Hour 3: Audi in the thick of it

The upset of Frank Biela, who almost unbelievably ran out petrol on lap 30 in the third Audi, seemed to light a fire under the remaining two Audi teams. A highly entertaining Bentley/Audi wheel-to-wheel scrap for second developed before Werner dove into the pits. He then hung onto third despite being badly baulked on entry by the #75 Porsche.

Werner has been in the thick of it during this stint, with # 21 Ford having a blow-out and spinning off in front of him as he floored it in pursuit of Brabham.

Meanwhile the #50 Corvette, piloted by Britain's Oliver Gavin, cut across the nose of the #16 Dome at Arnage, resulting in a dual pirouette at the low-grip right-hander. Both cars got going again, however, and the Dome car finished the hour in 18th.

The Prodrive Ferrari of Enge, Davis and Kox leads the GTS class in 11th, while Anthony Davidson's #80 car remains in touch in 13th

The Pagani Zonda, which stopped in the second hour retired with gearbox problems.

Kristensen/Capello/Smith Bentley 48 laps
Brabhan/Herbert/Blundell Bentley
Ara/Magnussen/Werner Audi
Pirro/Lehto/Johansson Audi
Lammers/Bosch/Wallace Dome Judd
Beretta/Jeannette/Papis Panoz
Cochet/Gounon/Gregoire Courage-Judd
Helary/Ayari/Minassian Courage-Peugeot
Saelens/Maxwell/Leuenberger Panoz-Elan
Ortiz/Gabbiani/Gommendy Dome-Judd

Andre/Maury-Laribiere/Pillon Reynard-Lehmann 42 laps
Terada/Porta/Pickering WR
Field/Dayton/Sutherland Lola-MG

Kox/Enge/Davies Ferrari 550 Maranello 43 laps
Burt/Davidson/Turner Ferrari 550 Maranello
Policand/Alphand/Dor Ferrari 550 Maranello

Luhr/Maasen/Collard Porsche 911 41 laps
Buckler/Bergmeister/Bernhard Porsche 911
Yogo/Nishizawa/Iida Porsche 911