Essex Porsche frustrated by misfire

Casper Elgaard, who shares the car with his compatriot John Nielsen and Sascha Maassen, led between the fourth and sixth hours and was right in the hunt for the class victory as darkness fell.

But the misfire, which developed between hours 13 and 15, caused them to lose a significant amount of time to the similar car of Van Merksteijn Motorsport, which currently has Jos Verstappen at the wheel.

"We had a misfire and it took us a long time to locate where it was coming from," Elgaard told autosport.com.

"We spent basically all night with the problem. It took us a long time. We had lots of ins and outs trying to fix it and we lost a lot of laps, not just because we were pitting lots, but because the car was not pulling as it should out on track, so it definitely cost us quite a lot."

The car, currently driven by German Maassen, lies second in LMP2, nine laps adrift of the Van Merksteijn machine and is running cleanly, much to the relief of Elgaard.

"It's nice that the weather has got a bit better," Elgaard, whose machine is 13th overall, added.

"Conditions have been difficult in the night. It was wet in some places more than others. Then was the worst bit, because you could not see where the water was, and you had to be very careful.

"I can only hope now the Van Merksteijn car can has some problems and we can make some gains on them. We've had our problems. It's their turn now."