H2: Audi reign with fuel economy

Allan McNish and Frank Biela managed 15 laps between stops on the last tank of fuel, compared with their nearest rivals Pescarolo Sport, who appear to be only managing 13-lap stints. Last year's petrol-powered Audi R8s also averaged stints of 12 and 13 laps.

Both Audi cars' race pace are also consistently quicker than their French rivals, with both R10s regularly lapping two seconds a lap faster.

This pace, combined with the now obvious advantage Audi have with regards fuel economy, is an ominous signs for Perscarolo, who appear already to be relying on any reliability problems to hit the Audis if they are to have any chance of victory.

McNish has now handed the No.7 car over to Dindo Capello, who holds a 19-second lead over the sister car, which is being driven by Marco Werner following Frank Biela's initial stint.

At the two-hour mark, the lead Audi has a 30-second advantage over the third-placed, No. 16 Pescarolo, driven by Emmanuel Collard. Franck Montagny is in fourth place in the No.17 Pescarolo.

The No. 13 Courage of Shinji Nakano has moved up to fifth ahead of Casper Elgaard in the No 2 Zytek.

The No. 64 Corvette still leads GT1 with Oliver Gavin now having handed over to Olivier Beretta.

The sister Corvette hit trouble early in the hour, after driver Ron Fellows spun into the barriers. Fellows lost control of the car while third in class and damaged the C6-R against the barriers.

Fellows brought the car back into pits and lost five laps while it was being repaired. Max Papis has now taken over behind the wheel.

There was drama for the No. 50 Ferrari 550 of Patrick Bornhauser who toured back into the pits with a puncture early in the hour. The No. 24 Lola of Yojiro Terada lost time after a spin at Indianapolis.

Jamie Campbell Walter's Creation is now 13 laps behind, having spent more time in the pits to repair handling problems, which are likely to be caused by a flailing front-splitter.