Peugeot still on course for victory

With three hours remaining, the gap between Davidson and his second-placed team-mate Nicolas Minassian stands at 19 seconds.

The #08 car had led comfortably until a yellow early in the seventh hour. Race leader Sebastien Bourdais was one of the few not to pit during the caution, so fell to second behind the #07 908 when he made a green flag stop shortly afterwards.

The two Peugeots swapped places again in the pits at the end of the next stint, but with Davidson staying on board at the most recent stops, whereas Bourdais handed over to Minassian, it was the #07 machine that emerged with the race lead at three quarters distance.

Behind the consistent Aston Martin in third, the other classes have seen significant action. A wiring problem recently forced erstwhile LMP2 leader Highcroft HPD to spend 24 minutes in the pits, allowing Cytosport to reclaim the class lead with a seven lap advantage over Highcroft.

The most bizarre shake-up has happened in GT2. The #45 Flying Lizard Porsche was battling for the class lead with the Risi Ferrari when the Falken Porsche shed its right rear wheel - for the second time in a few laps - just as the Lizard car was passing. The stray wheel struck the rear of the Flying Lizard machine, ripping its left rear tyre off, and the team then had to wait in the pitlane for several minutes, unable to touch the car under IMSA rules until the field had formed up behind the safety car.

At the same time, the Risi Ferrari made contact with the sister Krohn-Risi car and bounced over the grass, which the car appeared to survive intact, so continues to lead, with a one lap cushion over the Rahal Letterman BMWs.

JR Hildebrand crashed the Genoa LMPC car while trying to hunt down class leader Christophe Bouchut (Level 5), gifting the latter squad a huge lead in the brand new class, while Alex Job Racing trio Leh Keen, Butch Leitzinger and Juan Gonzalez remain dominant in GTC.