LM24 H11: Allan McNish resumes, Audi remains in control

The Briton inherited a one-lap lead from team-mate Tom Kristensen and continued where the Dane had left off, easing away from the chasing Toyota TS030s.

Anthony Davidson, who took over from Stephane Sarrazin in the #8 HYBRID, surrendered around one second per lap to McNish across the final 30 minutes of the 11th hour.

Nicolas Lapierre in the sister #7 machine was able to lap slightly faster and closed to within 18s of the Briton.

Oliver Jarvis is keeping both Toyotas honest in fourth, like McNish able to gain time on Toyota with every lap of the La Sarthe track.

Long-time race leader Andre Lotterer meanwhile resumed control of the #1 Audi, which dropped down the field with a motor generator issue in the seventh hour.

Marcel Fassler completed a three-hour stint before handing over to Lotterer, equalling the five-stint shift Kristensen put in for the #2 squad.

Andrea Belicchi continues to lead the sister Rebellion Lola-Toyota by three laps in the fight for fifth overall. Nick Heidfeld is now installed in the second machine.

There were driver changes too in LMP2, with Alex Brundle relieving Olivier Pla following the latter's superb stint in the #24 OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan.

The Briton continued Pla's steady pursuit of its leading sister #35 car, although the gap widened to just over one minute as the pitstops cycled through. Brundle has been regularly lapping three seconds faster than Ricardo Gonzalez however.

Oliver Turvey moved ahead of fellow Zytek-Nissan driver Lucas Ordonez in the battle for third, with Ordonez just ahead of a storming Lotterer in 11th overall.

The battle for GTE Pro class honours continues to rage, although Rob Bell preserved the #99 Aston Martin's breathing space over the #92 Manthey Porsche and sister #97 Vantage.

Darren Turner in the latter machine was just one second behind Lieb at the end of the 11th hour.

Jean-Karl Vernay meanwhile moved into the lead of the GTE Am class, his cause aided when Patrick Dempsey was tipped into a spin in the Dunlop Esses.

The American's #77 squad now lies fourth in class, behind the #55 and #61 AF Corse Ferraris.

POSITIONS AFTER 11 HOURS

Pos Cl      Car       Drivers                         Laps  Gap
 1. P1  #2  Audi      Kristensen/McNish/Duval         166   
 2. P1  #8  Toyota    Davidson/Sarrazin/Buemi         165   +     1 Lap
 3. P1  #7  Toyota    Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima          165   +   17.120s
 4. P1  #3  Audi      Gene/Jarvis/di Grassi           164   +    2 Laps
 5. P1  #13 Lola      Beche/Belicchi/Cheng            161   +    5 Laps
 6. P1  #12 Lola      Prost/Jani/Heidfeld             159   +    7 Laps
 7. P1  #21 HPD       Leventis/Kane/Watts             159   +   18.004s
 8. P2  #35 Morgan    Baguette/Plowman/Gonzalez       156   +   10 Laps
 9. P2  #24 Morgan    Pla/Brundle/H Hansson           156   + 1m09.546s
10. P2  #38 Zytek     Dolan/Turvey/Luhr               155   +   11 Laps
11. P2  #42 Zytek     Krumm/Mardenborough/Ordonez     155   +   58.520s
12. P2  #26 Oreca     Rusinov/Martin/Conway           155   + 2m02.713s
13. P1  #1  Audi      Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler       155   + 2m10.586s
14. P2  #46 Oreca     Thiriet/Badey/Martin            155   + 2m38.362s
15. P2  #49 Oreca     P-Companc/Kaffer/Minassian      155   + 3m24.578s
16. P2  #43 Morgan    Gachnang/Mailleux/Lombard       153   +   13 Laps
17. P2  #33 HPD       Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe       151   +   15 Laps
18. P2  #32 Lotus     Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz        151   +    1.674s
19. P2  #47 Morgan    Imperatori/Howson/Tung          151   +   39.427s
20. GTP #99 Aston     Makowiecki/Senna/Bell           150   +   16 Laps
21. GTP #92 Porsche   Lieb/Richard Lietz/Dumas        150   + 1m03.031s
22. GTP #97 Aston     Mucke/Turner/Dumbreck           150   + 1m04.077s
23. P2  #48 Oreca     Hartley/Chandhok/Patterson      149   +   17 Laps
24. P2  #30 Lola      Mowlem/Burgess/Hirschi          149   +   27.769s
25. GTP #91 Porsche   Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard      149   +   29.740s
26. GTP #51 Ferrari   Bruni/Fisichella/Malucelli      148   +   18 Laps
27. GTP #71 Ferrari   Beretta/Kobayashi/Vilander      148   + 1m10.529s
28. GTP #74 Corvette  Gavin/Milner/Westbrook          148   + 1m17.171s
29. GTP #98 Aston     Dalla Lana/Lamy/Auberlen        148   + 1m49.273s
30. GTP #73 Corvette  Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor         147   +   19 Laps
31. P2  #34 Oreca     Frey/Niederhauser/Bleekemolen   147   + 1m36.603s
32. P2  #45 Morgan    Nicolet/Merlin/Mondolot         146   +   20 Laps
33. P2  #36 Alpine    Ragues/Panciatici/Gommendy      146   + 1m19.026s
34. P2  #41 Zytek     Rossi/K-Smith/Lux               146   + 1m37.236s
35. GTA #76 Porsche   Narac/Vernay/Bourret            145   +   21 Laps
36. GTA #55 Ferrari   Perazzini/O'Young/Case          145   +   39.276s
37. GTP #93 SRT       Wittmer/Kendall/Bomarito        144   +   22 Laps
38. GTA #61 Ferrari   Gerber/Griffin/Cioci            144   +   15.676s
39. GTA #77 Porsche   Dempsey/Foster/Long             144   + 1m20.119s
40. GTA #88 Porsche   Ried/Roda/Ruberti               144   + 2m58.100s
41. P2  #40 Oreca     Dagoneau/Downs/Younessi         143   +   23 Laps
42. GTP #53 SRT       Farnbacher/Goossens/Dalziel     143   + 1m31.212s
43. GTA #75 Porsche   Collard/Perrodo/Crubile         143   + 2m14.003s
44. GTA #50 Corvette  Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor         143   + 2m25.856s
45. GTA #96 Aston     Goethe/Campbell-Walter/Hall     143   + 2m37.945s
46. GTA #67 Porsche   Gibon/Milesi/Henzler            142   +   24 Laps
47. GTP #66 Ferrari   Bertolini/Faisal/Qubaisi        142   + 1m08.550s
48. GTA #54 Ferrari   Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank        135   +   31 Laps
49. P2  #39 Lola      Porta/Brandela/Raffin           134   +   32 Laps
50. GTA #81 Ferrari   Potolicchio/Aguas/Bright        133   +   33 Laps
51. GTA #70 Corvette  MacNeil/Rodrigues/Dumas         131   +   35 Laps
52. GTA #57 Ferrari   Krohn/Jonsson/Mediani           111       Retired
53. P2  #25 Oreca     Graves/Hamilton/Nakano          101       Retired
54. P2  #28 Lola      Giroix/Haezebrouck/Ihara        22        Retired
55. P2  #31 Lotus     Weeda/Rossiter/Bouchut          17        Retired
56. GTA #95 Aston     Simonsen/Nygaard/Poulsen        2         Retired