Hour 16: Kristensen Consolidates

The battle for the 2005 Le Mans 24 Hours looked to be a two-car race as Tom Kristensen and Jean-Christophe Boullion pushed their cars as hard as possible in pursuit of victory at the end of the 16th hour

Kristensen held a two-lap advantage over the Pescarolo Sport of Boullion, the Frenchman lapping approximately five seconds faster than Kristensen when traffic allowed. Boullion was pushing so hard he got within a couple of tenths of the car's qualifying performance.

Kristensen was pushing so hard he made a mistake at the second Mulsanne chicane, losing time after running over the grass.

The #2 Audi R8 finished the hour in third, having got going again in the hands of Frank Biela. The Champion Racing team made repairs following Allan McNish's trip into the tyre wall during the 15th hour. The team lost more than 20 minutes due to the incident, McNish revealing to Autosport-Atlas that a tyre delamination resulted in the accident.

Michael Krumm suffered a puncture on his Rollcentre Dallara Nissan in the latest incident to affect the #8 car and limped back to the pits.

The GT1 battle remained the closest battle of the race with Pedro Lamy's Aston Martin holding station, more than two minutes ahead of the number #64 Corvette C6-R.

In LMP2 Tommy Erdos moved up to second in the MG Lola, however the Brazilian remained less than two laps behind the leading class car of #36 of Claude Yves Gosselin.

The drama in GT2 was provided by the number #91 T2M. Their Porsche 911 retired after an accident with Xavier Pompidou at the wheel. The Frenchman was taken away from the scene in the medical car, however he did not appear to be seriously injured. The #71 Alex Job Porsche of Mike Rockenfeller remained in the lead.

Pos # Drivers Make Class On Hour 16
1 3 Lehto, Werner, Kristensen Audi R8 LM P1
2 16 Collard, Boullion, Comas Pescarolo Judd LM P1
3 2 Biela, Pirro, McNish Audi R8 LM P1
4 4 Montagny, Gounon, Ortelli Audi R8 LM P1
5 17 Loeb, Helary, Ayari Pescarolo Judd LM P1
6 9 Hignett, Stack, Kurosawa Zytek 04S LM P1
7 58 Enge, Kox, Lamy Aston Martin DBR9 LM GT1
8 64 Gavin, Beretta, Magnussen Corvette C6-R LM GT1
9 63 Fellows, O'Connell, Papis Corvette C6-R LM GT1
10 59 Brabham, Sarrazin, Turner Aston Martin DBR9 LM GT1
11 7 Minassian, CampbellW., Wallace DBA Judd LM P1
12 10 Lammers, Julian, Bosch Dome Judd LM P1
13 18 Short, Barbosa, Ickx Dallara Judd LM P1
14 12 Schwager, Frei, Vann Courage Judd LM P1
15 50 Goueslard, Dupard, Vosse Ferrari 550 Maranello LM GT1
16 71 Hindery, Rockenfell., Lieb Porsche 911 GT3 RSR LM GT2
17 90 Bergmeist., Long, Bernhard Porsche 911 GT3 RSR LM GT2
18 80 Overbeek, Pechnick, Neiman Porsche 911 GT3 RSR LM GT2
19 61 Fomenko, Vasiliev, Bouchut Ferrari 550 Maranello LM GT1
20 76 Dumas, Dumez, Narac Porsche 911 GT3 RSR LM GT2
21 36 Gosselin, Ojjeh, Sharpe Courage C65 Ford LM P2
22 72 Policand, Campbell, Alphand Porsche 911 GT3 RS LM GT2
23 25 Erdos, Newton, Hughes Lola MG LM P2
24 37 Belmondo, Andre, Sutherland Courage C65 Ford LM P2
25 30 Bennett, Mitchell, Mullen Courage Judd LM P2
26 89 Nielsen, Thyrring, Ehret Porsche 911 GT3 RSR LM GT2
27 83 Collin, Felbermayr, Shep Porsche 911 GT3 RSR LM GT2
28 92 Macari, Eriksson, Wilson Ferrari 360 Mo. GTC LM GT2
29 35 Hillebrand, Hahn, Pickering Courage C65 Judd LM P2
30 24 Terada, Roussel, Binnie WR Peugeot LM P2
31 95 Hartshorne, Stanton, Johnson TVR Tuscan 400 R LM GT2
32 78 Sellers, Franchitti, Bourdais Panoz Elan LM GT2
33 8 Verdon Roe, Krumm, Primat Dallara Nissan LM P1
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