Le Mans 24 Hours 16th hour: Lotterer's Audi e-tron storms away in lead
Andre Lotterer stretched the #1 Audi e-tron's Le Mans 24 Hours lead further still as he set a rapid pace through the 16th hour
Although pitting for tyres and fuel while the chasing #2 e-tron only took on fuel took a little out of Lotterer's advantage, his string of 3m27s laps in the early-morning sunshine meant his lead over team-mate Dindo Capello stood at over a minute and a half at the end of the hour.
Audi still continues to hunt for a top-four sweep, with the #4 Audi running solidly third and the #3 ultra taking 10s-15s per lap out of the fourth-placed Rebellion Lola-Toyota, but yet to get back on the same lap as the top LMP1 privateer.
The main incidents of the hour came in GTE Pro, where the AF Corse Ferrari's lead was bolstered by a right rear puncture for the Luxury Ferrari. Aston Martin is now out of contention after the flying Stefan Mucke, who was splitting the Ferraris, went off at Indianapolis. Although the car sustained relatively little damage considering the speed of the incident and force of image with the barriers, it still lost four laps getting repairs in the garage.
In the other classes, Pecom and Pierre Kaffer are keeping the LMP2-leading Starworks team on the its toes and Larbre's Corvette retains the GTE Am edge over the Imsa Porsche.
NOTES
- Mucke damages the #97 Aston Martin in a crash at Indianapolis, dropping it away from GTE Pro leaders
- The #48 ORECA-Nissan driven by Brendon Hartley has retired after contact with the Status Lola
- Faisal spins the #75 Porsche at Porsche Curves, hitting the wall to bring the safety car out
- Marcel Fassler spins the #1 Audi e-tron at the Porsche curves, handing the lead to McNish
- 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 16 HOURS Pos Car Drivers Class Laps Gap 1. #1 Audi Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer LMP1 249 2. #2 Audi McNish/Capello/Kristensen LMP1 248 + 1 Lap 3. #4 Audi Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller LMP1 247 + 2 Laps 4. #12 Lola Prost/Heidfeld/Jani LMP1 241 + 8 Laps 5. #3 Audi Gene/Dumas/Duval LMP1 240 + 9 Laps 6. #13 Lola Belicchi/Bleekemolen/Primat LMP1 235 + 14 Laps 7. #22 HPD Brabham/Dumbreck/Chandhok LMP1 233 + 16 Laps 8. #44 HPD Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith LMP2 232 + 17 Laps 9. #49 Oreca Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari LMP2 232 + 51.689s 10. #26 Oreca Ragues/Panciatici/Rusinov LMP2 232 + 2m54.414s 11. #46 Oreca Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau LMP2 231 + 18 Laps 12. #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts LMP1 231 + 1m33.846s 13. #41 Zytek Zugel/Julian/Gonzalez LMP2 229 + 20 Laps 14. #33 HPD Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz LMP2 229 + 36.796s 15. #25 Oreca Martin/Charouz/Graves LMP2 229 + 57.625s 16. #42 Zytek Brundle/Brundle/Ordonez LMP2 225 + 24 Laps 17. #35 Morgan H Hansson/Leinders/Martin LMP2 224 + 25 Laps 18. #45 Oreca Briere/Nakano/Petersen LMP2 223 + 26 Laps 19. #51 Ferrari Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander GTEP 221 + 28 Laps 20. #15 OAK Montagny/Kraihamer/Baguette LMP1 219 + 30 Laps 21. #23 Oreca Tresson/Mailleux/Lombard LMP2 219 + 5m39.382s 22. #59 Ferrari Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher GTEP 219 + 6m04.578s 23. #30 Lola Sims/Buurman/Iannetta LMP2 217 + 32 Laps 24. #97 Aston Mucke/Fernandez/Turner GTEP 217 + 56.725s 25. #71 Ferrari Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci GTEP 217 + 1m31.408s 26. #67 Porsche Pons/Armindo/Narac GTEA 215 + 34 Laps 27. #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy GTEA 215 + 36.599s 28. #38 Zytek Hancock/Dolan/Kurosawa LMP2 214 + 35 Laps 29. #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor GTEP 214 + 3m04.266s 30. #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo GTEA 212 + 37 Laps 31. #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti GTEA 210 + 39 Laps 32. #66 Ferrari Walker/Cocker/Wills GTEP 204 + 45 Laps 33. #70 Corvette Bourret/Gibon/Belloc GTEA 204 + 36m02.839s 34. #40 Oreca Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry LMP2 204 + 36m30.890s 35. #79 Porsche Neiman/Pumpelly/Pilet GTEA 201 + 48 Laps 36. #55 Porsche Daniels/Palttala/Camathias GTEA 200 + 49 Laps 37. #43 Norma Rosier/Haezebrouck/Thirion LMP2 200 + 3m23.920s 38. #61 Ferrari Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers GTEA 199 + 50 Laps 39. #74 Corvette Gavin/Westbrook/Milner GTEP 186 + 63 Laps 40. #83 Ferrari Rodrigues/Illiano/Ferte GTEA 185 + 64 Laps 41. #17 Dome Minassian/Bourdais/Ara LMP1 173 + 76 Laps 42. #48 Oreca Firth/Hartley/Hughes LMP2 196 + 53 Laps 43. #77 Porsche Lietz/Lieb/Henzler GTEP 184 + 65 Laps 44. #75 Porsche al Faisal/Curtis/Edwards GTEA 180 + 69 Laps 45. #31 Lola Holzer/Schultis/Moro LMP2 155 + 94 Laps 46. #58 Ferrari Ehret/Jeannette/Montecalvo GTEA 146 + 103 Laps 47. #24 Morgan Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla LMP2 139 + 110 Laps 48. #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima LMP1 134 + 115 Laps 49. #80 Porsche Bergmeister/Long/Holzer GTEP 114 + 135 Laps 50. #28 Lola Giroix/Badey/Johansson LMP2 92 + 157 Laps 51. #8 Toyota Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin LMP1 82 + 167 Laps 52. #0 DeltaWing Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama CDNT 75 + 174 Laps 53. #81 Ferrari Perazzini/Cadei/Griffin GTEA 70 + 179 Laps 54. #99 Aston Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen GTEA 31 + 218 Laps 55. #16 Pescarolo Collard/Bouillon/Hall LMP1 20 + 229 Laps 56. #29 Lola Ihara/Deletraz/Rostan LMP2 17 + 232 Laps
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