H4: Kristensen's bid suffers blow

The stop cost the team 25 minutes and dropped the pole-sitting car to 13th position, seven laps behind its sister machine, which continues to lead at the end of a dramatic fourth hour with Emanuele Pirro at the wheel.

It seems unlikely that even the pre-race favourite driver line-up of Kristensen/Allan McNish/Dindo Capello can overcome such a deficit without similar problems befalling their rivals, but it will at least provide a spectacular fight-back for the 250,000-strong crowd.

While the No.7 Audi begins its uphill battle, the sister car is running like a diesel train and continues to extend its lead at the front, lapping three seconds faster that Eric Comas's second place No.16 Pescarolo, which is now a lap behind.

Sebastien Loeb is third in the No. 17 Pescarolo, just 2.4 seconds behind his teammate, while Le Mans veteran Jan Lammers is fourth in his Racing for Holland Dome.

Phillip Peter is fifth in the No. 5 Courage, and the LMP2-leading RML MG-Lola is now sixth overall with Mike Newton at the wheel.

Kristensen and Audi don't have a monopoly on drama at Le Mans, however.

French LMP2 driver Yann Clairey was lucky to walk away unscathed from a massive accident in his Paul Belmondo Racing Courage at one of the kinks between Mulsanne and Indianapolis.

A spectacular rear tyre failure ripped the rear bodywork off the car at more than 170mph, pitching it into a spin and on to the barriers, destroying the car. Amazingly, the accident did not warrant a safety car period.

No. 64 Corvette driver Jan Magnussen is nearly 1.5 minutes ahead of the leading Aston Martin driven by Stephane Ortelli at the front of the GT1 category, while Mike Hezeman leads GT2 in the Dutch Spyker.