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WEC 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 76th Le Mans 24 Hours

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With less than two hours remaining, Gene and Peugeot need to be progressing much more quickly than they currently are to have any hope of overhauling the leading Audi by pace alone.
The No.3 and No.1 Audi cars pit at the same time.

The No.3 car with Mike Rockenfeller at the wheel is immediately whisked into the garage by the machanics.
Marco Werner pits the No.1 Audi and hands it over to Frank Biela.
The No.3 Audi is in fourth position overall and it has a comfortable 10 lap advantage over the Sarrazin No.8 Peugeot.
Repairs to the No.3 car are swiftly done. The team wheel the car back out into pitlane, the engine is fired up and Rockenfeller is out on track again, still in fourth place.
The latest shower has stopped, the clouds having passed over the circuit.
Nicolas Minassian has his helmet on and is ready to get into the No.7 Peugeot when it next stops. That will be the final driver change for the car running in second place and Minassian will run to the end.
The third placed No.9 Peugeot comes into the pits for routine service. Driver change for that car as Zonta hands over to Franck Montagny.
The No.7 Peugeot is in, Minassian climbs aboard as expected and he is away in search of Tom Kristensen's leading Audi.
The leader is in the pits in the GT1 race. The 009 Aston Martin DBR9 comes in. No driver change for that car - Darren Turner continues, takes on fresh tyres, a tank of fuel and he rejoins the race, still with a one lap advantage over the No.63 Corvette.

Aston Martin are racing to victory at La Sarthe.
Tom Kristensen pits the leading No.2 Audi. The drivers have been doing lengthy spells in that car and Tom stays on for another stint.

They take tyres, fuel and resume the lead.
The No.5 Courage-Oreca Judd is in the garage again undergoing extensive repairs. This car is in eighth place overall, 22 laps down on the leader Kristensen but they have a three lap buffer to the Van Merksteijn Motorsport entry (still leading LMP2 by some eight laps) in ninth.
The gap between Tom Kristensen and Nicolas Minassian is down to 2:22.461 after the latest round of stops. The Peugeot was almost two seconds quicker on the latest lap.
Minassian takes another two seconds out of the lead on the following lap, bringing the gap down to 2 minutes 20 seconds.
The Van Merksteijn Porshe Spyder RS continues to hold the LMP2 lead by eight laps over the similar Team Essex entry.
The gap is now 2 minutes 16 seconds as Minassian continues to eat into Kristensen's lead.
The No.82 Risi Competizione Ferrari leads LMGT2 with Mika Salo currently driving. The No.97 BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari runs second in class, six laps back.
Amazingly the No.11 Dome sqaud are attempting to repair their machine. The mechanics are covered in oil and grease after a fraught night with multiple garage visits but are still looking to have the car running at the flag.
The race at the front continues between The No.2 Audi and the No.7 Peugeot.

Some form of assistance for Minassian may come in the form of the No.8 car, that Tom Kristensen is closing up on to lap.

It's highly unlikely that the driver of the No.8 - Stephane Sarrazin will block the leading Audi. But at the same time he won't be eager to see it breeze past and sail off to victory either.
On the last lap Minassian took a six second chunk out of Kristensen's lead.

Kristensen - 3:30.000
Minassian - 3:24.016.
The gap continues to close and there is under two minutes between the leader and the No.7 Peugeot.
The rain begins to fall for the umpteenth time in this race.
In the pits the Audi squad have a set of intermediate tyres ready as a precaution.
The No.55 IPB Spartak Lamborghini is back on track after a major effort by the team to deal with differential problems. They are 35th overall and the last running LMGT1 but it is a valiant effort to have the car running once again.
This has the look of a heavier shower than those throughout the morning.
Frank Biela brings in the No.1 Audi from sixth position for a routine pitstop. The tyres are changed and it is intermediates being bolted on to the No.1 car.

This will give Audi all the information they need ahead of the stop for the leader.
The No.2 Audi of Tom Kristensen is in from the lead. They fit a cut intermediate to the leading car as rain continues to fall.
The rain is falling heavier on the circuit now.
High drama as we move towards the final hour of the race.

If the rain falls any heavier or for any longer then the intermediate tyre may not be able to cope in the conditions.
The gap of two minutes back to the first Peugeot could soon evaporate in a gamble over which tyres to stop for during each phase of the shower.
Significant rain is now falling.
The No.7 pits.

No tyre change! The No.7 stays on the slick tyres.
Minassian rejoins on slicks as Peugeot roll the dice.
The No.8 Peugeot pits from fifth with Alex Wurz taking over. Full wet tyres are put on the car.
The No.9 Peugeot pits and they are going to fit full wet tyres to the car.
The No.9 and No.3 cars are garaged simultaneously as the drama continues to unfold.
The gap from Kristensen to Minassian is 2:26 as they try to navigate the tricky conditions.
The track is in stark contrast in terms of water level. The track is soaked in the pits area but is almost dry down at Mulsanne corner.
The No.9 Peugeot is back underway after a brief spell in the garage.
The Mulsanne straight has rain falling there, and as Kristensen turns into Mulsanne corner ... yes, it is dry at the far corner of the circuit.

By: Geoff Creighton, Emlyn Hughes

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