Le Mans 24 Hours 19th hour: Dindo Capello keeps Marcel Fassler at bay in Audi e-tron battle
There remains nothing to choose between the two Audi e-trons going into the final five hours of Le Mans, with the #2 car of Dindo Capello half a minute ahead of Marcel Fassler in the #1
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
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