Audi fend off AGR after nine hours

The Marco Werner/Emanuele Pirro/Frank Biela Audi had gone a lap ahead of the LMP2-leading AGR before the R10 was given a penalty shortly after the seven hour mark following a pit procedure violation. That brought AGR back onto the lead lap, and meant that the Tony Kanaan/Dario Franchitti/Bryan Herta car could close right onto the Audi's tail under yellow.

The Audi remains the fastest car on track and - reliability and incidents permitting - should be fast enough to fend off the Acura in the final three hours, but AGR are now close enough to capitalise should Audi stumble.

The reliable Fernandez Lola-Acura continues to hold third despite a tangle with the delayed no.1 Audi after seven hours that left both cars with bodywork damage. The Audi came off slightly worse, and also lost more time with a repeat of the ignition problems that had earlier stranded it in the pits for a quarter of an hour.

The delays have therefore left early race leaders Rinaldo Capello, Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen 12 laps off the pace in fifth place, behind Timo Bernhard in the Penske Porsche, and ahead of the Highcroft Acura, which has suffered from repeated electrical problems during the evening.

The myriad problems amongst the prototypes have brought the GT1 Corvettes up to seventh and eighth overall. The gap between the two cars grew to 40 seconds earlier in the evening before the pace car brought the C6-Rs back into formation. After nine hours, Oliver Gavin is only three seconds ahead of teammate Jan Magnussen.

The Dyson Porsche lost more time with a puncture and is now ninth, a lap ahead of the Modena Aston Martin.

The frenetic race-long GT2 battle between Risi Ferrari and Flying Lizard Porsche was also enlivened by the full course yellows. The two cars were wheel to wheel once again after eight and a half hours, but the Porsche is currently seven seconds clear after Mika Salo spun the Ferrari while chasing Marc Lieb through the traffic.

Leading positions after nine hours: 

Pos  Driver            Make                    Laps/gap
 1.  Emanuele Pirro    Audi                    269 laps
 2.  Tony Kanaan       AGR Acura              +  30.811
 3.  Luis Diaz         Fernandez Lola-Acura   +  7 laps
 4.  Timo Bernhard     Penske Porsche         + 12 laps
 5.  Tom Kristensen    Audi                   + 12 laps
 6.  Stefan Johansson  Highcroft Acura        + 17 laps
 7.  Oliver Gavin      Corvette               + 17 laps
 8.  Jan Magnussen     Corvette               + 17 laps
 9.  Butch Leitzinger  Dyson Porsche          + 22 laps
10.  Liz Halliday      Modena Aston Martin    + 23 laps