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The Team Goh Audi still leads Le Mans with Japanese driver Seiji Ara at the wheel as the race passes the 22 hour mark, but his lead is being cut down significantly as the Audi Team Veloqx R8 gives chase, setting the race up for a grandstand finish.
Jamie Davies drove brilliantly in his final stint, consistently lapping two seconds quicker than the lead car. He reduced the lead to just over 50s before handing over to former winner Johnny Herbert who will continue the pursuit to the flag. It appears that Ara will also now remain in the lead car to the finish.
Herbert's task is not an easy one and the all-British crew will be hoping that the Goh car trips up. But Tom Kristensen is waiting in the wings should the leaders feel the need to up their pace in the final two hours.
The Champion Audi, in the hands of Emanuele Pirro, is now running in a safe third place ahead of the Pescarolo C60 which has had a brilliant run to fourth. Pierre Kaffer is running fifth in the sister Veloqx R8.
The battle for the GTS lead seems to have been settled in favour of the factory Corvettes as the leading Prodrive Ferrari hit major problems in this hour. Alain Menu brought the Maranello 550 in to change the front splitter damaged after Enge's puncture. This however did not solve the car's handling problems and more work was needed on the underbody.
Enge then returned to the track again only to crash on his outlap at Indianapolis damaging the front-end again. The car has now dropped to fourth behind Oliver Gavin's leading Corvette, the sister C5-R in the hands of Max Papis and the other Prodrive car being driven by Rickard Rydell.
Mixed in among the GTS cars running in the top ten are both Racing For Holland Domes that have suffered so many technical problems during this race. Katsumoto Kaneishi is running seventh overall while team-mate Justin Wilson is ninth.
Jorg Bermeister seems to be cruising towards victory in the GT class for the White Lightning Porsche team. The Choroq Team Porsche has inherited second place in the class after Stephane Ortelli's Freisinger 911 GT3 developed a misfire and has slipped back to third.
Le Mans 24 Hours, Positions after 22 hours
Pos Drivers Car Class Time
1 Ara/Capello/Kristensen Audi R8 LM1 346 laps completed
2 Davies/Herbert/Smith Audi R8 LM1 +52.377s
3 Lehto/Werner/Pirro Audi R8 LM1 336 laps
4 Ayari/Comas/Treluyer Pescarolo-Judd LM1 331 laps
5 Biela/Kaffer/McNish Audi R8 LM1 317 laps
6 Gavin/Beretta/Magnussen Corvette GTS 315 laps
7 Lammers/Dyson/Kaneishi Dome-Judd LM1 210 laps
8 Fellows/O'Connell/Papis Corvette GTS 308 laps
9 Enge/Kox/Menu Ferrari 550 GTS 305 laps
10 Coronel/Wilson/Firman Dome-Judd LM1 302 laps
11 McRae/Rydell/Turner Ferrari 550 GTS 300 laps
12 Maasen/Bergmeister/Long Porsche GT 299 laps
13 Kurosawa/Nishizawa/Oriodo Porsche GT 294 laps
14 Kelleners/Ortelli/Dumas Porsche GT 292 laps
15 Burgess/Collin/Bagnall Porsche GT 290 laps
16 Alphand/Laveille/Almeras Porsche GT 289 laps
17 Bouchut/Goueslard/Dupard Ferrari 550 GTS 289 laps
18 Donaldson/Fisken/Nielsen Porsche GT 287 laps
19 Andre/Leuenberger/Vanni Lola-Judd LM1 286 laps
20 Stirling/Lupberger/McGarrity Nasamax-Judd LM1 285 laps
21 Wilson/Montain/Hugenholtz Ferrari 360 GT 283 laps
22 Berridge/Caine/Stockton TVR GT 277 laps
23 Khan/Smith/Sugden Porsche GT 267 laps
24 Tomlinson/Greensall/Evans TVR GT 265 laps
25 Binnie/Field/Sutherland Lola-Judd LM2 260 laps
26 Newton/Erdos/Kinch Lola-MG LM1 256 laps
27 Nielsen/Elgaard/Moller Lister LM1 256 laps
28 Terada/Roussel/Porta WR LM2 244 laps
29 Sharpe/Hyde/Cunningham Morgan GT 200 laps
Retired Collard/Bourdais/Minassian Pescarolo-Judd LM1 282 laps
Retired Short/Barff/Barbosa Dallara-Judd LM1 230 laps
Retired Hindery/Lieb/Rockenfeller Porsche GT 223 laps
Retired Katoh/Michigami/Fukuda Dome-Mugen LM1 206 laps
Retired Hezemans/Deletraz/Barde Ferrari 575 GTS 200 laps
Retired Bosch/Sullivan/Biagi Ferrari 575 GTS 167 laps
Retired Wallace/Brabham/Shimoda Zytek LM1 163 laps
Retired Rosa/van Merkstein/Caffi Porsche GT 148 laps
Retired Bouvet/Gommendy/Briere WR LM2 137 laps
Retired Melo/Daoudi/de Fournoux Ferrari 360 GT 133 laps
Retired Frei/Gounon/Hancock Courage-AER LM2 127 laps
Retired Jeanette/Pickering/Derlot Courage-Willman LM2 124 laps
Retired Maurylaribiere/Boulay/Besson Reynard-Lehman LM1 122 laps
Retired Belmondo/Gosselin/Saviozzi Courage-AER LM2 80 laps
Retired Vasiliev/Fomenko/Nearn Porsche GT 65 laps
Retired Bourdais/Blanchemain/Berville Panoz LM1 54 laps
Retired Andrews/Lockie/Kumpen Lola-Caterpillar LM1 35 laps
Retired Field/Dayton/Connor Lola-Judd LM1 29 laps
Retired Warnock/Matthews/Daniels Porsche 27 laps
