Le Mans Hour 22: McNish suffers crash, handing Treluyer the race lead

The Scott attempted to tighten his line to move inside the #59 Luxury Racing Ferrari 458, only for the rear of the car to break loose, sending him into the barriers and causing frontal damage to the bodywork.

The accident followed shortly after #3 Audi ultra driver Marc Gene crashed at the Mulsanne Chicane in almost identical fashion to team-mate Romain Dumas's accident at the same spot yesterday evening.

The Spanish driver understeered on the exit of the chicane and went into the tyre barrier nose first, damaging the front bodywork and the right-hand side suspension.

The safety car was brought out as both Audis limped back to the pits under their own power and slick work from the Audi team meant that McNish only lost two laps while his e-tron was repaired.

Gene was less fortunate and dropped behind Neel Jani in the #12 Rebellion Lola, which is in turn behind Oliver Jarvis in the third-placed #4 Audi R18 ultra.

The safety car returned to the pits with 20 minutes of the hour left and the race continued unabated.

Tom Kimber-Smith continues to lead the LMP2 class in the #44 HPD-Honda from Christophe Tinseau in the #46 ORECA-Nissan, with only one minute separating them.

Gianmaria Bruni leads the GT Pro category in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari and Raymond Narac heads the GT Am class in the #67 Porsche.

NOTES

- Allan McNish spins at the Porsche Curves and hits the barrier, causing damage that drops him two laps behind Benoit Treluyer

- Marc Gene understeers off at the Mulsanne chicane causing damage to the bodywork and suspension

POSITIONS AFTER 22 HOURS

Pos Car            Drivers                      Class  Laps  Gap
 1. #1  Audi       Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer    LMP1   345   
 2. #2  Audi       McNish/Capello/Kristensen    LMP1   344   +     1 Lap
 3. #4  Audi       Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller LMP1   342   +    3 Laps
 4. #12 Lola       Prost/Heidfeld/Jani          LMP1   334   +   11 Laps
 5. #3  Audi       Gene/Dumas/Duval             LMP1   333   +   12 Laps
 6. #22 HPD        Brabham/Dumbreck/Chandhok    LMP1   325   +   20 Laps
 7. #44 HPD        Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith  LMP2   322   +   23 Laps
 8. #46 Oreca      Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau        LMP2   321   +   24 Laps
 9. #49 Oreca      Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari   LMP2   321   + 1m01.992s
10. #26 Oreca      Ragues/Panciatici/Rusinov    LMP2   319   +   26 Laps
11. #13 Lola       Belicchi/Bleekemolen/Primat  LMP1   317   +   28 Laps
12. #41 Zytek      Zugel/Julian/Gonzalez        LMP2   316   +   29 Laps
13. #25 Oreca      Martin/Charouz/Graves        LMP2   314   +   31 Laps
14. #35 Morgan     H Hansson/Leinders/Martin    LMP2   309   +   36 Laps
15. #23 Oreca      Tresson/Mailleux/Lombard     LMP2   308   +   37 Laps
16. #42 Zytek      Brundle/Brundle/Ordonez      LMP2   308   +   50.734s
17. #51 Ferrari    Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander    GTEP   306   +   39 Laps
18. #59 Ferrari    Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher   GTEP   303   +   42 Laps
19. #21 HPD        Leventis/Kane/Watts          LMP1   302   +   43 Laps
20. #97 Aston      Mucke/Fernandez/Turner       GTEP   302   +   44 Laps
21. #67 Porsche    Pons/Armindo/Narac           GTEA   299   +   46 Laps
22. #50 Corvette   Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy        GTEA   299   +   29.612s
23. #73 Corvette   Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor      GTEP   296   +   49 Laps
24. #71 Ferrari    Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci      GTEP   296   + 1m30.475s
25. #45 Oreca      Briere/Nakano/Petersen       LMP2   295   +   50 Laps
26. #57 Ferrari    Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo         GTEA   294   +   51 Laps
27. #40 Oreca      Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry        LMP2   290   +   55 Laps
28. #79 Porsche    Neiman/Pumpelly/Pilet        GTEA   284   +   61 Laps
29. #70 Corvette   Bourret/Gibon/Belloc         GTEA   281   +   64 Laps
30. #55 Porsche    Daniels/Palttala/Camathias   GTEA   279   +   66 Laps
31. #43 Norma      Rosier/Haezebrouck/Thirion   LMP2   279   + 2m13.749s
32. #61 Ferrari    Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers       GTEA   275   +   70 Laps
33. #83 Ferrari    Rodrigues/Illiano/Ferte      GTEA   264   +   81 Laps
34. #74 Corvette   Gavin/Westbrook/Milner       GTEP   204   +  141 Laps
35. #17 Dome       Minassian/Bourdais/Ara       LMP1   201   +  144 Laps
36. #38 Zytek      Hancock/Dolan/Kurosawa       LMP2   271   Retired
37. #33 HPD        Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz          LMP2   240   Retired
38. #30 Lola       Sims/Buurman/Iannetta        LMP2   239   Retired
39. #88 Porsche    Ried/Roda/Ruberti            GTEA   222   Retired
40. #15 OAK        Montagny/Kraihamer/Baguette  LMP1   219   Retired
41. #66 Ferrari    Walker/Cocker/Wills          GTEP   204   Retired
42. #48 Oreca      Firth/Hartley/Hughes         LMP2   196   Retired
43. #77 Porsche    Lietz/Lieb/Henzler           GTEP   184   Retired
44. #75 Porsche    al Faisal/Curtis/Edwards     GTEA   180   Retired
45. #31 Lola       Holzer/Schultis/Moro         LMP2   155   Retired
46. #58 Ferrari    Ehret/Jeannette/Montecalvo   GTEA   146   Retired
47. #24 Morgan     Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla           LMP2   139   Retired
48. #7  Toyota     Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima       LMP1   134   Retired
49. #80 Porsche    Bergmeister/Long/Holzer      GTEP   114   Retired
50. #28 Lola       Giroix/Badey/Johansson       LMP2   92    Retired
51. #8  Toyota     Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin      LMP1   82    Retired
52. #0  DeltaWing  Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama    CDNT   75    Retired
53. #81 Ferrari    Perazzini/Cadei/Griffin      GTEA   70    Retired
54. #99 Aston      Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen     GTEA   31    Retired
55. #16 Pescarolo  Collard/Bouillon/Hall        LMP1   20    Retired
56. #29 Lola       Ihara/Deletraz/Rostan        LMP2   17    Retired