H9: #9 Peugeot has comfortable lead

Despite Kristensen's best efforts the Audi has not made a significant dent in the Peugeot's lead.

Sebastien Bourdais continued his heroic attempt to claw back the time lost in the garage, but tapped the #76 IMSA Performance Porsche of Patrick Pilet into a spin at the Mulsanne corner at the beginning of the hour.

The #8 Peugeot's nose was damaged in the impact, and when Bourdais pitted to hand over to Franck Montagny the Peugeot crew had to fit new bodywork, enabling Tom Kristensen in the #1 Audi R15 to move into second place. Montagny set the #8 car's fastest lap in the final minutes of the hour.

Stefan Mucke continued his impressive form in the #007 Aston Martin, running briskly in fifth behind the recovering #17 Pescarolo Peugeot. Darren Turner's #008 Aston is lapping in 12th place after losing five laps while damage sustained in a knock with another car was repaired.

Charles Zwolsman and Andre Lotterer will see out the night in the fastest of the Kolles Audi R10s. Narain Karthikeyan has been declared unfit to drive by the ACO doctors, although his dislocated shoulder will be reassessed in the morning.

Zwolsman brought his consistent stint to a disappointing conclusion when he incurred a penalty for speeding in the pitlane when he came in to hand over to Lotterer.

The LMP2 battle between Team Essex and Navi Team Goh, which had been raging since the first hour, has swung in the Essex car's favour. Sascha Maassen brought the #5 Porsche Spyder into the garage for attention to its front suspension, costing two laps.

Chevrolet's GT1 domination remains unchallenged. Johnny O'Connell is in 18th overall and on the same lap as team-mate Olivier Beretta, who has reduced the gap slightly to 2m10s.

Risi Competizione's Jaime Melo extended his lead in GT2 after the second-placed #92 JMW Ferrari lost time in a slow pitstop when Tim Sugden handed over to Rob Bell and the door wouldn't close.