Hour 16: MG's brave effort is finally over

Kevin McGarrity was behind the wheel when a plume of smoke emanated from the 11th placed machine as he negotiated the first chicane. The sister car retired during hour nine when Warren Hughes lost drive when battling the Joest-run Audis for a podium finish.

"It broke," said team boss Hugh Chamberlain. "It's either a turbo or the engine. We can't turn the engine over at the moment, so we suspect it's that. We spoke to McGarrity on the phone, but there was nothing he could do. For sure, we've made a lot of progress this year."

More drama occurred when Christophe Tinseau's fifth placed Cadillac went off at Indianapolis due to a puncture, and the gravel that he brought back on the track caused the sister car to also pick up a right-rear puncture. The resultant damage has dropped the Tinseau car back to eighth, and promoted the pair of ORECA-run Dallara-Judds of Stephane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy, the latter dropping behind its team car due to a rear-end change. Jan Lammers has risen to seventh in the Racing for Holland Dome, also head of the lead Cadillac.

At the head of the field, the Audi steamroller is chugging along. Tom Kristensen holds a two-lap advantage over Rinaldo Capello, the latter car having spent four more minutes in the pits than the lead machine. The Audi Sport North America car continues to run in third, with Marco Werner having just set its fastest lap of the race. Andy Wallace continues to run fourth in the sole Bentley.

In GTS, Corvette just holds a one-two. Although the Johnny O'Connell car holds a four-lap lead, his team-mate Kelly Collins is holding a fourth length lead over the ORECA-run Chrysler Viper of Jonathan Cochet.

Jorg Bergmeister leads the GT class in the Freisinger-run Porsche,

Stay tuned to Autosport.com for further hourly updates.

Biela/Kristensen/Pirro Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi R8, 248 laps
Capello/Herbert/Pescatori Audi Sport Team Joest, Audi R8, 245 laps
Krumm/Peter/Werner Audi Sport North America, Audi R8, 245 laps
Wallace/Leitzinger/van de Poele Bentley Speed 8, 239 laps *
Sarrazin/Montagny/Minassian Team ORECA, Dallara-Judd LMP, 236 laps
Beretta/Lamy/Comas Team ORECA, Dallara-Judd LMP, 235 laps
Lammers/Hillerbrand/Coronel Racing for Holland, Dome-Judd, 234 laps
Taylor/Angelli/Tinseau Team Cadillac, Cadillac 234 laps
Ara/Dalmas/Katoh Team Goh Audi, Audi R8, 233 laps
Bernard/Collard/Lehto, Team Cadillac, Cadillac 226 laps

*GTP class

Blundell/Bailey/McGarrity, MG-Lola EXP257, 219 laps (retired)


Fellows/O'Connell/Gavin, Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette, 222 laps


Dumas/Maassen/Bergmeister, Fresisinger Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3-RS 212 laps