H11: Kristensen takes over

Tom Kristensen has taken over the lead car from Dindo Capello after the latter drove for four hours. The Dane is expected to stay aboard until after dawn when Allan McNish will take over for the fastest period of the race.

Emanuele Pirro has taken over the second-placed car from Frank Biela while Marc Gene continues in the No. 7 car, delayed briefly during its 15th pitstop as the team checked under the engine cover.

Pedro Lamy has moved into fifth place overall after the earlier wheel bearing problems for the No. 8 Peugeot, and continues to lap at a competitive pace.

Jean-Christophe Boullion lies fourth in the Pescarolo, two laps ahead of the recovering Peugeot, and it will be a goal of the French team to stay in position to take the final podium position should anything happen to the diesel cars that have led the field throughout.

Johnny Herbert leads the GT1 class by just 24 seconds from Rickard Rydell, while Ron Fellows drives in third place ahead of Christophe Bouchut and Matteo Malucelli. After their earlier circumspect pace, the two ORECA Saleens are recovering, in sixth and seventh positions.

The Flying Lizard team have retired after the gearbox housing on their Porsche was found to be broken.

The team had suffered a multitude of problems during their 11 hours, including losing a door, having to replace a wing, and suffering a refuelling problem.

The No. 24 Courage of Vitaly Petrov has pitted from the lead of the LMP2 class and true to form lost time during the stop, and the lead, to Chris Buncombe's Lola.