Porsche lead with three hours to go

The No.7 Penske Porsche now leads from the two Dyson cars, while the best of the Audis is back in sixth place, three laps behind the leaders.

The No.1 Audi had inherited first place after its sister car pulled into the paddock with turbo problems just after the six-hour mark.

But Tom Kristensen's lead was short-lived, as first a long pit stop dropped him behind the Penske Porsche, and then the Dane had to make two additional stops for repairs.

The first pit visit saw a new nose section and tie-rod fitted, and caused the No.1 car to drop off the lead lap. Worse then followed after eight hours, with the Audi losing another six minutes in the pits while its brake discs and pads were changed.

"We had to do it on the other car was it was in the paddock, and we hoped it was a one-off occasion," said Audi technical director Ralf Juttner.

"Unfortunately it turned out that it was the same on the other car. It was not expected at all. It was a big surprise and it cost us a lot of time."

LMP2 cars therefore fill the entire top five, with a trio of Porsches at the front of the pack as the field runs under yellow after the Doran Ford GT-R crashed.

Prior to the caution, Emmanuel Collard had been a minute and a half clear of Guy Smith in the lead Dyson Porsche, but the pace car period has closed this gap and also allowed Smith's teammate Marino Franchitti back onto the lead lap.

Fernandez driver Luis Diaz and Highcroft's Scott Sharp complete the current top five in their Acuras.

Marco Andretti has been the fastest Acura driver all race - lapping significantly faster than his Andretti-Green Racing co-drivers Christian Fittipaldi and Bryan Herta. But the AGR car has been delayed by an extra stop to attend to loose bodywork, and Fittipaldi is currently back in seventh place, behind Scott Sharp's Highcroft Acura.

The Audis are down in sixth and ninth, while the Peugeot runs 12th after its hydraulic problems in the third hour.

There have been few changes in the GT classes. Corvette's Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen are continuing their flawless run at the head of the GT1 pack, while Flying Lizard are maintaining their one-two in GT2.

Leading positions after nine hours:

Pos  Driver                Car                 Laps
 1.  Emmanuel Collard      Porsche RS Spyder   253
 2.  Chris Dyson           Porsche RS Spyder   253
 3.  Marino Franchitti     Porsche RS Spyder   253
 4.  Luis Diaz             Acura ARX-01B       252
 5.  Scott Sharp           Acura ARX-01B       252
 6.  Allan McNish          Audi R10 TDi        250
 7.  Christian Fittipaldi  Acura ARX-01B       250
 8.  Fredy Lienhard        Porsche RS Spyder   240
 9.  Lucas Luhr            Audi R10 TDi        240
10.  Ron Fellows           Chevrolet Corvette  239