytek, and when Kimber-Smith pitted to hand over to Olivier Lombard shortly before the turn of the hour the Zytek held a one-lap advantage over Franck Mailleux in the #26 ORECA.
Oliver Gavin leads the GTE Pro field imperiously for Corvette Racing with a lap in hand over Toni Vilander in the #51 Ferrari, but team-mate Olivier Beretta shunted the #73 Corvette just after the turn of the 17th hour.
Seth Nieman leads GTE Am in the #81 Flying Lizard Porsche.
NOTES:
- Jean-Christophe Boullion crashed the Rebellion Lola-Toyota in the 14th hour at the Porsche Curves. He had been running eighth at the time of the shunt.
- Mike Rockenfeller was taken to hospital following a frightening accident that totally destroyed the #1 Audi in the seventh hour of the race. The German had been running third when he made contact with a GTE Ferrari at kink after Mulsanne. Audi later confirmed that the German would be kept in overnight for observation but that he was okay.
- The #3 Audi of Allan McNish crashed out of the race in the first hour having just taken second position. The Scot collected the #58 Luxury Racing Ferrari in the right-hander after the Dunlop Bridge. The heavy impact destroyed the car and McNish was taken to hospital for precautionary checks, but was later released with an all-clear.
- Both Aston Martin AMR Ones ran into trouble on the first lap of the race. Darren Turner spinning with mechanical trouble and Adrian Fernandez stopping out on the Mulsanne. The #007 car of Turner was recovered to the pits where it was discovered an alternator belt tensioner was to blame.
POSITIONS AFTER 16 HOURS Pos Car Team Class Gap 1. #9 Peugeot Team Peugeot Total (LMP1) 2. #7 Peugeot Peugeot Sport Total (LMP1) + 3.504 3. #2 Audi Audi Sport Team Joest (LMP1) + 35.943 4. #8 Peugeot Peugeot Sport Total (LMP1) + 1 Lap 5. #16 Pescarolo Pescarolo Team (LMP1) + 6 Laps 6. #12 Lola Rebellion Racing (LMP1) + 9 Laps 7. #10 Peugeot Team Oreca-Matmut (LMP1) + 10 Laps 8. #22 Lola Kronos Racing (LMP1) + 13 Laps 9. #41 Zytek Greaves Motorsport (LMP2) + 15 Laps 10. #26 Oreca Signatech Nissan (LMP2) + 17 Laps 11. #33 Lola Level 5 Motorsports (LMP2) + 19 Laps 12. #49 OAK OAK Racing (LMP2) + 21 Laps 13. #74 Corvette Corvette Racing (GTEP) + 23 Laps 14. #51 Ferrari AF Corse (GTEP) + 24 Laps 15. #35 OAK OAK Racing (LMP2) + 24 Laps 16. #73 Corvette Corvette Racing (GTEP) + 24 Laps 17. #80 Porsche Flying Lizard Motorsports (GTEP) + 25 Laps 18. #55 BMW BMW Motorsport (GTEP) + 25 Laps 19. #56 BMW BMW Motorsport (GTEP) + 26 Laps 20. #77 Porsche Team Felbermayr-Proton (GTEP) + 26 Laps 21. #76 Porsche IMSA Performance Matmut (GTEP) + 26 Laps 22. #36 HPD RML (LMP2) + 28 Laps 23. #75 Porsche Prospeed Competition (GTEP) + 28 Laps 24. #40 Oreca Race Performance (LMP2) + 30 Laps 25. #81 Porsche Flying Lizard Motorsports (GTEA) + 30 Laps 26. #50 Corvette Larbre Competition (GTEA) + 30 Laps 27. #70 Porsche Larbre Competition (GTEA) + 31 Laps 28. #63 Porsche Proton Competition (GTEA) + 34 Laps 29. #83 Ferrari JMB Racing (GTEA) + 37 Laps 30. #61 Ferrari AF Corse (GTEA) + 38 Laps 31. #65 Lotus Lotus Jetalliance (GTEP) + 38 Laps 32. #59 Ferrari Luxury Racing (GTEP) + 43 Laps 33. #66 Ferrari JMW Motorsport (GTEP) + 43 Laps 34. #68 Ford Robertson Racing (GTEA) + 44 Laps 35. #71 Ferrari AF Corse (GTEP) + 48 Laps 36. #88 Porsche Team Felbermayr-Proton (GTEP) + 57 Laps 37. #44 Norma Extr (LMP2) + 85 Laps 38. #58 Ferrari Luxury Racing (GTEP) + 90 Laps 39. #48 Oreca Team Oreca-Matmut (LMP2) + 26 Laps 40. #13 Lola Rebellion Racing (LMP1) Retired 41. #42 HPD Strakka Racing (LMP2) Retired 42. #60 Aston Gulf AMR Middle East (GTEA) Retired 43. #39 Lola PeCom Racing (LMP2) Retired 44. #89 Ferrari Hankook Team Farnbacher (GTEP) Retired 45. #64 Lotus Lotus Jetalliance (GTEP) Retired 46. #57 Ferrari Krohn Racing (GTEA) Retired 47. #24 OAK OAK Racing (LMP1) Retired 48. #1 Audi Audi Sport Team Joest (LMP1) Retired 49. #5 Oreca Hope Racing (LMP1) Retired 50. #62 Ferrari CRS Racing (GTEA) Retired 51. #15 OAK OAK Racing (LMP1) Retired 52. #79 Aston Jota (GTEP) Retired 53. #20 Zytek Quifel-ASM Team (LMP1) Retired 54. #3 Audi Audi Sport North America (LMP1) Retired 55. #007 AMR-One Aston Martin Racing (LMP1) Retired 56. #009 AMR-One Aston Martin Racing (LMP1) Retired
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