LM24 H10: Kristensen takes command, puts Toyota one lap down

The Dane's ability to regularly lap below the 3m30s mark allowed him to gradually ease away from Stephane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima in the chasing TS030s.

Sarrazin, the quicker of the Toyota pair, remains within touching distance of the lead Audi, with Nakajima 35 seconds down the road.

The latter's #7 HYBRID has only stopped 11 times however, compared to 12 stops for the sister Toyota and 13 for the lead R18.

Lucas di Grassi now trails Nakajima by just over one lap, although like Kristensen he has been able to regularly lap faster than the two Toyotas through the 10th hour of racing.

Andrea Belicchi continues to lead the non-hybrid prototypes in fifth, three laps ahead of the sister Rebellion Lola currently being driven by Nicolas Prost.

Ricardo Gonzalez took over from Bertrand Baguette and kept the #35 OAK Morgan-Nissan at the head of the LMP2 standings, despite losing time in the pitlane at the end of the ninth hour.

A storming stint by Olivier Pla has brought the polesitting #24 OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan back into play however, with the Frenchman - into his second straight quadruple stint - just 33s away from reclaiming the class lead.

Pla's surge means Lucas Ordonez now sits third, half a minute ahead of fellow Zytek-Nissan driver Oliver Turvey.

The #43 Morand Morgan-Judd continues to be the highest-placed car devoid of Nissan power in eighth.

Across in GTE Pro Rob Bell extended his and the #99 Aston Martin squad's class lead, which now stands at just over 80s.

Marc Lieb has kept the #92 Manthey Porsche second, although his cause was aided when Darren Turner - able to run slightly longer stints in the #97 Vantage - went through the gravel at Arnage.

Patric Niederhauser had also gone off at the same spot earlier in the hour, while GTE Am class leader Gianluca Roda beached his car when he ran off at the Esses.

His #88 Proton Porsche dropped to fifth as a result, with Patrick Dempsey - taking over for the #77 team he co-owns - promoted into the lead.

POSITIONS AFTER 10 HOURS

Pos Cl      Car       Drivers                         Laps  Gap
 1. P1  #2  Audi      Kristensen/McNish/Duval         149   
 2. P1  #8  Toyota    Davidson/Sarrazin/Buemi         148   +     1 Lap
 3. P1  #7  Toyota    Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima          148   +   35.055s
 4. P1  #3  Audi      Gene/Jarvis/di Grassi           147   +    2 Laps
 5. P1  #13 Lola      Beche/Belicchi/Cheng            145   +    4 Laps
 6. P1  #12 Lola      Prost/Jani/Heidfeld             142   +    7 Laps
 7. P1  #21 HPD       Leventis/Kane/Watts             142   + 1m05.002s
 8. P2  #35 Morgan    Baguette/Plowman/Gonzalez       140   +    9 Laps
 9. P2  #24 Morgan    Pla/Brundle/H Hansson           140   +   33.839s
10. P2  #42 Zytek     Krumm/Mardenborough/Ordonez     139   +   10 Laps
11. P2  #38 Zytek     Dolan/Turvey/Luhr               139   +   22.629s
12. P2  #26 Oreca     Rusinov/Martin/Conway           139   + 1m45.517s
13. P2  #46 Oreca     Thiriet/Badey/Martin            139   + 2m09.179s
14. P2  #49 Oreca     P-Companc/Kaffer/Minassian      139   + 2m29.558s
15. P1  #1  Audi      Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler       138   +   11 Laps
16. P2  #43 Morgan    Gachnang/Mailleux/Lombard       137   +   12 Laps
17. P2  #32 Lotus     Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz        135   +   14 Laps
18. P2  #47 Morgan    Imperatori/Howson/Tung          135   +   53.590s
19. GTP #99 Aston     Makowiecki/Senna/Bell           135   + 1m26.804s
20. P2  #33 HPD       Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe       135   + 1m26.960s
21. GTP #97 Aston     Mucke/Turner/Dumbreck           134   +   15 Laps
22. GTP #92 Porsche   Lieb/Richard Lietz/Dumas        134   +    1.018s
23. GTP #91 Porsche   Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard      134   + 1m55.263s
24. P2  #30 Lola      Mowlem/Burgess/Hirschi          134   + 2m51.360s
25. P2  #48 Oreca     Hartley/Chandhok/Patterson      134   + 3m18.625s
26. GTP #51 Ferrari   Bruni/Fisichella/Malucelli      133   +   16 Laps
27. GTP #74 Corvette  Gavin/Milner/Westbrook          133   +   43.961s
28. GTP #71 Ferrari   Beretta/Kobayashi/Vilander      132   +   17 Laps
29. GTP #98 Aston     Dalla Lana/Lamy/Auberlen        132   +   15.014s
30. GTP #73 Corvette  Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor         132   + 2m35.919s
31. P2  #45 Morgan    Nicolet/Merlin/Mondolot         132   + 3m21.668s
32. P2  #34 Oreca     Frey/Niederhauser/Bleekemolen   131   +   18 Laps
33. P2  #36 Alpine    Ragues/Panciatici/Gommendy      130   +   19 Laps
34. GTA #55 Ferrari   Perazzini/O'Young/Case          130   +   10.295s
35. GTA #77 Porsche   Dempsey/Foster/Long             130   + 1m06.447s
36. GTA #76 Porsche   Narac/Vernay/Bourret            130   + 1m11.499s
37. P2  #41 Zytek     Rossi/K-Smith/Lux               130   + 2m05.443s
38. GTP #93 SRT       Wittmer/Kendall/Bomarito        130   + 3m20.589s
39. GTA #61 Ferrari   Gerber/Griffin/Cioci            129   +   20 Laps
40. GTA #88 Porsche   Ried/Roda/Ruberti               129   + 1m00.714s
41. P2  #40 Oreca     Dagoneau/Downs/Younessi         128   +   21 Laps
42. GTA #75 Porsche   Collard/Perrodo/Crubile         128   +   25.280s
43. GTA #50 Corvette  Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor         128   + 1m16.255s
44. GTP #53 SRT       Farnbacher/Goossens/Dalziel     128   + 1m58.512s
45. GTA #96 Aston     Goethe/Campbell-Walter/Hall     128   + 2m53.658s
46. GTP #66 Ferrari   Bertolini/Faisal/Qubaisi        127   +   22 Laps
47. GTA #67 Porsche   Gibon/Milesi/Henzler            127   + 1m54.437s
48. P2  #39 Lola      Porta/Brandela/Raffin           124   +   25 Laps
49. GTA #70 Corvette  MacNeil/Rodrigues/Dumas         124   +   40.697s
50. GTA #54 Ferrari   Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank        122   +   27 Laps
51. GTA #81 Ferrari   Potolicchio/Aguas/Bright        119   +   30 Laps
52. GTA #57 Ferrari   Krohn/Jonsson/Mediani           111   +   38 Laps
53. P2  #28 Lola      Giroix/Haezebrouck/Ihara        21    +  128 Laps
54. P2  #25 Oreca     Graves/Hamilton/Nakano          101       Retired
55. P2  #31 Lotus     Weeda/Rossiter/Bouchut          17        Retired
56. GTA #95 Aston     Simonsen/Nygaard/Poulsen        2         Retired