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24 Hours of Le Mans
The 76th Le Mans 24 Hours
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The delayed No.8 Peugeot pits for a routine stop and Pedro Lamy continues to chase the petrol cars ahead of him.
The No.1 Audi is next to stop, with Marco Werner taking over in the fifth-place car.
The No.7 Peugeot has had a spin at the exit of the Ford Chicane. Nicolas Minassian lost the car over the kerbs and had a quick but harmeless loop around on to the pit straight.
The pace of the front runners has dropped a touch over recent laps. The top 5 are running laps in and around the 3:30 mark.
Meantime the No.8 Peugeot is back to its searing pace in comparison with those at the top of the order. Pedro Lamy's last lap was timed at 3:27 and that car is once again the quickest on the track and closing down the Team Oreca Marmut car in P7 at a rate of over eight seconds per lap.
Meantime the No.8 Peugeot is back to its searing pace in comparison with those at the top of the order. Pedro Lamy's last lap was timed at 3:27 and that car is once again the quickest on the track and closing down the Team Oreca Marmut car in P7 at a rate of over eight seconds per lap.
Allan McNish, fresh from a run in the No.2 Audi, has spoken with the autosort.com team at the track, telling them that the track is now cleaning up well after the earlier problems with oil on the circuit.
The No.12 Charouz Lola has been forced to retire with a broken piston in the Judd engine, taking the total retirements to 11.
The No.12 Charouz Lola has been forced to retire with a broken piston in the Judd engine, taking the total retirements to 11.
In the Peugeot No.7 pit we can see Jacques Villeneuve is awake, alert and watching the action intently as he is receiving information from his team. It is likely that the French-Canadaian will get another stint in the car soon.
In the 2007 event, at this time of night Villeneuve successfully completed a reasonably swift triple stint. It is possible that Peugeot will put Villeneuve in the car for the same length of time this year too.
In the 2007 event, at this time of night Villeneuve successfully completed a reasonably swift triple stint. It is possible that Peugeot will put Villeneuve in the car for the same length of time this year too.
The leading GT1 car - the 009 Aston Martin DBR9 comes into the pits for regular service. Darren Turner was in the car and had increased the gap over the No.63 Corvette to around 45 seconds before the stop.
Meanwhile in LMP2, the battle is hotting up with Sascha Maassen in the Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder closing in on the Van Merksteijn machine with Jeroen Bleekemolen at the wheel.
David Brabham has now taken the wheel of the 009 Aston, Darren Turner having vacated the chair, as the No.63 Corvette now enters pitlane.
Jan Magnussen stays inside the yellow machine, takes on fuel and tyres. The Corvette briefly took over the lead in class of course after the 009 Aston pitted, but now the status quo is resumed as the Aston retakes the top spot.
Jan Magnussen stays inside the yellow machine, takes on fuel and tyres. The Corvette briefly took over the lead in class of course after the 009 Aston pitted, but now the status quo is resumed as the Aston retakes the top spot.
In LMGT2, the No.82 Ferrari with Gianmaria Bruni continues to hold over a lap in the lead over the No.96 F430.
The No.3 Audi comes into the pitlane, and the pitbox is obstructed by one of the Ferraris that is located in the box directly behind the Audi stable. The machanics have to push the car back before they can give it the regular service.
Alexandre Premat stays in the car and gets away without too much trouble.
Alexandre Premat stays in the car and gets away without too much trouble.
The leading car comes into the pits. The No.7 Peugeot has maintained a two minute advantage over the No.2 Audi.
Nicolas Minassian climbs out and Jacques Villeneuve gets into the car. New tyres are taken, a tank of gas and the Canadian takes the No.7 into the night.
Nicolas Minassian climbs out and Jacques Villeneuve gets into the car. New tyres are taken, a tank of gas and the Canadian takes the No.7 into the night.
The No.9 Peugeot has been in for service, continuing in third with Christian Klien at the wheel.
Through the darkness the cameras focus as best as possible on the No.44 Kruse Schiller Motorsport entry, which is steaming away merrily at the side of the track in the Mulsanne corner area.
Jean de Pourtales was in the car at the time. This is the car that Hideki Noda comprehensively smashed when he suffered that horrific airborne incident on Wednesday night in qualifying.
Jean de Pourtales was in the car at the time. This is the car that Hideki Noda comprehensively smashed when he suffered that horrific airborne incident on Wednesday night in qualifying.
The No.2 Audi pits, with Dindo Capello continuing for another stint.
At the front the Peugeot No.7 continues to lead, but the pace has unsurprisingly dropped off since the arrival of Jacques Villeneuve in the cockpit. His most recent lap was a 3:40, with the No.2 Audi in second running 3:29s before their latest pitstop.
The No.1 Audi is the next visitor to pit late. Marco Werner stays in the car and takes fuel only.
In GT1 David Brabham continues to lead in the 009 Aston Martin. The gap to the No.63 Corvette now stands at 32 seconds with Jan Magnussen still on board.
The 007 Aston Martin lies third in class, a lap down on the sister car. The No.64 Corvette with Max Papis at the wheel is maintaining fourth position in class, a further lap adrift.
The 007 Aston Martin lies third in class, a lap down on the sister car. The No.64 Corvette with Max Papis at the wheel is maintaining fourth position in class, a further lap adrift.
Pedro Lamy in the No.8 Peugeot is the fastest car on the track at the moment. He is rapidly closing in on the Courage-Oreca for seventh.
At the front of the field the Villeneuve pace is having the predictable effect on the race.
Rinaldo Capello in the second placed Audi No.2 car is lapping around three seconds per lap quicker than the No.7 Peugeot.
The gap is gradually coming down - 2 minutes 48 seconds.
Rinaldo Capello in the second placed Audi No.2 car is lapping around three seconds per lap quicker than the No.7 Peugeot.
The gap is gradually coming down - 2 minutes 48 seconds.
Meanwhile in GT1 the 009 Aston Martin in 15th position overall leads the class, with the gap to the No.63 Corvette remaining static at around 33 seconds.
The Lola Aston Martin, No.10, is once again on form after a number of garage visits. Jan Charouz is currently at the wheel, and the car is up to 13th overall.
The Audi garage are ready to receive their next stopping car, the No.3 of Alexandre Premat from fourth overall.
Alexandre Premat takes fuel and tyres and is waved back out into the darkness.
We tick through the half-way stage of the 24 Heures du Mans.
The No.7 Peugeot 908 HDi driven by Jacques Villeneuve at the moment leads the race by a decreasing margin over the No.2 Audi (Rinaldo Capello) . The Audi is consistently quicker on the circuit, to the tune of four seconds per lap.
The No.9 Peugeot with Christian Klien at the controls lies third, with the No.3 Audi in fourth. The No.1 Audi in fifth place had been running in close company with the No.3, but there is now a one lap difference between them.
The No.17 Pescarolo Sport entry runs in sixth position, almost six laps behind the fifth-placed car. However they comfortably lead the race for the Petrol honours.
The recovering No.8 Peugeot of Pedro Lamy is homing in on that sixth position and trails the Pescarolo Judd by 2 minutes 39 seconds.
The No.7 Peugeot 908 HDi driven by Jacques Villeneuve at the moment leads the race by a decreasing margin over the No.2 Audi (Rinaldo Capello) . The Audi is consistently quicker on the circuit, to the tune of four seconds per lap.
The No.9 Peugeot with Christian Klien at the controls lies third, with the No.3 Audi in fourth. The No.1 Audi in fifth place had been running in close company with the No.3, but there is now a one lap difference between them.
The No.17 Pescarolo Sport entry runs in sixth position, almost six laps behind the fifth-placed car. However they comfortably lead the race for the Petrol honours.
The recovering No.8 Peugeot of Pedro Lamy is homing in on that sixth position and trails the Pescarolo Judd by 2 minutes 39 seconds.
It is pitstop time for the GT1 leaders again. The 007 Aston Martin held a lead of 34 seconds over the No.63 Corvette before this latest round of stops.
When the stops are completed and the order sorts itself out we will update the latest positions in this tight battle.
When the stops are completed and the order sorts itself out we will update the latest positions in this tight battle.
The No.24 Terramos Courage has been wheeled back on to the pit lane after a spell in the garage.
The No.9 Peugeot pits from the third position. Christian Klien stays in the car, takes on fuel only and he rejoins.
Peter van Merksteijn is back at the wheel of his LMP2-leading Porsche RS Spyder. They currently have a two-and-a-half minute gap over the Team Essex car.
The race leader pits in the No.7 Peugeot. Jacques Villeneuve stays in the car, takes on a tank of gas, keeps the same tyres on the car and he's back out on the racetrack.
The No.8 car comes in and it isn't routine service for the car that has been niggled by problems all race. The seventh-placed car is now wheeled into the garage with yet another mechanical problem.
In the Peugeot pit steam can be seen eminating from the No.8 car. The mechanics wheel it back out into the pitlane anyway and send it back out onto the track.
The autosport.com news team in Le Mans tell us that the No.31 Team Essex car has a misfire. The team have pitted the Porsche RS Spyder to download details from the ECU for analysis.
The eighth-placed Team Oreca Matmut car was only 90 seconds behind the No.8 before the lengthy pitstop, and will have moved into seventh.
The gap closes still further at the head of the race. The leading No.7 Peugeot still with Villeneuve in the cockpit has seen its lead cut to 1 minute 47 seconds after the pitstop.
More news from autosport.com's team in the pits - the No.26 Radical has been garaged for the team to investigate cooling problems.
Rinaldo Capello brings the No.2 Audi into the pits now for its routine stop. The gap had closed to well under two minutes before this stop. Rinaldo stays in the car while the going is good and continues the chase of the leader.
Marco Werner brings the fifth-placed Audi No.1 into the pits. Tyres are take as well as a full tank of gas. Werner stays in the car and he gets away.
Stephane Sarrazin demonstrates that his No.8 Peugeot has great pace when it is not visiting the garage. The Frenchman has flown round in 3:21.774 as once again they are playing catch up on the leading five cars.
The No.90 Farnbacher Ferrari comes into the pits with mechanical problems in the form of a loose undertray. The mechanics will repair the car quickly and it should be back in action soon.
By: Geoff Creighton, Emlyn Hughes
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