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LM24 H13: Fassler responds to McNish pressure in battle for lead between Audis

Marcel Fassler responded to a charge from Allan McNish as the two Audi e-tron quattros pulled clear in the fight for the lead of the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours

McNish, taking over in the #2 R18 despite Dindo Capello originally being slated for the stint, regularly dipped below the 3m30s mark as he brought the gap to Fassler down below 80 seconds.

Fassler however improved his own pace in response to the McNish pressure, stabilising the gap somewhat at the close of the 13th hour.

The #R18 ultra also remains in the hunt, Oliver Jarvis keeping within two laps of Fassler.

The sister #3 ultra meanwhile managed to move up into fifth and split the two Rebellion Lolas. Neel Jani remained fourth in the #12 B12, while Jeroen Bleekemolen was fifth at the wheel of the sister #13.

The pace continues to be furious across in LMP2, with three cars - the Starworks Motorsport HPD and Pecom and Signature ORECA-Nissans - currently above the JRM and Strakka LMP1 entries.

Tom Kimber-Smith leads the class in the #44 HPD, ahead of Soheil Ayari and Roman Rusinov.

Ferrari's progress at the head of the GTE Pro field has been aided by a cocktail of maladies for Corvette, with the #73 suffering a 25-minute stop and the #74 - which had led for much of the first half - still yet to go out.

AF Corse's Toni Vilander currently holds a two minute advantage over Jaime Melo in the Luxury Racing 458, with Wolf Henzler and Darren Turner regularly swapping third in class in their respective Felbermayr Porsche and Aston Martin Vantage.

Turner has already stopped 15 times in the race, four more than Vilander.

GTE Am continues to be dominated by the IMSA Porsche 911 and Larbre Corvette. Raymond Narac in the #67 machine heads Pedro Lamy by just over two minutes.

NOTES

- Dumas tipped into a spin while passing traffic at Ford chicane

- Davidson confirms he sustained a broken back as a result of huge earlier crash

- Westbrook loses a wheel, and with it the lead of the GTE Pro class

- Peter Dumbreck suffers blow-out in the #22 JRM HPD

- Spin at Ford chicane for #21 Strakka HPD

- Problems for the #7 Toyota following collision with DeltaWing at the restart

- #29 Gulf Racing Lola B12 the first official retirement

- #40 hit with a two-minute stop and go penalty for second pitlane speeding offence

- 30s pit stop penalties for #40 and #49 LMP2s for speeding in pitlane

- Audi hits early niggles, with Tom Kristensen the third unexpected delay for the marque across its four cars

- Early GTE Pro scrap between Corvette, Aston Martin and Ferrari

- #99 Aston Martin Vantage suffers early misfire and then retires with damage

POSITIONS AFTER 13 HOURS

Pos Car            Drivers                      Class  Laps  Gap
 1. #1  Audi       Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer    LMP1   204   
 2. #2  Audi       McNish/Capello/Kristensen    LMP1   204   + 2m16.644s
 3. #4  Audi       Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller LMP1   202   +    2 Laps
 4. #12 Lola       Prost/Heidfeld/Jani          LMP1   198   +    6 Laps
 5. #3  Audi       Gene/Dumas/Duval             LMP1   195   +    9 Laps
 6. #13 Lola       Belicchi/Bleekemolen/Primat  LMP1   195   +   45.637s
 7. #44 HPD        Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith  LMP2   191   +   13 Laps
 8. #49 Oreca      Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari   LMP2   190   +   14 Laps
 9. #26 Oreca      Ragues/Panciatici/Rusinov    LMP2   190   +   26.326s
10. #22 HPD        Brabham/Dumbreck/Chandhok    LMP1   190   +   49.807s
11. #21 HPD        Leventis/Kane/Watts          LMP1   190   + 1m23.683s
12. #46 Oreca      Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau        LMP2   189   +   15 Laps
13. #23 Oreca      Tresson/Mailleux/Lombard     LMP2   189   + 1m54.110s
14. #48 Oreca      Firth/Hartley/Hughes         LMP2   189   + 2m58.520s
15. #33 HPD        Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz          LMP2   188   +   16 Laps
16. #41 Zytek      Zugel/Julian/Gonzalez        LMP2   188   + 1m03.488s
17. #25 Oreca      Martin/Charouz/Graves        LMP2   187   +   17 Laps
18. #42 Zytek      Brundle/Brundle/Ordonez      LMP2   186   +   18 Laps
19. #38 Zytek      Hancock/Dolan/Kurosawa       LMP2   183   +   21 Laps
20. #45 Oreca      Briere/Nakano/Petersen       LMP2   183   + 6m46.100s
21. #35 Morgan     H Hansson/Leinders/Martin    LMP2   182   +   22 Laps
22. #51 Ferrari    Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander    GTEP   181   +   23 Laps
23. #59 Ferrari    Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher   GTEP   181   + 2m10.687s
24. #97 Aston      Mucke/Fernandez/Turner       GTEP   180   +   24 Laps
25. #77 Porsche    Lietz/Lieb/Henzler           GTEP   180   +   36.080s
26. #15 OAK        Montagny/Kraihamer/Baguette  LMP1   179   +   25 Laps
27. #30 Lola       Sims/Buurman/Iannetta        LMP2   178   +   26 Laps
28. #71 Ferrari    Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci      GTEP   177   +   27 Laps
29. #67 Porsche    Pons/Armindo/Narac           GTEA   177   + 2m27.641s
30. #50 Corvette   Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy        GTEA   176   +   28 Laps
31. #66 Ferrari    Walker/Cocker/Wills          GTEP   176   + 2m57.752s
32. #73 Corvette   Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor      GTEP   175   +   29 Laps
33. #57 Ferrari    Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo         GTEA   174   +   30 Laps
34. #17 Dome       Minassian/Bourdais/Ara       LMP1   173   +   31 Laps
35. #61 Ferrari    Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers       GTEA   173   +   14.211s
36. #88 Porsche    Ried/Roda/Ruberti            GTEA   171   +   33 Laps
37. #40 Oreca      Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry        LMP2   170   +   34 Laps
38. #75 Porsche    al Faisal/Curtis/Edwards     GTEA   169   +   35 Laps
39. #70 Corvette   Bourret/Gibon/Belloc         GTEA   168   +   36 Laps
40. #55 Porsche    Daniels/Palttala/Camathias   GTEA   163   +   41 Laps
41. #43 Norma      Rosier/Haezebrouck/Thirion   LMP2   163   +   22.394s
42. #79 Porsche    Neiman/Pumpelly/Pilet        GTEA   162   +   42 Laps
43. #74 Corvette   Gavin/Westbrook/Milner       GTEP   156   +   48 Laps
44. #31 Lola       Holzer/Schultis/Moro         LMP2   155   +   49 Laps
45. #83 Ferrari    Rodrigues/Illiano/Ferte      GTEA   151   +   53 Laps
46. #58 Ferrari    Ehret/Jeannette/Montecalvo   GTEA   146   +   58 Laps
47. #24 Morgan     Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla           LMP2   139   +   65 Laps
48. #7  Toyota     Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima       LMP1   134   +   70 Laps
49. #80 Porsche    Bergmeister/Long/Holzer      GTEP   114   +   90 Laps
50. #28 Lola       Giroix/Badey/Johansson       LMP2   92    +  112 Laps
51. #8  Toyota     Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin      LMP1   82    +  122 Laps
52. #0  DeltaWing  Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama    CDNT   75    +  129 Laps
53. #81 Ferrari    Perazzini/Cadei/Griffin      GTEA   70    +  134 Laps
54. #99 Aston      Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen     GTEA   31    +  173 Laps
55. #16 Pescarolo  Collard/Bouillon/Hall        LMP1   20    +  184 Laps
56. #29 Lola       Ihara/Deletraz/Rostan        LMP2   17    +  187 Laps

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