Hour 17: Comas Maintains Pressure

Having set the Champion Racing R8's fastest laps on new tyres during the quick dawn stint, he slid wide at the second chicane on the Mulsanne Straight and bounced across the grass before pitting immediately to hand to JJ Lehto.

The Champion Racing R8 had a two-lap advantage over the chasing Pescarolo of Jean-Christophe Boullion, which is making up time after a gearbox problem on Saturday afternoon. "I got a gear too early, it was my mistake," said Kristensen. "My foot slipped a little off the brake, I was off line which is of course full of gravel. It shouldn't happen but if you have a big basket, you can only lose it.

The lead Aston Martin of Pedro Lamy put in some very fast laps at the top of the hour, dropping the fastest lap in class to a 3m52.078s, despite enjoying a one lap cushion over the chasing Corvettes. In the 17th hour, the Corvettes slowed to four minute laps as the Aston Martins remain in the 3m54s - 3m57s bracket, Lamy stretching his lead in seventh overall as Brabham closed on Max Papis for third in class and 10th overall.

The Team Jota Zytek of Sam Hignett is still running well, as the team enjoying its first Le Mans lies sixth overall. It is two laps down on the fifth placed Pescarolo of Eric Helary which has suffered two accidents during the course of the race.

The Paul Belmondo Racing Courage, which had led the LMP2 class for several hours, had a long pit stop and handed the lead to the RML Lola, itself a car which had suffered overheating and gearbox problems during the opening hour. RML driver Tommy Erdos now enjoys a four lap lead over the Gulf-liveried, Ford two-litre turbocharged powered Courage of Didier Andre, which had started from the LMP2 pole position.

The Raymond Narac Porsche, which lay third in the GT2 class, had a long stop during the hour and dropped to fourth in the class. Mike Rockenfeller, in the Alex Job Racing Porsche, has moved up the leaderboard to 16th overall ahead of Patrick Long and Lonnie Pechnik, who runs third in the Flying Lizard Porsche.

Already, less than four hours after daybreak, the ambient temperature has been measured at 33.6 degrees Centigrade.

Pos	#	Drivers	Make	Class	On Hour 17
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	59	Brabham, Sarrazin, Turner	Aston Martin DBR9	LM GT1
10	63	Fellows, O'Connell, Papis	Corvette C6-R	LM GT1
11	7	Minassian, CampbellW., Wallace	DBA Judd	LM P1
12	10	Lammers, Julian, Bosch	Dome Judd	LM P1
13	12	Schwager, Frei, Vann	Courage Judd	LM P1
14	50	Goueslard, Dupard, Vosse	Ferrari 550 Maranello	LM GT1
15	71	Hindery, Rockenfell., Lieb	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	LM GT2
16	18	Short, Barbosa, Ickx	Dallara Judd	LM P1
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	25	Erdos, Newton, Hughes	Lola MG	LM P2
22	72	Policand, Campbell, Alphand	Porsche 911 GT3 RS	LM GT2
23	37	Belmondo, Andre, Sutherland	Courage C65 Ford	LM P2
24	36	Gosselin, Ojjeh, Sharpe	Courage C65 Ford	LM P2
25	89	Nielsen, Thyrring, Ehret	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	LM GT2
26	30	Bennett, Mitchell, Mullen	Courage Judd	LM P2
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