H18: Audi closing in on historic win

Aside from a quick nose change for a broken headlight and gearcluster change for a transmission problem, the leading Audi R10 TDI has run flawlessly throughout the first three-quarters of the ace.

Sebastien Loeb in the Pescarolo is three laps behind, and is lapping at a slower pace than Emanuele Pirro in the leading Audi.

The sister R10, now being driven by Dindo Capello is on its own in third place.

The closest battle on circuit at the moment is for fourth place in GT1. The Team Cirtek Aston Martin is on the same lap as the privateer Corvette of Luc Alphand.

David Brabham has taken over from Nelson Piquet Jr in the No. 62 Aston, and is slowly reeling in the French owner/driver and is only a minute behind.

The Chamberlain Synergy Lola of Gareth Evans rolled to a halt on track, as did their teammates' No.39 LMP2 Lola of Miguel Amaral and the No. 32 Barazi Epsilon Courage in separate incidents.

The No. 22 Rollcentre Radical went into the pits for a clutch change.