H15: Kristensen retakes lead for Audi
Audi leads at Le Mans after 15 hours as wet conditions continued to swing the balance of power in the German marque's favour
Tom Kristensen took the lead of the event at the turn of the hour from Jacques Villeneuve's No.7 Peugeot, as the pair pitted together.
The Dane took on more fuel and new tyres, but the Peugeot crew also swapped Villeneuve for Marc Gene. This extra activity, combined with the R10 TDI's apparent superiority in the rain, allowed Kristensen to build a 32 second lead in just two laps!
As the hour progressed, so did Kristensen, who increased his lead to nearly 65 seconds over Gene, as he took full advantage of the Audi's superior visibility. Indeed, both Villeneuve and Stephane Sarrazin admitted that they could see very little in their closed-roof coupes.
But it nearly all went wrong for the leading Audi when the seven-time Le Mans winner was forced to straightline the first chicane on the Mulsanne straight, demonstrating just how hard he was pushing.
Peugeot's visibility problems also allowed Mike Rockenfeller in the third-placed Audi to close in on Gene. At the same time, Frank Biela's fifth-placed Audi was began to threaten Ricardo Zonta in the fourth-placed No.9 Peugeot. Alex Wurz remains sixth.
Jos Verstappen lost two laps in the pits as the Van Merksteijn Racing team pulled their Porsche RS Spyder into the garage to give it a service. But such was the car's lead over the Team Essex Porsche in LMP2 that it still has a four-lap advantage.
Mathieu Lahaye is now third in class with the Team Saulnier Pescarolo.
GT1 leader David Brabham used all of his experience to extend his advantage over the Corvettes in the leading Aston Martin. But there is still less than a lap between the No.009 DBR9 and the General Motors cars of Ron Fellows and Olivier Beretta.
The rain has also stirred up the battle in the GT2 category, as Tim Sugden's Virgo Ferrari F430 GTC closed on the Risi example in the hands of Jaime Melo. Fabio Babini remains third in class.
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