H6: Fassler stretches Audi lead
Marcel Fassler retook the Le Mans lead in the #2 Audi R18 at the close of the sixth hour
The cat-and-mouse situation between Audi and Peugeot continued as Audi seemed to have the edge in raw pace, but were forced to pit on a more regular basis.
Fassler made his seventh stop of the race at the midday point of the sixth hour, pitting with a 41s gap over Anthony Davidson in the lead #7 Peugeot.
Davidson therefore took the lead until his own stop, when he handed over the #7 Peugeot to Marc Gene. Gene rejoined in second, one minute down on Fassler.
Mike Rockenfeller took over the #1 Audi from Romain Dumas in fifth position, which became third after the #9 and #8 Peugeots of Pedro Lamy and Nicolas Minassian made their stops.
Rockenfeller was the first driver in the top five to make an eighth stop however, dropping him back down to fifth behind the #9 and #8 908s.
In the petrol class, Julien Jousse handed over the lead #16 Pescarolo-Judd to Emmanuel Collard, who came out behind Neel Jani in the #12 Rebellion Racing Lola.
Collard also dropped behind the sister #13 Rebellion Lola driven by Jean-Christophe Boullion after pitting for the eighth time.
Dominik Kraihamer continued to set a relentless pace in the LMP2 class, giving the #48 ORECA-Nissan a lead of more than one lap over their nearest challenger, Karim Ojjeh in the #41 Zytek-Nissan.
Nick Leventis in the #42 Strakka HPD is currently third in class, one minute down the road from Ojjeh.
In GTE Pro, Richard Westbrook continues to lead in the #74 Corvette, although Andy Priaulx in the #56 BMW M3 GT has reduced the deficit to less than one minute.
The #51 AF Corse Ferrari had also been closing in but Tony Villander beached the car in the gravel at Mulsanne. He handed the car over to Gianmaria Bruni in seventh position.
The #50 Larbre Corvette leads the GTE Am class by just five seconds from the #57 Krohn Ferrari.
NOTES:
- The #3 Audi of Allan McNish crashed out of the race in the first hour having just taken second position. The Scot collected the #58 Luxury Racing Ferrari in the right-hander after the Dunlop Bridge. The heavy impact destroyed the car and the Scot was taken to hospital for precautionary checks, but appears to be unhurt.
- Both Aston Martin AMR Ones ran into trouble on the first lap of the race. Darren Turner spinning with mechanical trouble and Adrian Fernandez stopping out on the Mulsanne. The #007 car of Turner was recovered to the pits where it was discovered an alternator belt tensioner was to blame.
POSITIONS AFTER SIX HOURS Pos Car Team Class Gap 1. # 2 Audi Audi Sport Team Joest (LMP1) 2. # 7 Peugeot Peugeot Sport Total (LMP1) + 1:02.013 3. # 9 Peugeot Team Peugeot Total (LMP1) + 2:07.473 4. # 8 Peugeot Peugeot Sport Total (LMP1) + 2:07.911 5. # 1 Audi Audi Sport Team Joest (LMP1) + 2:17.982 6. #10 Peugeot Team Oreca-Matmut (LMP1) + 1 Lap 7. #12 Lola Rebellion Racing (LMP1) + 3 Laps 8. #13 Lola Rebellion Racing (LMP1) + 3 Laps 9. #16 Pescarolo Pescarolo Team (LMP1) + 3 Laps 10. #48 Oreca Team Oreca-Matmut (LMP2) + 5 Laps 11. #24 OAK OAK Racing (LMP1) + 6 Laps 12. #22 Lola Kronos Racing (LMP1) + 6 Laps 13. #41 Zytek Greaves Motorsport (LMP2) + 7 Laps 14. #42 HPD Strakka Racing (LMP2) + 7 Laps 15. #39 Lola PeCom Racing (LMP2) + 7 Laps 16. #33 Lola Level 5 Motorsports (LMP2) + 8 Laps 17. #36 HPD RML (LMP2) + 8 Laps 18. #49 OAK OAK Racing (LMP2) + 9 Laps 19. #35 OAK OAK Racing (LMP2) + 9 Laps 20. #26 Oreca Signatech Nissan (LMP2) + 9 Laps 21. #74 Corvette Corvette Racing (GTEP) + 9 Laps 22. #56 BMW BMW Motorsport (GTEP) + 10 Laps 23. #75 Porsche Prospeed Competition (GTEP) + 10 Laps 24. #73 Corvette Corvette Racing (GTEP) + 10 Laps 25. #59 Ferrari Luxury Racing (GTEP) + 10 Laps 26. #51 Ferrari AF Corse (GTEP) + 10 Laps 27. #80 Porsche Flying Lizard Motorsports (GTEP) + 11 Laps 28. #89 Ferrari Hankook Team Farnbacher (GTEP) + 11 Laps 29. #66 Ferrari JMW Motorsport (GTEP) + 11 Laps 30. #88 Porsche Team Felbermayr-Proton (GTEP) + 11 Laps 31. #55 BMW BMW Motorsport (GTEP) + 11 Laps 32. #76 Porsche IMSA Performance Matmut (GTEP) + 11 Laps 33. #44 Norma Extr (LMP2) + 12 Laps 34. #77 Porsche Team Felbermayr-Proton (GTEP) + 12 Laps 35. #50 Corvette Larbre Competition (GTEA) + 12 Laps 36. #81 Porsche Flying Lizard Motorsports (GTEA) + 12 Laps 37. #57 Ferrari Krohn Racing (GTEA) + 12 Laps 38. #70 Porsche Larbre Competition (GTEA) + 12 Laps 39. #60 Aston Gulf AMR Middle East (GTEA) + 13 Laps 40. #61 Ferrari AF Corse (GTEA) + 13 Laps 41. #63 Porsche Proton Competition (GTEA) + 13 Laps 42. #40 Oreca Race Performance (LMP2) + 13 Laps 43. #65 Lotus Lotus Jetalliance (GTEP) + 14 Laps 44. #71 Ferrari AF Corse (GTEP) + 14 Laps 45. #62 Ferrari CRS Racing (GTEA) + 14 Laps 46. #79 Aston Jota (GTEP) + 16 Laps 47. #83 Ferrari JMB Racing (GTEA) + 16 Laps 48. #68 Ford Robertson Racing (GTEA) + 20 Laps 49. #64 Lotus Lotus Jetalliance (GTEP) + 21 Laps 50. #58 Ferrari Luxury Racing (GTEP) + 24 Laps 51. # 5 Oreca Hope Racing (LMP1) + 36 Laps 52. #15 OAK OAK Racing (LMP1) + 48 Laps 53. #20 Zytek Quifel-ASM Team (LMP1) Retired 54. # 3 Audi Audi Sport North America (LMP1) Retired 55. # 007 AMR-One Aston Martin Racing (LMP1) Retired 56. # 009 AMR-One Aston Martin Racing (LMP1) Retired
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