Le Mans 24 Hours 19th hour: Dindo Capello keeps Marcel Fassler at bay in Audi e-tron battle

Fassler made a fuel stop just before the turn of the hour, having previously been 20 seconds in front as the two cars swap the lead on their divergent pit strategies.

Behind the all-Audi top four, there was bad news for Rebellion Racing. Its #12 car remains fifth, but the #13 lost its sixth place when it had to come into the garage for a clutch change, which is still in progress.

That has elevated the JRM HPD into the top six, and it looks more comfortable now that the chasing Strakka HPD has had a few more delays, including a puncture and a spin.

Starworks continues to lead LMP2, with its nearest rival now the TDS ORECA after Soheil Ayari visited the gravel in the Pecom car and fell to fourth following a resultant pitstop, although he has already reclaimed third from the #26 Signatech car.

NOTES

- #1 Audi gets rear bodywork damage in incident with #74 Corvette, then goes wheel to wheel with #2 after repairs in next pitstop

- Mucke damages the #97 Aston Martin in a crash at Indianapolis, dropping it away from GTE Pro leaders

- The #48 ORECA-Nissan driven by Brendon Hartley has retired after contact with the Status Lola

- Faisal spins the #75 Porsche at Porsche Curves, hitting the wall to bring the safety car out

- Marcel Fassler spins the #1 Audi e-tron at the Porsche curves, handing the lead to McNish

- Dumas tipped into a spin while passing traffic at Ford chicane

- Davidson confirms he sustained a broken back as a result of huge earlier crash

- Westbrook loses a wheel, and with it the lead of the GTE Pro class

- Peter Dumbreck suffers blow-out in the #22 JRM HPD

- Spin at Ford chicane for #21 Strakka HPD

- Problems for the #7 Toyota following collision with DeltaWing at the restart

- #29 Gulf Racing Lola B12 the first official retirement

- #40 hit with a two-minute stop and go penalty for second pitlane speeding offence

- 30s pit stop penalties for #40 and #49 LMP2s for speeding in pitlane

- Audi hits early niggles, with Tom Kristensen the third unexpected delay for the marque across its four cars

- Early GTE Pro scrap between Corvette, Aston Martin and Ferrari

- #99 Aston Martin Vantage suffers early misfire and then retires with damage

POSITIONS AFTER 19 HOURS

Pos Car            Drivers                      Class  Laps  Gap
 1. #2  Audi       McNish/Capello/Kristensen    LMP1   299   
 2. #1  Audi       Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer    LMP1   298   +     1 Lap
 3. #4  Audi       Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller LMP1   296   +    3 Laps
 4. #3  Audi       Gene/Dumas/Duval             LMP1   290   +    9 Laps
 5. #12 Lola       Prost/Heidfeld/Jani          LMP1   289   +   10 Laps
 6. #22 HPD        Brabham/Dumbreck/Chandhok    LMP1   280   +   19 Laps
 7. #13 Lola       Belicchi/Bleekemolen/Primat  LMP1   279   +   20 Laps
 8. #44 HPD        Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith  LMP2   279   + 13m41.915s
 9. #21 HPD        Leventis/Kane/Watts          LMP1   278   +   21 Laps
10. #46 Oreca      Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau        LMP2   278   + 4m29.553s
11. #26 Oreca      Ragues/Panciatici/Rusinov    LMP2   278   + 5m00.840s
12. #49 Oreca      Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari   LMP2   278   + 5m46.413s
13. #25 Oreca      Martin/Charouz/Graves        LMP2   275   +   24 Laps
14. #41 Zytek      Zugel/Julian/Gonzalez        LMP2   274   +   25 Laps
15. #35 Morgan     H Hansson/Leinders/Martin    LMP2   269   +   30 Laps
16. #42 Zytek      Brundle/Brundle/Ordonez      LMP2   265   +   34 Laps
17. #23 Oreca      Tresson/Mailleux/Lombard     LMP2   265   +   17.047s
18. #51 Ferrari    Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander    GTEP   265   + 2m14.013s
19. #59 Ferrari    Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher   GTEP   264   +   35 Laps
20. #97 Aston      Mucke/Fernandez/Turner       GTEP   261   +   38 Laps
21. #38 Zytek      Hancock/Dolan/Kurosawa       LMP2   261   +   59.768s
22. #50 Corvette   Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy        GTEA   258   +   41 Laps
23. #67 Porsche    Pons/Armindo/Narac           GTEA   258   +    7.566s
24. #73 Corvette   Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor      GTEP   258   + 2m23.157s
25. #45 Oreca      Briere/Nakano/Petersen       LMP2   255   +   44 Laps
26. #71 Ferrari    Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci      GTEP   255   +   52.152s
27. #57 Ferrari    Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo         GTEA   254   +   45 Laps
28. #40 Oreca      Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry        LMP2   247   +   52 Laps
29. #70 Corvette   Bourret/Gibon/Belloc         GTEA   244   +   55 Laps
30. #79 Porsche    Neiman/Pumpelly/Pilet        GTEA   244   + 2m04.420s
31. #55 Porsche    Daniels/Palttala/Camathias   GTEA   240   +   59 Laps
32. #43 Norma      Rosier/Haezebrouck/Thirion   LMP2   239   +   60 Laps
33. #61 Ferrari    Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers       GTEA   237   +   62 Laps
34. #83 Ferrari    Rodrigues/Illiano/Ferte      GTEA   225   +   74 Laps
35. #74 Corvette   Gavin/Westbrook/Milner       GTEP   203   +   96 Laps
36. #17 Dome       Minassian/Bourdais/Ara       LMP1   201   +   98 Laps
37. #33 HPD        Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz          LMP2   240   +   59 Laps
38. #30 Lola       Sims/Buurman/Iannetta        LMP2   239   +   60 Laps
39. #88 Porsche    Ried/Roda/Ruberti            GTEA   222   +   77 Laps
40. #15 OAK        Montagny/Kraihamer/Baguette  LMP1   219   +   80 Laps
41. #66 Ferrari    Walker/Cocker/Wills          GTEP   204   +   95 Laps
42. #48 Oreca      Firth/Hartley/Hughes         LMP2   196   +  103 Laps
43. #77 Porsche    Lietz/Lieb/Henzler           GTEP   184   +  115 Laps
44. #75 Porsche    al Faisal/Curtis/Edwards     GTEA   180   +  119 Laps
45. #31 Lola       Holzer/Schultis/Moro         LMP2   155   +  144 Laps
46. #58 Ferrari    Ehret/Jeannette/Montecalvo   GTEA   146   +  153 Laps
47. #24 Morgan     Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla           LMP2   139   +  160 Laps
48. #7  Toyota     Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima       LMP1   134   +  165 Laps
49. #80 Porsche    Bergmeister/Long/Holzer      GTEP   114   +  185 Laps
50. #28 Lola       Giroix/Badey/Johansson       LMP2   92    +  207 Laps
51. #8  Toyota     Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin      LMP1   82    +  217 Laps
52. #0  DeltaWing  Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama    CDNT   75    +  224 Laps
53. #81 Ferrari    Perazzini/Cadei/Griffin      GTEA   70    +  229 Laps
54. #99 Aston      Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen     GTEA   31    +  268 Laps
55. #16 Pescarolo  Collard/Bouillon/Hall        LMP1   20    +  279 Laps
56. #29 Lola       Ihara/Deletraz/Rostan        LMP2   17    +  282 Laps