H20: Audi leads as showers hit Le Mans
Benoit Treluyer leads for Audi by less than a minute from the Peugeot of Sebastien Bourdais, thanks in part to Audi's strategy of multiple-stinting its tyres to reduce the time its sole remaining car is stationary in the pits. The clouds have gathered, though, and sprinkles of rain are reported over the circuit
Having briefly ceded the lead to Simon Pagenaud after making a routine pitstop, Treluyer assumed the position again when Pagenaud refuelled and handed the #9 Peugeot over to Bourdais 10 minutes into the hour.
With the track conditions seemingly favouring the Audi, Treluyer pulled out a lead of just over a minute before making a routine fuel stop 40 minutes into the hour. Fresh tyres were wheeled out but not fitted, and Treluyer emerged from the pit just behind Bourdais.
It quickly became clear that the Audi's tyres had given their best, and Bourdais slowly but inexorably expanded the gap from 1.5s to 5.9s before diving into the pits himself just before the turn of the hour. He too departed without taking on new tyres.
The #8 and #7 Peugeots are out of the immediate battle for the lead but continue to circulate, in third and fourth one lap and six laps down respectively after their various misfortunes. Eight laps further adrift, the ORECA Peugeot continues to lap at close to frontrunning pace in the hands of Nicolas Lapierre.
The #41 Greaves Zytek of Tom Kimber-Smith continues to lead in LMP2, three laps ahead of Soheil Ayari's ORECA. The #33 Level 5 Lola coupe has moved up to third after the #49 Oak Racing car made an extended visit to the garage.
Halfway through the hour the GTE Pro-leading #51 Ferrari of Giancarlo Fisichella caught up to Antonio Garcia in the #73 Corvette with a view to putting an additional lap on him. Erstwhile third place man Dirk Muller lost a position to the #77 Felbermayr-Proton Porsche of Richard Lietz during his #56 BMW's routine pitstop and returned to the fray 27s down. At the turn of the hour he had reduced that margin to 19.3s
The #50 Larbre Chevrolet still leads in GTE Am, now driven by Julien Canal.
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 20 HOURS Pos Car Team Class Gap 1. #2 Audi Audi Sport Team Joest (LMP1) 2. #9 Peugeot Team Peugeot Total (LMP1) + 59.135 3. #8 Peugeot Peugeot Sport Total (LMP1) + 1 Lap 4. #7 Peugeot Peugeot Sport Total (LMP1) + 4 Laps 5. #16 Pescarolo Pescarolo Team (LMP1) + 11 Laps 6. #10 Peugeot Team Oreca-Matmut (LMP1) + 11 Laps 7. #12 Lola Rebellion Racing (LMP1) + 12 Laps 8. #22 Lola Kronos Racing (LMP1) + 17 Laps 9. #41 Zytek Greaves Motorsport (LMP2) + 20 Laps 10. #26 Oreca Signatech Nissan (LMP2) + 23 Laps 11. #33 Lola Level 5 Motorsports (LMP2) + 25 Laps 12. #51 Ferrari AF Corse (GTEP) + 32 Laps 13. #73 Corvette Corvette Racing (GTEP) + 32 Laps 14. #49 OAK OAK Racing (LMP2) + 32 Laps 15. #36 HPD RML (LMP2) + 33 Laps 16. #77 Porsche Team Felbermayr-Proton (GTEP) + 34 Laps 17. #56 BMW BMW Motorsport (GTEP) + 34 Laps 18. #55 BMW BMW Motorsport (GTEP) + 35 Laps 19. #76 Porsche IMSA Performance Matmut (GTEP) + 35 Laps 20. #40 Oreca Race Performance (LMP2) + 35 Laps 21. #80 Porsche Flying Lizard Motorsports (GTEP) + 36 Laps 22. #75 Porsche Prospeed Competition (GTEP) + 38 Laps 23. #35 OAK OAK Racing (LMP2) + 40 Laps 24. #50 Corvette Larbre Competition (GTEA) + 41 Laps 25. #70 Porsche Larbre Competition (GTEA) + 42 Laps 26. #83 Ferrari JMB Racing (GTEA) + 48 Laps 27. #65 Lotus Lotus Jetalliance (GTEP) + 48 Laps 28. #66 Ferrari JMW Motorsport (GTEP) + 54 Laps 29. #68 Ford Robertson Racing (GTEA) + 56 Laps 30. #44 Norma Extr (LMP2) + 98 Laps 31. #74 Corvette Corvette Racing (GTEP) + 77 Laps 32. #81 Porsche Flying Lizard Motorsports (GTEA) + 77 Laps 33. #48 Oreca Team Oreca-Matmut (LMP2) + 88 Laps 34. #63 Porsche Proton Competition (GTEA) + 89 Laps 35. #13 Lola Rebellion Racing (LMP1) Retired 36. #61 Ferrari AF Corse (GTEA) + 100 Laps 37. #59 Ferrari Luxury Racing (GTEP) + 105 Laps 38. #71 Ferrari AF Corse (GTEP) + 110 Laps 39. #88 Porsche Team Felbermayr-Proton (GTEP) + 119 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) + 152 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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