Le Mans 24 Hours: Marc Gene puts Mark Webber Porsche a lap down
The leading Audi R18 e-tron quattro put the second-placed Porsche a lap down over the course of the 18th hour of the Le Mans 24 Hours
Audi driver Marc Gene comprehensively outpaced the Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Mark Webber and was able to lap him into the Dunlop Chicane just after halfway through the hour.
Gene subsequently stopped for fuel, but the Audi's one-lap advantage was restored when Webber made his scheduled stop for fuel.
The #2 Audi was consistently the fastest car on the circuit as Marcel Fassler strived to make up the ground lost with a 20-minute stop to replace the turbocharger in the previous hour.
The Swiss was consistently five or six seconds a lap faster than ex-Formula 1 driver Webber, suggesting that Audi can make it a one-two before the end of the race.
The fourth-place Toyota was nine laps down, but setting fast times in the remaining TS040 HYBRID.
The #35 OAK Ligier continues to dominate LMP2, with Jann Mardenborough leading the #36 Signatech Alpine ORECA, which was taken over by Paul-Loup Chatin shortly before the 18-hour mark.
Ludovic Badey runs third in the #46 TDS Ligier, while the #38 Jota Sport Zytek of Oliver Turvey has moved up to fourth after the #34 Race Performance ORECA had a lengthy stay in the pits to fix a problem.
Rene Rast is now fifth in the Sebastian Loeb Racing ORECA.
The remaining GTE Pro Aston Martin Vantage and AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia engaged in a thrilling fight for class honours through the hour.
Stefan Mucke took the lead from Giancarlo Fisichella early on, but the Ferrari fought back in Gianmaria Bruni's hands and was challenging Bruno Senna for the top spot in class at the top of the hour and looking set to take the lead.
In GTE Am, the #95 Aston Martin has a two-lap lead over the #88 Porsche.
POSITIONS AFTER 18 HOURS Pos Cl Car Drivers Laps Gap 1. LMP1 #1 Audi Di Grassi/Gene/Kristensen 279 2. LMP1 #20 Porsche Bernhard/Webber/Hartley 278 + 1 Lap 3. LMP1 #2 Audi Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer 277 + 2 Laps 4. LMP1 #8 Toyota Davidson/Lapierre/Buemi 271 + 8 Laps 5. LMP1 #14 Porsche Dumas/Jani/Lieb 269 + 10 Laps 6. LMP2 #35 Ligier Brundle/Mardenborough/Shulzhitskiy 263 + 16 Laps 7. LMP2 #36 Alpine Chatin/Panciatici/Webb 262 + 17 Laps 8. LMP2 #46 Ligier Thiriet/Badey/Gommendy 262 + 2.087s 9. LMP1 #12 Rebellion Prost/Heidfeld/Beche 261 + 18 Laps 10. LMP2 #38 Zytek Dolan/Tincknell/Turvey 260 + 19 Laps 11. LMP2 #24 Oreca Rast/Charouz/Capillaire 259 + 20 Laps 12. LMP2 #43 Morgan Klien/Hirsch/Brandela 258 + 21 Laps 13. LMP2 #34 Oreca Frey/Mailleux/Lancaster 257 + 22 Laps 14. LMP2 #33 Ligier Cheng/Tung/Fong 254 + 25 Laps 15. LMP2 #42 Zytek Kimber-Smith/McMurry/Dyson 252 + 27 Laps 16. GTEP #97 Aston Turner/Mucke/Senna 250 + 29 Laps 17. GTEP #51 Ferrari Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella 250 + 0.830s 18. LMP2 #50 Morgan Ragues/Taylor/Ihara 248 + 31 Laps 19. GTEP #92 Porsche Holzer/Makowiecki/Lietz 248 + 43.125s 20. LMP2 #29 Morgan Schell/Leutwiller/Roussel 248 + 1m56.296s 21. GTEP #73 Chevrolet Magnussen/Garcia/Taylor 247 + 32 Laps 22. LMP2 #27 Oreca Zlobin/Salo/Ladygin 247 + 58.782s 23. GTEA #95 Aston Poulsen/Heinemeier-Hansson/Thiim 246 + 33 Laps 24. GTEA #88 Porsche Ried/Bachler/Al Qubaisi 244 + 35 Laps 25. GTEA #61 Ferrari Perez-Companc/Cioci/Venturi 243 + 36 Laps 26. GTEP #74 Chevrolet Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 242 + 37 Laps 27. GTEA #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Collins 242 + 18.241s 28. GTEA #90 Ferrari Montecalvo/Roda/Ruberti 242 + 1m37.514s 29. GTEA #77 Porsche Dempsey/Foster/Long 242 + 1m38.281s 30. GTEA #66 Ferrari Al Faisal/Neiman/Pumpelly 240 + 39 Laps 31. GTEA #70 Ferrari Nakano/Ehret/Rich 240 + 13.469s 32. GTEA #98 Aston Dalla Lana/Lamy/Nygaard 239 + 40 Laps 33. GTEA #58 Ferrari Barthez/Pons/Ayari 239 + 35.887s 34. GTEA #76 Porsche Narac/Armindo/Hallyday 236 + 43 Laps 35. GTEP #79 Porsche MacNeil/Curtis/Bleekemolen 233 + 46 Laps 36. GTEA #67 Porsche Maris/Merlin/Helary 232 + 47 Laps 37. GTEA #53 Ferrari Mowlem/Patterson/Hamilton 231 + 48 Laps 38. GTEP #91 Porsche Pilet/Bergmeister/Tandy 219 + 60 Laps 39. GTEA #62 Ferrari Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank 212 + 67 Laps 40. LMP1 #7 Toyota Wurz/Sarrazin/Nakajima 219 Retired 41. GTEA #72 Ferrari Bertolini/Shaitar/Basov 196 Retired 42. GTEA #75 Porsche Perrodo/Collard/Palttala 194 Retired 43. GTEP #52 Ferrari Griffin/Parente/Leo 140 Retired 44. LMP2 #26 Morgan Rusinov/Pla/Canal 120 Retired 45. GTEA #60 Ferrari Mann/Case/Giammaria 115 Retired 46. LMP2 #47 Oreca Howson/Bradley/Imperatori 87 Retired 47. LMP1 #13 Rebellion Kraihamer/Belicchi/Leimer 73 Retired 48. LMP2 #48 Oreca Berthon/Gonzalez/Chandhok 73 Retired 49. LMP2 #41 Zytek Munemman/Latif/Winslow 31 Retired 50. GTEP #71 Ferrari Rigon/Kaffer/Beretta 28 Retired 51. LMP1 #3 Audi Albuquerque/Bonanomi/Jarvis 25 Retired 52. GTEA #81 Ferrari Wyatt/Rugolo/Bird 22 Retired 53. LMP2 #37 Oreca Ladygin/Minassian/Mediani 9 Retired 54. CDNT #0 Nissan Ordonez/Reip/Motoyama 5 Retired
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