H19: Pagenaud leads, Wurz shunts
Simon Pagenaud heads the field at Le Mans for Peugeot after Benoit Treluyer made a routine pitstop from the lead in the #2 Audi R18
Having passed the #9 and #7 Peugeots during the 18th hour, Treluyer continued to pull away as he sought to build up a gap before making his routine pitstop. This done, he shuffled back to third until the Peugeots made their own synchronised stops. He was running 30 seconds ahead of Pagenaud's second-placed #9 Peugeot when an incident dropped the third-placed #7 car out of the fight.
Alex Wurz ran straight on at Indianapolis 15 minutes before the turn of the hour, nosing the #7 Peugeot into the barrier. It was towed out of the gravel and Wurz was able to return to the pits with heavy damage to the front-right corner, and the right-front wheel wobbling on its hub. Anthony Davidson took over the car and left the garage four laps later, now lying in fourth place.
The #8 Peugeot, which had been delayed earlier in the race while a stuck brake balance control was fixed, lost more time when Stephane Sarrazin was called in to observe a stop-go penalty because the man on the refuelling hose did not have his visor in place during a refuelling stop.
Treluyer made a routine stop just before the turn of the hour, dropping to second behind Pagenaud.
Loic Duval lies fifth overall in the year-old ORECA Peugeot 908, while Julien Jousse leads the petrol-powered LMP1s in the #16 despite an extended stop earlier in the race. Jousse is sixth, a lap ahead of Nicolas Prost in the Rebellion Lola.
Karim Ojjeh leads LMP2 in the Greaves Zytek by four laps from the #26 ORECA currently driven by Soheil Ayari.
In GTE Pro the #51 Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella enjoys a one-lap margin over the Antonio Garcia in the #73 Corvette, which now carries the hopes of Corvette Racing after Jan Magnussen crashed the #74 car out of the class lead.
The #56 BMW is third in class despite a brief off when it ran wide at Indianapolis, kicking up gravel which the #55 BMW then slid off on.
It is a case of last man standing in the GTE Am class since only four of the 10 starters are still running. Larbre Competition are running 1-2 with the #50 Corvette driven by Patrick Bornhauser a lap ahead of Jean-Phillippe Belloc in the team's #70 Porsche, which is in turn five laps clear of Jean-Marc Menahem's #83 Ferrari.
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 19 HOURS Pos Car Team Class Gap 1. #2 Audi Audi Sport Team Joest (LMP1) 2. #9 Peugeot Team Peugeot Total (LMP1) + 25.686 3. #8 Peugeot Peugeot Sport Total (LMP1) + 1 Lap 4. #7 Peugeot Peugeot Sport Total (LMP1) + 4 Laps 5. #10 Peugeot Team Oreca-Matmut (LMP1) + 10 Laps 6. #16 Pescarolo Pescarolo Team (LMP1) + 11 Laps 7. #12 Lola Rebellion Racing (LMP1) + 12 Laps 8. #22 Lola Kronos Racing (LMP1) + 16 Laps 9. #41 Zytek Greaves Motorsport (LMP2) + 19 Laps 10. #26 Oreca Signatech Nissan (LMP2) + 23 Laps 11. #33 Lola Level 5 Motorsports (LMP2) + 24 Laps 12. #49 OAK OAK Racing (LMP2) + 26 Laps 13. #51 Ferrari AF Corse (GTEP) + 29 Laps 14. #73 Corvette Corvette Racing (GTEP) + 30 Laps 15. #77 Porsche Team Felbermayr-Proton (GTEP) + 32 Laps 16. #76 Porsche IMSA Performance Matmut (GTEP) + 32 Laps 17. #56 BMW BMW Motorsport (GTEP) + 32 Laps 18. #36 HPD RML (LMP2) + 32 Laps 19. #55 BMW BMW Motorsport (GTEP) + 33 Laps 20. #40 Oreca Race Performance (LMP2) + 33 Laps 21. #75 Porsche Prospeed Competition (GTEP) + 34 Laps 22. #80 Porsche Flying Lizard Motorsports (GTEP) + 34 Laps 23. #35 OAK OAK Racing (LMP2) + 35 Laps 24. #50 Corvette Larbre Competition (GTEA) + 38 Laps 25. #70 Porsche Larbre Competition (GTEA) + 39 Laps 26. #83 Ferrari JMB Racing (GTEA) + 45 Laps 27. #65 Lotus Lotus Jetalliance (GTEP) + 45 Laps 28. #66 Ferrari JMW Motorsport (GTEP) + 50 Laps 29. #68 Ford Robertson Racing (GTEA) + 53 Laps 30. #44 Norma Extr (LMP2) + 96 Laps 31. #74 Corvette Corvette Racing (GTEP) + 61 Laps 32. #81 Porsche Flying Lizard Motorsports (GTEA) + 61 Laps 33. #48 Oreca Team Oreca-Matmut (LMP2) + 72 Laps 34. #63 Porsche Proton Competition (GTEA) + 73 Laps 35. #13 Lola Rebellion Racing (LMP1) Retired 36. #61 Ferrari AF Corse (GTEA) + 84 Laps 37. #59 Ferrari Luxury Racing (GTEP) + 89 Laps 38. #71 Ferrari AF Corse (GTEP) + 94 Laps 39. #88 Porsche Team Felbermayr-Proton (GTEP) + 103 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) + 136 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
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