Hour 21: Lead Audi hits gearbox trouble...

The status quo of this year's Le mans 24 hour race looked as though it could undergo a change as the lead Audi came into the pits half way through the 21st hour and Tom Kristensen drove the number one car straight into the Joest Team garage.
The Audi mechanics immediately sprang into as action and set about carrying out one of the team's legendary super-fast gearbox changes. The complete rear end of the car was changed in just over five minutes and any chance the number two car had of inheriting the lead soon evaporated as Emanuele Pirro jumped into the R8 and went on his way.

"There was a need to change the gearbox," said Kristensen. "Ever since the night we have had a problem caused by having to change at half throttle because of the wet conditions. The car is designed to change at full throttle and so we had a problem changing from third to fourth gear.

"Going into the Porsche curves, fourth gear actually broke, but thank God I got it back into third and made it back into the pits."

The number one car in fact lost very little time and still holds a lead of two laps over its yellow-nosed rival.

Andy Wallace handed driving duties back to Eric van de Poele in the third placed number eight Bentley. The EXP Speed 8 remains a distant 11 laps down, but Wallace is pleased with the progress made by the Apex-run team.

"It's been a very exciting race so far," said Wallace. "We're not as fast as the Audis, but its really good to have got as far as we have. There's still a long way to go."

The battle behind the top three is hotting up for fourth place with the number 17 Courage-Peugeot with Sebastien Bourdais behind the wheel is closing on the Lamy/Wendlinger/Beretta Chrysler with Pedro Lamy behind the wheel. The gap stands at 1m22.674s.



The Roc still rocks in LMP675. It remains eighth overall and has now slipped to 33 laps behind the frontrunners. The Fellows/O'Connell/Pruett Corvette is still in sixth place overall and at the head of the GTS class, 27 laps behind. Astern of the lead Corvette, its sister car driven by Pilgrim/Collins/Freon has regained second in class from the remaining Saleen S7R of Borcheller/Gavin/Konrad.

Rosa/Babini/Drudi are continue to lead the GT class, a mere 41.125s in front of the Jeannette/Dumas/Haezebroeck Porsche, which is gamely trying to retake the class lead.


1 (900) F.Biela/T.Kristensen/E.Pirro, Audi R8, Joest Audi Sport, 284 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, + 22 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, + 27 laps
6 (900) W.Taylor/M.Angelelli/C.Tinseau, Cadillac Northstar LMP, DAMS, + 32 laps
38 (675) J.D. Deletraz/P.Farbe/J.Gene Reynard-Lehmann 01Q ROC Competition, + 33 laps
83 (GT) G.Rosa/F.Babini/L.Drudi, Porsche 911 GT3-RS, Seikel Motorsport, + 37 laps
64 (GTS) A.Pilgrim/K.Collins/F.Freon, Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, Corvette Racing, + 37 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, +33 laps
63 (GTS) R.Fellows/J.O'Connell/S.Pruett,
Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, Corvette Racing, +27 laps
83 (GT) G Rosa/F Babini/L Drudi, Porsche 911
GT3-RS, Seikel Motorsport, +35 laps

(GTS) I McKellar/B Lambert/J Mowlem, Saleen S7R, RML, engine
(900) J Lammers/V Hillebrand/D Crevils, Dome-Judd, Racing for Holland, electrics
(675) 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
(675) C Hurtgen/R Fairbanks/C Gleason, Lola Nissan, Roock-Knighthawk Racing, engine
(675) 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
(900) 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
(GTS) E Clerico/D Cottaz/B Derichebourg, Courage-Peugeot, Pescarolo Sport, disqualified
(900) S Johansson/T Coronel/P Lemarie, Audi R8R, Johansson Motorsport, electrics
(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