Hour four: Audi have it under control

At the four-hour mark Stephane Ortelli in the lead Audi R8 continues to lead the 2000 Le Mans 24 Hours by just 2.130s from Rinaldo Capello in the sister Audi.
It wasn't a trouble-free run for Ortelli. He lost it coming out of Indianapolis at 1945 and biffed the barrier front-on. He collected the car - losing 15 seconds in the process - and incredibly carried on with the race instead of pitting to check-out the car. Instead he came in a lap later for fuel and tyres, at the same time as team-mate Rinaldo Capello.

Lap times continued to fall as the track cooled into the evening. Few of the teams were charging, with the exception of Didier de Radigues in the Rafanelli Lola and the DAMS Cadillac of Eric Bernard, who fought tooth and nail for sixth place, the first position behind the factory Audi and Panoz squads.
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This scrap was solved in the pit as de Radigues was forced to come in for fuel. He stayed in the car.


Olivier Beretta continued to lead the GTS class in his Dodge Viper. The Monegasque was 32.173s ahead of the sister car driven by Tommy Archer.

In GT, the Dick Barbour Porsche GT3-R still dominates the class, with a one-lap lead over Taisan GT3-R.

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Klaus Graf in the Den Bla Avis Panoz Roadster suffered a puncture and hit the tyrewall. He was forced to limp back to the pits with front body damage and was wheeled into the pits for lengthy repairs.
The remaining Reynard Mopar was pushed back into the garage at 1940 with the engine cover off.

Pos No Drivers Car Class Laps/Time
9, L Aiello, A McNish, S Ortelli, Audi R8 (900) 57 laps
7, M Alboreto, C Abt, R Capello, Audi R8 (900) 11.040s
11, D Brabham, J Magnussen, M Andretti, Panoz Spyder LMP (900) 1 lap
8, F Biela, T Kristensen, E Pirro, Audi R8 (900) 1 lap
12, H Katoh, J O'Connell, P H Rapanel, Panoz Spyder LMP (900) 2 laps
21, M Schiattarella, D de Radiguez, E Naspetti, Lola-Judd B2K (900) 2 laps
3, E Bernard, E Collard, F Montagny, Cadillac LMP (900) 2 laps
1, F Lagorce, B Leitzinger, A Wallace, Cadillac LMP (900) 3 laps
17, P Gache G Formato, D Cottaz, Courage Judd (900) 3 laps
24, S Johansson, J Matthews, G Smith, Reynard-Judd 2KQ (900) 3 laps


Class No Driver Car Time
900 9 A NcNish Audi R8 3m38.485s


Class No Drivers Car Class Time
34, J C Boullion, J Gene, J Policand, ROC VW @ 6 laps
51, O Beretta, K Wendlinger, D Dupuy, Oreca Viper @ 5 laps
83, D Muller, L Luhr, B Wollek, Porsche GT3R @ 7 laps


No Drivers Car Laps Reason
4, M Goossens, C Tinseau, K Kolby, DAM'S Cadillac LMP (900), fire - 5 laps
5, Y Dalmas, N Minassian, J P Belloc, ORECA Reynard-Mopar 2KQ (900), oil pressure - 1 lap