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WEC
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 76th Le Mans 24 Hours
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The No.7 leader dives in to the pits, using grass and gavel on the pit entry, for a clean of the windscreen and a tank of fuel. Gene returns to the fray, holding on to the lead.
Ricardo Zonta pits the No.9 Peugeot from third and the car is underway without changing driver.
The No.3 Audi comes into the pits for routine service. Mike Rockenfeller jumps out after a long stint and Lucas Luhr takes over the controls. Fuel and tyres taken this time and Luhr rejoins the race.
The No.8 Peugeot pits from sixth position. This is the recovering Sarrazin/Wurz/Lamy car that climbed up from 29th after gearbox problems earlier in the race.
Stephane Sarrazin hands over to Alex Wurz and the Austria driver rejoins the race, still in sixth, still relentlessly chasing down the top five. For several hours this has been the quickest car on the circuit. Before this latest pitstop it was running up to nine seconds faster per lap than the leading cars.
Stephane Sarrazin hands over to Alex Wurz and the Austria driver rejoins the race, still in sixth, still relentlessly chasing down the top five. For several hours this has been the quickest car on the circuit. Before this latest pitstop it was running up to nine seconds faster per lap than the leading cars.
Emanuele Pirro has taken over the No.1 Audi from Frank Biela.
The No.2 Audi in second place is due to stop at the end of the current lap. With the recent stop for Marc Gene in the leading Peugeot, the gap between them has come down to just under one minute.
That gap will grow again soon when the No.2 stops.
That gap will grow again soon when the No.2 stops.
The No.2 car stops after a four-stint run for Tom Kristensen. Allan McNish returns to the wheel for the first time since his opening run.
In LMGT2, the leading No.82 Ferrari F430 with Mika Salo aboard has just pitted from the class lead.
The No.77 Porshe is currently in the garage with a problem and has now slipped behind five Ferraris.
The No.77 Porshe is currently in the garage with a problem and has now slipped behind five Ferraris.
In GT1 the 009 Aston Martin is leading the class again, as the 009 and the No.64 Corvette continue to trade the lead during the pitstops. Darren Turner is at the wheel of the Aston now and he is 43 seconds ahead of the Corvette, which is currently piloted by Johnny O'Connell.
The third placed Aston 007 machine had closed up to within 87 seconds of the lead, but that car has just been into the pits - Andrea Piccini handing over to Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
The third placed Aston 007 machine had closed up to within 87 seconds of the lead, but that car has just been into the pits - Andrea Piccini handing over to Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
The LMP2 lead continues to be held by Jos Verstappen in the Van Merksteijn Porsche RS Spyder.
The Team Essex Spyder is over two minutes behind after the delay earlier with a punture.
The Team Essex Spyder is over two minutes behind after the delay earlier with a punture.
At the head of the race, the Peugeot No.7 leads as it has done since Christian Klien dropped the sister car in the gravel earlier. Marc Gene is still on board and is 2 minutes 18 seconds ahead of second-placed Allan Mcnish in the No.2 Audi R10.
Ricardo Zonta is driving the No.9 Peugeot, in third place, 2 minutes 06 seconds behind Mcnish.
The twin Audis No.3 and No.9 continue to run fourth and fifth, as they have done for what seems like hours. The gap between them has increased again since we last spoke about them - currently 22 seconds.
The sixth-placed No.8 Peugeot with Alex Wurz driving is still running extremely competitive laptimes - 3:23.139 on the latest lap, and is consistently running some eight seconds per lap faster than the fifth placed Audi.
The team Oreca Marmut Courage in seventh still leads the petrol-powered race, and is a full lap ahead of the all-Japanese Dome Judd in eighth.
Ricardo Zonta is driving the No.9 Peugeot, in third place, 2 minutes 06 seconds behind Mcnish.
The twin Audis No.3 and No.9 continue to run fourth and fifth, as they have done for what seems like hours. The gap between them has increased again since we last spoke about them - currently 22 seconds.
The sixth-placed No.8 Peugeot with Alex Wurz driving is still running extremely competitive laptimes - 3:23.139 on the latest lap, and is consistently running some eight seconds per lap faster than the fifth placed Audi.
The team Oreca Marmut Courage in seventh still leads the petrol-powered race, and is a full lap ahead of the all-Japanese Dome Judd in eighth.
The No.8 Peugeot dives in to the pit lane with oil smeared all over his windscreen. He is forced to pit and the team are scrubbing the fluid off the window.
The No.7 car has also visited the pits as oil appears to have been dropped around the circuit by the No.11 Dome.
The No.11 Dome Judd comes into the pits. It would appear this was the car that sprayed all the oil over the Peugeot on the last lap.
The Dome is now wheeled into the garage and urgent attention is paid to the car by the mechanics.
The last laptime noted on this car was over seven minutes. Yuji Tachikawa was at the wheel.
The Dome is now wheeled into the garage and urgent attention is paid to the car by the mechanics.
The last laptime noted on this car was over seven minutes. Yuji Tachikawa was at the wheel.
The No.19 Lola AER has problems once again. The car has been pushed back in to the garage and there is a lack of urgency as the team appear to be calling an end to their effort.
The problems for the Dome squad have promoted the first of the Pescarolo Judds into eighth place. That car is being driven by Christophe Tinseau currently, and they are just over three minutes behind the Oreca Courage as the race for Petrol honours continues.
Ricardo Zonta brings the No.9 Peugeot into the pits from third place. Tyres and fuel taken on this time, as well as a driver change - Zonta handing over to Franck Montagny.
In among the oil drama affecting the Dome and Peugeot cars, when the No.7 leading Peugeot pitted there was a driver change. Nicolas Minassian is now piloting the lead car after taking over from Marc Gene.
The No.11 Dome entry remains in the garage while work continues to rectify the oil leak.
They are slipping down the order and are currently in 11th position overall.
They are slipping down the order and are currently in 11th position overall.
The Dome crew continue their scramble to get the car back on track.
The team are taking the opportunity of time in the garage to service the brakes.
The team are taking the opportunity of time in the garage to service the brakes.
The safety car has been deployed.
Car No.6 is shown stopped in the Porsche Curves area.
This is the first safety car period in over nine hours of racing.
Marcel Fassler was at the wheel of the No.6 and it has been in heavy contact with the barriers.
On the circuit's CCTV cameras we can see the marshals trying to remove the car. Fassler was in ninth position at the time of the incident.
As the pack forms up behind the pace cars, a scramble is now on to take advantage by pitting under caution ...
The leading No.7 Peugeot pits under the safety car. Fuel is taken, no driver change and Minassian gets away.
Further CCTV pictures show Marcel Fassler being escorted into an ambulance. The medical car is already down there at the Porsche curves, and this looks like it could be a lengthy safety car period.
The No.5 Oreca Courage has been wheeled in to the garage as efforts continue to clean-up the crash of the sister car.
Fassler was carried into the ambulance on a stretcher and was seen to be moving, but visibly very shaken.
The No.9 Peugeot is next to pit.
The No.9 is in now and the crew are clearing rubbish out of the radiators. The car rejoins with Montagny still on board.
The No.5 has is back out of the garage and heads off in to the night to find a snake of cars behind a safety car.
Further CCTV footage from the circuit's security cameras show the No.6 Courage now being lifted away from the scene of the crash at the Porsche curves.
The No.63 Ron Fellows Corvette had retaken the lead of the GT1 category, but has just been into the pits to fuel up. No driver change and Fellows rejoined the train of cars.
The clutch was fixed on the No.5 during that spell in the garage. The autosport.com news team in Le Mans also tell us that the No.77 Porsche is struggling with gearbox trouble and has fallen way behind the LMGT2 leaders.
The two safety cars that are controlling the field remain on track. Meantime the crashed Courage No.6 has been removed from harms' way and the race should resume soon.
The LMGT2 leader, No.82 with Mika Salo at the wheel, is taking advantage of the safety car to have the front brakes serviced on the Ferrari. He is away once again but gets held at the pit exit lights while the pack of cars stream by.
Work continues on the No.11 Dome Judd. The car is now up on jack stands as the team continue to investigate the huge loss of oil that forced the car in to the garage.
We are nearing the end of the only safety car period so far in the race. The lights on the roof of the controlling vehicle change to green, meaning that we should be under racing conditions again soon.
By: Geoff Creighton, Emlyn Hughes
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