Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

H18: Audi-Peugeot duel rumbles on

The fight between the #2 Audi R18 and the three works Peugeots continues to rage after 18 hours of this year's Le Mans

Having lost his advantage thanks to the safety car period in the previous hour, Audi's Benoit Treluyer attacked Simon Pagenaud in the #9 Peugeot 908 after the restart. He was chased closely by Stephane Sarrazin in the #8 Peugeot, a lap down, and Alexander Wurz's #7 car in third.

Sarrazin unlapped himself from the sole remaining Audi, only to be boxed in at the
Porsche Curves, allowing Treluyer to dramatically repass around the outside. He then
went round the outside of Pagenaud into the second Mulsanne chicane to take the lead.

Treluyer edged away, setting some of the fastest laps of the race, until pitting with just over 15 minutes of the hour remaining. Pagenaud followed him in, allowing Wurz to take the lead for two laps before he too stopped.

That left Treluyer leading by 13 seconds from Pagenaud as the hour closed.

The #16 Pescarolo still leads the petrol entries in fifth overall, but has just come into the pits with an as-yet unspecified problem. The recovering ORECA Peugeot has now made it up to sixth, ahead of the sole remaining Rebellion Lola-Toyota, and is closing in.

The #41 Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan heads LMP2 in ninth overall, well clear of the #26 Signatech ORECA-Nissan.

The #51 AF Corse Ferrari is comfortably in the lead of GTE Pro, chased by the #73 Chevrolet Corvette. The long-time leader, the #74 Corvette, has now been officially retired after Jan Magnussen's crash in the previous hour.

Larbre Competition is now running one-two in GTE Am, helped by the #81 Flying Lizard Porsche being retired with no drive. The team's #50 Corvette currently heads its #70 Porsche entry.

NOTES:

- Jan Magnussen lost control of the GTE Pro-leading #74 Chevrolet Corvette and crashed into the #63 Proton Porsche during the 17th hour, putting both cars out.

- 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 18 HOURS

Pos  Car            Team                      Class   Gap
 1.  #2  Audi       Audi Sport Team Joest     (LMP1)  
 2.  #9  Peugeot    Team Peugeot Total        (LMP1)  +   15.395
 3.  #7  Peugeot    Peugeot Sport Total       (LMP1)  +    1 Lap
 4.  #8  Peugeot    Peugeot Sport Total       (LMP1)  +   2 Laps
 5.  #16 Pescarolo  Pescarolo Team            (LMP1)  +  11 Laps
 6.  #10 Peugeot    Team Oreca-Matmut         (LMP1)  +  11 Laps
 7.  #12 Lola       Rebellion Racing          (LMP1)  +  11 Laps
 8.  #22 Lola       Kronos Racing             (LMP1)  +  16 Laps
 9.  #41 Zytek      Greaves Motorsport        (LMP2)  +  18 Laps
10.  #26 Oreca      Signatech Nissan          (LMP2)  +  22 Laps
11.  #33 Lola       Level 5 Motorsports       (LMP2)  +  23 Laps
12.  #49 OAK        OAK Racing                (LMP2)  +  25 Laps
13.  #51 Ferrari    AF Corse                  (GTEP)  +  28 Laps
14.  #73 Corvette   Corvette Racing           (GTEP)  +  28 Laps
15.  #55 BMW        BMW Motorsport            (GTEP)  +  29 Laps
16.  #77 Porsche    Team Felbermayr-Proton    (GTEP)  +  30 Laps
17.  #76 Porsche    IMSA Performance Matmut   (GTEP)  +  30 Laps
18.  #56 BMW        BMW Motorsport            (GTEP)  +  31 Laps
19.  #36 HPD        RML                       (LMP2)  +  31 Laps
20.  #75 Porsche    Prospeed Competition      (GTEP)  +  32 Laps
21.  #80 Porsche    Flying Lizard Motorsports (GTEP)  +  32 Laps
22.  #40 Oreca      Race Performance          (LMP2)  +  33 Laps
23.  #35 OAK        OAK Racing                (LMP2)  +  34 Laps
24.  #50 Corvette   Larbre Competition        (GTEA)  +  36 Laps
25.  #70 Porsche    Larbre Competition        (GTEA)  +  37 Laps
26.  #83 Ferrari    JMB Racing                (GTEA)  +  43 Laps
27.  #65 Lotus      Lotus Jetalliance         (GTEP)  +  43 Laps
28.  #66 Ferrari    JMW Motorsport            (GTEP)  +  48 Laps
29.  #68 Ford       Robertson Racing          (GTEA)  +  51 Laps
30.  #44 Norma      Extr                      (LMP2)  +  95 Laps
31.  #74 Corvette   Corvette Racing           (GTEP)  +  46 Laps
32.  #81 Porsche    Flying Lizard Motorsports (GTEA)  +  46 Laps
33.  #48 Oreca      Team Oreca-Matmut         (LMP2)  +  57 Laps
34.  #63 Porsche    Proton Competition        (GTEA)  +  58 Laps
35.  #13 Lola       Rebellion Racing          (LMP1)  Retired
36.  #61 Ferrari    AF Corse                  (GTEA)  +  69 Laps
37.  #59 Ferrari    Luxury Racing             (GTEP)  +  74 Laps
38.  #71 Ferrari    AF Corse                  (GTEP)  +  79 Laps
39.  #88 Porsche    Team Felbermayr-Proton    (GTEP)  +  88 Laps
40.  #42 HPD        Strakka Racing            (LMP2)  Retired
41.  #60 Aston      Gulf AMR Middle East      (GTEA)  Retired
42.  #39 Lola       PeCom Racing              (LMP2)  Retired
43.  #89 Ferrari    Hankook Team Farnbacher   (GTEP)  Retired
44.  #58 Ferrari    Luxury Racing             (GTEP)  + 121 Laps
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

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Gavin 'devastated' by retirement
Next article H19: Pagenaud leads, Wurz shunts

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe