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2hrs: Davies at the front

The second hour of the Le Mans 24 Hour race ended with the field behind the safety car and the paddock in shock as two of the Audi R8's were stranded in the gravel trap at the Porsche curves

With that misfortune hitting the Champion Audi and the second Audi UK entry, plus the earlier troubles that put the Team Goh car a lap down, things look fantastic at this point for the leading Audi, shared by Jamie Davies, Johnny Herbert and Guy Smith.

The two Audis will at the very best be spending some laps in the pits, with the McNish car having the most damage. After several minutes both of them were extricated from the trap and able to limp back to the pits under their own power.

The carnage meant that the Pescarolo-Judd of Soheil Ayari, Erik Comas and Benoit Treluyer is up into second position, ahead of the Team Goh Audi, still in the hands of Rinaldo Capello.

That also meant that Justin Wilson is now third in the Racing for Holland Dome-Judd, but the pitstop sequence may be giving a false picture at this stage.

Another car to have suffered in the second hour is the second Pescarolo-Judd, whch ran in the top ten in the opening laps. Sebastien Bourdais brought it into the garage saying that "the engine was not delivering." After some laps Nicolas Minassian took it back out, but it was in again shortly afterwards.

In GTS things have been comparatively stable. After Oliver Gavin leapt past the Ferraris at the first round of pitstops, he has held that position and maintained a growing advantage over the two Prodrive Ferraris. Tomas Enge survived a scare on the same oil that claimed the two Audis, but held on to second in class.

Davies/Herbert/Smith Audi R8 LM1 31 laps completed
Ayari/Comas/Treluyer Pescarolo-Judd LM1 30 laps
Katoh/Michigami/Fukuda Dome-Mugen LM1 30 laps
Coronel/Wilson/Firman Dome-Judd LM1 30 laps
Short/Barff/Barbosa Dallara-Judd LM1 30 laps
Ara/Capello/Kristensen Audi R8 LM1 30 laps
Lammers/Dyson/Kaneishi Dome-Judd LM1 30 laps
Frei/Gounon/Hancock Courage-AER LM2 30 laps
Biela/Kaffer/McNish Audi R8 LM1 29 laps
Lehto/Werner/Pirro Audi R8 LM1 29 laps
Wallace/Brabham/Shimoda Zytek Audi R8 LM1 29 laps
Gavin/Beretta/Magnussen Corvette GTS 29 laps
McRae/Rydell/Turner Ferrari 550 GTS 29 laps
Nielsen/Elgaard/Moller Lister LM1 29 laps
Enge/Kox/Menu Ferrari 550 GTS 28 laps
Andre/Leuenberger/Vanni Lola-Judd LM1 28 laps
Bouchut/Goueslard/Dupard Ferrari 550 GTS 28 laps
Bourdais/Blanchemain/Berville Panoz LM1 28 laps
Jeanette/Pickering/Derlot Courage-Willman LM2 28 laps
Field/Dayton/Connor Lola-Judd 28 laps
Maasen/Bergmeister/Long Porsche GT 27 laps
Hindery/Lieb/Rockenfeller Porsche GT 27 laps
Hezemans/Deletraz/Barde Ferrari 575 GTS 27 laps
Kelleners/Ortelli/Dumas Porsche GT 27 laps
Binnie/Field/Sutherland Lola-Judd LM2 27 laps
Rosa/van Merkstein/Caffi Porsche GT 27 laps
Bosch/Sullivan/Biagi Ferrari 575 GTS 27 laps
Terada/Roussel/Porta WR LM2 27 laps
Vasiliev/Fomenko/Nearn Porsche GT 26 laps
Alphand/Laveille/Almeras Porsche GT 26 laps
Burgess/Collin/Bagnall Porsche GT 26 laps
Donaldson/Fisken/Nielsen Porsche GT 26 laps
Newton/Erdos/Kinch Lola-MG LM1 26 laps
Berridge/Caine/Stockton TVR GT 26 laps
Warnock/Matthews/Daniels Porsche 26 laps
Maury-laribiere/Boulay/Besson Reynard-Lehman LM1 26 laps
Kurosawa/Nishizawa/Oriodo Porsche GT 26 laps
Belmondo/Gosselin/Saviozzi Courage-AER LM2 25 laps
Wilson/Montain/Hugenholtz Ferrari 360 GT 25 laps
Melo/Daoudi/de Fournoux Ferrari 360 GT 25 laps
Andrews/Lockie/Kumpen Lola-Caterpillar LM1 25 laps
Khan/Smith/Sugden Porsche GT 25 laps
Sharpe/Hyde/Cunningham Morgan 24 laps
Collard/Bourdais/Minassian Pescarolo-Judd LM1 24 laps
Fellows/O'Connell/Papis Corvette GTS 24 laps
Stirling/Lupberger/McGarrity Nasamax-Judd LM1 23 laps
Bouvet/Gommendy/Briere WR LM2 22 laps
Tomlinson/Greensall/Evans TVR GT 18 laps

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