LM24 H14: Lead battle remains tense as Toyota closes on Audi
The battle for the lead of the Le Mans 24 Hours remained tense during the race's 14th hour as Sebastien Buemi's Toyota reduced the advantage of Loic Duval's Audi to just over two minutes
With the safety car pitting 10 minutes into the hour after 60 minutes on track, and the earlier rain easing off, Duval was able to switch from intermediate to slick rubber during his stint and hold his lead as he reached the 200-lap mark.
Buemi was 2m06s behind with Alex Wurz a further 1m10s down the road in the #7 TS030 HYBRID.
Nick Heidfeld had fallen a spot to sixth in his #12 Rebellion Lola-Toyota as a result of five minutes in the pits as the team tried to solve a gearbox problem.
At exactly the same time Jonny Kane spun the #21 Strakka HPD into the gravel at the Ford chicane, albeit not losing his seventh place.
The OAK Racing Morgan-Nissans continued to dispute the lead of LMP2; Martin Plowman in the #35 car ending the hour in front of Olivier Pla's #24 machine by just 18s.
Jota driver Lucas Luhr continued to hold third spot in his Zytek-Nissan with Michael Krumm's #42 Greaves machine next up.
Ludovic Badey's chase of the podium spots was stunted by a spin at the first Mulsanne chicane in his #46 TDS ORECA.
Romain Dumas continued to lead GTE Pro in the #92 Porsche, Frederic Makowiecki 1m20s behind in the #99 Aston Martin and the sister machine of Darren Turner a lap back.
Raymond Narac, aiming for his first Le Mans class win since 2007, leads GTE Am by over a lap in the #76 Imsa Porsche from Darryl O'Young's #55 AF Corse Ferrari.
POSITIONS AFTER 14 HOURS Pos Cl Car Drivers Laps Gap 1. P1 #2 Audi Kristensen/McNish/Duval 202 2. P1 #8 Toyota Davidson/Sarrazin/Buemi 202 + 2m06.066s 3. P1 #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima 201 + 1 Lap 4. P1 #3 Audi Gene/Jarvis/di Grassi 201 + 5m07.819s 5. P1 #13 Lola Beche/Belicchi/Cheng 196 + 6 Laps 6. P1 #12 Lola Prost/Jani/Heidfeld 194 + 8 Laps 7. P1 #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts 194 + 3m58.715s 8. P1 #1 Audi Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler 192 + 10 Laps 9. P2 #35 Morgan Baguette/Plowman/Gonzalez 191 + 11 Laps 10. P2 #24 Morgan Pla/Brundle/H Hansson 191 + 18.616s 11. P2 #38 Zytek Dolan/Turvey/Luhr 190 + 12 Laps 12. P2 #42 Zytek Krumm/Mardenborough/Ordonez 190 + 28.944s 13. P2 #46 Oreca Thiriet/Badey/Martin 189 + 13 Laps 14. P2 #26 Oreca Rusinov/Martin/Conway 189 + 2m08.047s 15. P2 #49 Oreca P-Companc/Kaffer/Minassian 189 + 3m41.410s 16. P2 #43 Morgan Gachnang/Mailleux/Lombard 188 + 14 Laps 17. P2 #32 Lotus Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz 185 + 17 Laps 18. P2 #33 HPD Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe 184 + 18 Laps 19. GTP #92 Porsche Lieb/Richard Lietz/Dumas 184 + 1m16.665s 20. P2 #48 Oreca Hartley/Chandhok/Patterson 183 + 19 Laps 21. GTP #99 Aston Makowiecki/Senna/Bell 183 + 1m23.053s 22. P2 #47 Morgan Imperatori/Howson/Tung 183 + 3m04.597s 23. GTP #97 Aston Mucke/Turner/Dumbreck 183 + 3m06.242s 24. GTP #91 Porsche Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard 183 + 4m17.263s 25. GTP #51 Ferrari Bruni/Fisichella/Malucelli 182 + 20 Laps 26. GTP #71 Ferrari Beretta/Kobayashi/Vilander 182 + 2m25.932s 27. GTP #74 Corvette Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 181 + 21 Laps 28. P2 #36 Alpine Ragues/Panciatici/Gommendy 181 + 1m08.362s 29. P2 #41 Zytek Rossi/K-Smith/Lux 180 + 22 Laps 30. P2 #34 Oreca Frey/Niederhauser/Bleekemolen 180 + 1m10.461s 31. GTP #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor 180 + 2m22.365s 32. GTP #98 Aston Dalla Lana/Lamy/Auberlen 180 + 2m27.439s 33. P2 #45 Morgan Nicolet/Merlin/Mondolot 179 + 23 Laps 34. GTA #76 Porsche Narac/Vernay/Bourret 178 + 24 Laps 35. GTP #93 SRT Wittmer/Kendall/Bomarito 177 + 25 Laps 36. GTA #55 Ferrari Perazzini/O'Young/Case 177 + 1m49.099s 37. GTA #61 Ferrari Gerber/Griffin/Cioci 177 + 3m12.310s 38. GTA #77 Porsche Dempsey/Foster/Long 177 + 4m20.308s 39. GTP #53 SRT Farnbacher/Goossens/Dalziel 176 + 26 Laps 40. GTA #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti 176 + 1.763s 41. GTA #96 Aston Goethe/Campbell-Walter/Hall 176 + 2m01.436s 42. GTA #75 Porsche Collard/Perrodo/Crubile 175 + 27 Laps 43. GTA #67 Porsche Gibon/Milesi/Henzler 175 + 25.464s 44. GTA #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor 175 + 35.233s 45. P2 #40 Oreca Dagoneau/Downs/Younessi 175 + 1m14.752s 46. GTP #66 Ferrari Bertolini/Faisal/Qubaisi 173 + 29 Laps 47. GTA #81 Ferrari Potolicchio/Aguas/Bright 166 + 36 Laps 48. P2 #39 Lola Porta/Brandela/Raffin 159 + 43 Laps 49. GTA #70 Corvette MacNeil/Rodrigues/Dumas 144 + 58 Laps 50. P2 #30 Lola Mowlem/Burgess/Hirschi 153 Retired 51. GTA #54 Ferrari Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank 147 Retired 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
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