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Hour 17: Chrysler holds on in fourth

Battle for the lead

The drama for hour 17 of the 69th running of the Le Mans 24 hour race was supplied not by the leading Audis, but the Oreca-run Chrysler-MOPAR, which suffered an oil leak forcing a lengthy pitstop, yet still managed to hold onto its fourth place.
The Audis are way out in front in a race of their own except they are, of course, not racing with the number one car still two laps ahead of it's sister R8. Frank Biela spent the hour commanding the race after completing three consecutive stints, with the second-placed Laurent Aiello trying in vain to make up the gap.

Olivier Beretta was stranded in the Chrysler pit for almost 20 minutes as the ORECA team attempted to stem the flow of oil from the Frenchman's MOPAR engine.

Repairs were completed and Beretta returned to the La Sarthe track only to return 10 minutes later, but despite the delays, he managed to hold onto his fourth spot.

The sole remaining Bentley continues in third place with the Pescarolo Sport Courage-Peugeot in fifth. The number six Cadillac lost 14 minutes in the pits with Christophe Tinsaeu behind the wheel and dropped from sixth to eighth.



The ROC car has dropped to ninth place overall and 24 laps behind the head of the field, but continues to dominate the LMP675 class. This is despite the fact that it is losing oil and the team has been forced to slacken the pace.

The leading GTS car is still the Fellows/O'Connell/Pruett Corvette, which is lying 22 laps behind the leader but has moved up to sixth place overall. The second-in-class Saleen of Borcheller/Gavin/Konrad is another four laps adrift and unable to do much about it.

It's all happening in the GT class, where the Jeannette/Dumas/Haezebroeck Porsche 911 is just 1m29.886s ahead of the Rosa/Babini/Drudi 911, which is slowly closing in on the class lead.


1 (900) F.Biela/T.Kristensen/E.Pirro, Audi R8, Joest Audi Sport, 228 laps
2 (900) R Capello/L Aiello/C Pescatori, Audi R8, Joest Audi Sport, + 3laps
8 (GTP) A.Wallace/B.Leitzinger/E.Vande Poele, Bentley EXP Speed 8, Team Bentley, +11 laps
16 (900) O.Beretta/K.Wendlinger/P.Lamy, Chrysler-Mopar LMP, Team Playstation, +22 laps
17 (900) J C. Boullion/S.Bourdais/L.Redon, Courage-Peugeot C60, Pescarolo Sport. +24 laps
63 (GTS) R.Fellows/J.O'Connell/S.Pruett, Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, Corvette Racing, + 26 laps
14 (900) S.Ara/N.Amorim/M.Kondo, Chrysler-Mopar LMP, ORECA Chrysler, +25 laps
6 (900) W.Taylor/M.Angelelli/C.Tinseau, Cadillac Northstar LMP, DAMS, +26 laps
38 (675) J.D. Deletraz/P.Farbe/J.Gene Reynard-Lehmann 01Q ROC Competition, +26 laps
60 (GTS) T.Borcheller/O.Gavin/F.Konrad Saleen-Ford S7R, Saleen-Allen Speedlab, +30 laps

Aiello/Capello, Audi R8, Team Joest Audi Sport, 3m39.046s

38 (675) J.D. Deletraz/P.Farbe/J.Gene
Reynard-Lehmann 01Q ROC Competition, +24 laps
63 (GTS) R.Fellows/J.O'Connell/S.Pruett,
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, Corvette Racing, +28 laps
77 (GT) G Jeannette/R Dumas/P Haezebrouck, Porsche 911
GT3-RS, Freisinger Motorsport, + 30 laps

I McKellar/B Lambert/J Mowlem, Saleen S7R, RML, engine
J Lammers/V Hillebrand/D Crevils, Dome-Judd, Racing for Holland, electrics
W Lupberger/B Collins/H Toivonen, Ascari, Team Ascari, engine
(900) Y.Dalmas/F.Montagny/S.Sarrazin, Chrysler-Mopar LMP, ORECA Chrysler, engine
B Mazzuccola/V Rice/C Wagner, Callaway Corvette, Aspen Knolls, engine
(675) D.de Radigues/S.Maassen/H.Matsuda, Reynard-Judd 01Q, Dick Barbour Racing, unknown
c Hurtgen/R Fairbanks/C Gleason, Lola Nissan, Roock-Knighthawk Racing, engine
K McGarrity/M Blundell/J Bailey, MG, MG Sport, engine
(900) K.Graf/J.Davies/G.Formato, Panoz LMP 07, Panoz Motorsports, engine
(900) D.Brabham/J.Magnussen/F.Lagorce, Panoz LMP 07, Panoz Motorsports, unknown
(900) J.Herbert/R.Kelleners/D.Theys, Audi R8, Champion Racing, engine
(900) J.Nielsen/H.Katoh/C.Elgaard, Dome-Judd S101, Den Bla Avis, engine
(GTS) V.Vosse/C.Rosenblad/V.Ickx, Chrysler Viper GTS-R Paul Belmondo Racing, accident
(GTP) M.Brundle/S.Ortelli/G.Smith, Bentley EXP Speed 8, Team Bentley, gearbox
(900) E.Collard/M.Goossens/E.Bernard, Cadillac Northstar LMP, DAMS, stopped
P Gache/A Beltoise/J Policand, Courage, SMG, accident
JC Lagnez/G De Galzain/A Kumpen, Chrysler Viper, Paul Belmondo Racing, accident
(900) S.Johansson/T.Coronel/P.Lemarie, Audi R8, Johansson Motorsport, accident damage
GT R Donovan/T Lingner/C MacAllister, Porsche 911 GT3, Racing Engineering, unknown
(675) A.Reid/W.Hughes/J.Kane, MG-Lola EX257, MG Sport, engine
(675) M.Duno/J.Graham/D.Murry, Reynard-Judd 01Q, Dick Barbour Racing, accident
(GTS) T.Seiler/W.Brun/C.Slater, Saleen-Ford S7R, Konrad Motorsport, accident
(GTS) D.Terrien/J.Cochet/J.P. Dayraut, Chrysler Viper GTS-R, Equipe de France FFSA, accident
(675) W.Carway/M.O'Connell/F.Migault, Pilbeam-Nissan MP84 Rowan Racing, accident




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