Hour 9: Keeping the pressure up

Capello has put in a triple stint in the sauna like conditions of the Bentley cab. It's very hot and humid tonight, and even the moving air offers little respite.

The Audis are running 45-seconds apart, with the Lehto/Johanssen/Pirro R8 still leading the Magnussen/Ara/Werner machine, both cars finding it increasingly difficult to hang onto the Bentleys.

Pitstops have swapped the Lammers/Bosch/Wallace Dome and the Beretta/Papis/Jeanette Panoz in fifth and sixth, respectively. On lap 132 Jan Lammers managed to nick 4.2s off Olivier Beretta, but there was unexpected trouble in store for Beretta who tossed the car into the cat litter after running over debris.

"My tyre exploded at 300kph," exclaimed the excited Monegasque. "I was very lucky to get back to the pits. It was a big moment."

There have been six retirements from the race so far but there will doubtless be more before the sun comes up. As this story is published, news is coming through of an off for the #4 Riley Scott car in eighth.

Kristensen/Capello/Smith Bentley 142 laps
Brabham/Herbert/Blundell Bentley 141 laps
Pirro/Lehto/Johansson Audi 140 laps
Ara/Magnussen/Werner Audi 140 laps
Lammers/Bosch/Wallace Dome-Judd 135 laps
Beretta/Jeannette/Papis Panoz 135 laps
Cochet/Gounon/Gregoire Courage-Judd 134 laps
Saelens/Maxwell/Leuenberger Panoz 133 laps
Helary/Ayari/Minassian Courage-Peugeot 133 laps
Goossens/Matthews/Tinseau Riley & Scott 133 laps

Andre/Maury-Laribiere/Pillon Reynard-Lehman 123 laps
Terada/Porta/Pickering WR Peugeot 118 laps
Briere/Daoudi/Defournoux 114 laps

Kox/Enge/Davies Ferrari 550 129 laps
Burt/Davidson/Turner Ferrari 550 128 laps
Policand/Alphand/Dor Ferrari 550 126 laps

Luhr/Maasen/Collard Porsche 911 121 laps
Yogo/Nishizawa/Iida Porsche 911 120 laps
Mowlem/Lewis/Leitzinger Porsche 911 119 laps