Audi No. 7 hits problems

The diesel-powered R10 TDI initially made an unscheduled stop because of a windscreen-related problem, the outfit's technical director Ralf Juttner explained.

"A car in front threw up a big ball of rubber that went on the windscreen and broke the whole of it, so we didn't have it anymore," Juttner told autosport.com.

"It's only a small thing, but it's needed because without it the driver gets the full air, so we changed it."

The German did expect the car might need to come in again, and that turned out to be the case. "The mechanism is destroyed too so we don't know how long it will be in place. Maybe we will have to tape it down or something like that."

Although Audi were able to fix the windscreen issue, they stumbled upon a bigger issue, with a fuel injection change due to misfire.

After a lengthy pistop to fix the problems, Tom Kristensen resumed the driving, running in 13th position and seven laps behind Emanuele Pirro in the No. 8 sister Audi, which took the lead.