Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Hour 19: Audis top despite Pescatori scrape

Battle for the lead

The potential disruption promised by the return of rain to this year's Le Mans 24 hours has amounted to nothing, with not a single change in the order of the top six during the 19th hour of the race.
The Audis have continued to take all that the elements can throw at them and continue unheeded in the top two spots. While Tom Kristensen set the pace in the leading number one car, the excitement seemed to again fall at the door of the Aiello/Capello/Pescatori R8.

And Christian Pescatori it was who played the lead role. The Italian remains two and a little bit laps behind Kristensen, but caused the hearts of the Joest team to miss a beat when he made contact with the number 38 Reynard-Lehmann of Pascal Fabre in the Ford chicane.

The number two Audi escaped unscathed, albeit missing a layer of paint on the left front bodywork.

Bentley is soldiering on in third place with Andy Wallace back behind the wheel of the EXP Speed 8, 11 laps adrift of the leaders.

The closest battle in the top six is for that of fourth place with Sebastien Bourdais in the Pescarolo Sport Courage closing in on Karl Wendlinger in the lead Chrysler-Mopar. Just a lap separates the two and Bourdais is currently lapping five seconds a lap faster.



It's exactly the same story in LMP675. The ROC car of Gene/Deletraz/Fabre is still running in ninth place overall, 29 laps down on the leading Audi. Its oil problems remain a thing of the past.

Ditto for GTS: the Fellows/O'Connell/Pruett Corvette is six laps ahead of the second-placed Saleen S7R of Borcheller/Gavin/Konrad, which appears to have stabilised its lap times. Jeannette/Dumas/Haezebroeck Porsche 911 continues to lead GT with a tenuous 54s lead.

Pos, No, (Class), Drivers, Car, Team, Time/Laps
1 (900) F.Biela/T.Kristensen/E.Pirro, Audi R8, Joest Audi Sport, 256 laps
2 (900) R Capello/L Aiello/C Pescatori, Audi R8, Joest Audi Sport, + 2 laps
8 (GTP) A.Wallace/B.Leitzinger/E.Vande Poele, Bentley EXP Speed 8, Team Bentley, +13 laps
16 (900) O.Beretta/K.Wendlinger/P.Lamy, Chrysler-Mopar LMP, Team Playstation, +21 laps
17 (900) J C. Boullion/S.Bourdais/L.Redon, Courage-Peugeot C60, Pescarolo Sport. +22 laps
63 (GTS) R.Fellows/J.O'Connell/S.Pruett, Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, Corvette Racing, + 25 laps
14 (900) S.Ara/N.Amorim/M.Kondo, Chrysler-Mopar LMP, ORECA Chrysler, +28 laps
6 (900) W.Taylor/M.Angelelli/C.Tinseau, Cadillac Northstar LMP, DAMS, +29 laps
38 (675) J.D. Deletraz/P.Farbe/J.Gene Reynard-Lehmann 01Q ROC Competition, +29 laps
60 (GTS) T.Borcheller/O.Gavin/F.Konrad Saleen-Ford S7R, Saleen-Allen Speedlab, +31 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, +29 laps
63 (GTS) R.Fellows/J.O'Connell/S.Pruett,
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, Corvette Racing, +25 laps
77 (GT) G Jeannette/R Dumas/P Haezebrouck, Porsche 911
GT3-RS, Freisinger Motorsport, + 34 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

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Hour 18: Audi reigns as rain returns
Next article Hour 20: Eyes down for final four hours

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe