13hrs: Herbert rolls on

Smith completed the end of a triple-stint before handing over to team-mate Herbert, who currently leads Ara by just over a lap.

"It's pretty hard work out there," said Smith. "We've got a lot of understeer. The first two stints are great, but we get a lot of understeer on the third stint because the tyres are going off and it's no fun. It's looking good at the moment, but there's a long way to go. It's just a question of hanging in there, really."

The rest of the top five continue to run in order, with Soheil Ayari leading the Rollcentre Dallara and Emanuelle Pirro's Champion Audi.

Tomas Enge runs sixth overall and leads the GTS class in his Prodrive Ferrari 550, holding a six-lap advantage over the Chevrolet Corvette C5-R of Olivier Beretta. The works Corvette lost ground in the last hour when Oliver Gavin went off and damaged the front of the car.

"I missed my braking point for the first part of the chicane and went off at high-speed," said Gavin. "I made quite a mess of it. It was my mistake, and I feel really sorry for the boys."

Another GTS machine to hit trouble is the second Prodrive Ferrari of Darren Turner, Richard Rydell and Colin McRae. The machine has spent much of the last hour in the pits, and has dropped down to fifth in class.

"It's the gearbox," said Turner. "We had problems with it for a while and had to come in and get it sorted. It's frustrating because the car's very fast, but we've spent too much time in the pits. We can still get a podium if we try."

The Barron Connor Ferrari 575 GTC is still in the pits, with the team forced to replace its suspension uprights following its highly unusual brake fire.

Stephane Ortelli continues to lead the way in the GT class in the Friesinger Porsche 911, while the Intersport Racing Lola-Judd leads an increasingly decimated LM2 field.

Davies/Herbert/Smith Audi R8 LM1 203 laps completed
Ara/Capello/Kristensen Audi R8 LM1 202 laps
Ayari/Comas/Treluyer Pescarolo-Judd LM1 197 laps
Short/Barff/Barbosa Dallara-Judd LM1 196 laps
Lehto/Werner/Pirro Audi R8 LM1 195 laps
Katoh/Michigami/Fukuda Dome-Mugen LM1 191 laps
Enge/Kox/Menu Ferrari 550 GTS 188 laps
Collard/Bourdais/Minassian Pescarolo-Judd LM1 187 laps
Gavin/Beretta/Magnussen Corvette GTS 182 laps
Coronel/Wilson/Firman Dome-Judd LM1 182 laps
Andre/Leuenberger/Vanni Lola-Judd LM1 182 laps
Biela/Kaffer/McNish Audi R8 LM1 177 laps
Fellows/O'Connell/Papis Corvette GTS 177 laps
Kelleners/Ortelli/Dumas Porsche GT 176 laps
Maasen/Bergmeister/Long Porsche GT 174 laps
Hindery/Lieb/Rockenfeller Porsche GT 173 laps
Kurosawa/Nishizawa/Oriodo Porsche GT 173 laps
Lammers/Dyson/Kaneishi Dome-Judd LM1 173 laps
Stirling/Lupberger/McGarrity Nasamax-Judd LM1 173 laps
Alphand/Laveille/Almeras Porsche GT 171 laps
Burgess/Collin/Bagnall Porsche GT 170 laps
McRae/Rydell/Turner Ferrari 550 GTS 169 laps
Nielsen/Elgaard/Moller Lister LM1 169 laps
Bouchut/Goueslard/Dupard Ferrari 550 GTS 169 laps
Berridge/Caine/Stockton TVR GT 168 laps
Wilson/Montain/Hugenholtz Ferrari 360 GT 167 laps
Donaldson/Fisken/Nielsen Porsche GT 167 laps
Bosch/Sullivan/Biagi Ferrari 575 GTS 163 laps
Hezemans/Deletraz/Barde Ferrari 575 GTS 153 laps
Khan/Smith/Sugden Porsche GT 162 laps
Newton/Erdos/Kinch Lola-MG LM1 155 laps
Tomlinson/Greensall/Evans TVR GT 154 laps
Binnie/Field/Sutherland Lola-Judd LM2 150 laps
Terada/Roussel/Porta WR LM2 125 laps
Sharpe/Hyde/Cunningham Morgan GT 120 laps
Bouvet/Gommendy/Briere WR LM2 68 laps
Wallace/Brabham/Shimoda Zytek LM1 167 laps
Rosa/van Merkstein/Caffi Porsche GT 146 laps
Melo/Daoudi/de Fournoux Ferrari 360 GT 133 laps
Frei/Gounon/Hancock Courage-AER LM2 127 laps
Jeanette/Pickering/Derlot Courage-Willman LM2 124 laps
Maurylaribiere/Boulay/Besson Reynard-Lehman LM1 122 laps
Belmondo/Gosselin/Saviozzi Courage-AER LM2 80 laps
Vasiliev/Fomenko/Nearn Porsche GT 65 laps
Bourdais/Blanchemain/Berville Panoz LM1 54 laps
Andrews/Lockie/Kumpen Lola-Caterpillar LM1 35 laps
Field/Dayton/Connor Lola-Judd LM1 29 laps
Warnock/Matthews/Daniels Porsche 27 laps