LM24 H16: Loic Duval opens up one-lap advantage for Audi

Duval's pace in the #2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro was matched only by the recovering #1 machine of Benoit Treluyer, 11 laps behind in eighth, and the former made the most of this to put a lap on the second-placed TS030 HYBRID of Buemi.

The #3 Audi of Marc Gene had closed to within two minutes of Alex Wurz's #7 Toyota, but dropped a lap behind after making an additional stop.

Mathias Beche remained fifth in the Rebellion-Lola while Treluyer closed on the #21 Strakka HPD for seventh and is now a little over two minutes behind.

Bertrand Baguette moved the #35 OAK Morgan-Nissan to the front of the LMP2 class, the first of the two Morgan-Nissans establishing a 35s lead over team-mate Olivier Pla, who had previously been 20s clear himself.

Jann Mardenborough continued to run third in the #42 Greaves Zytek-Nissan despite running off the track at the Ford and first Mulsanne chicanes. He is now under pressure from Mike Conway in the G-Drive/Delta-ADR #26 ORECA-Nissan.

The #33 Level 5 HPD - ninth in class -caught the eye thanks to another fire in the pitlane. Marino Franchitti, who handed the car over to Scott Tucker, confirmed the regular infernos were affecting the driveability of the car's engine.

Romain Brandela again attracted negative attention - this time an off on his own at Mulsanne Corner after making a mistake in the #39 DKR Lola-Judd.

The #32 Lotus-Praga also went off at Mulsanne Corner, though Dominik Kraihamer went much further and ended up deep into the gravel, requiring a tow.

A near-four minute pitstop to change the brake discs on the #92 Manthey Porsche of Richard Lietz handed the GTE Pro lead to Bruno Senna. He initially had a 45s lead over Lietz, but the Austrian narrowed the margin to 39s.

The #76 Imsa Porsche continued to lead the GTE Am class. Jean-Karl Vernay took over from Raymond Narac and remains ahead of the #55 and #61 AF Ferraris after Jack Gerber spun the latter machine.

POSITIONS AFTER 16 HOURS

Pos Cl      Car       Drivers                         Laps  Gap
 1. P1  #2  Audi      Kristensen/McNish/Duval         236   
 2. P1  #8  Toyota    Davidson/Sarrazin/Buemi         235   +     1 Lap
 3. P1  #7  Toyota    Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima          235   + 2m14.820s
 4. P1  #3  Audi      Gene/Jarvis/di Grassi           234   +    2 Laps
 5. P1  #13 Lola      Beche/Belicchi/Cheng            229   +    7 Laps
 6. P1  #12 Lola      Prost/Jani/Heidfeld             226   +   10 Laps
 7. P1  #21 HPD       Leventis/Kane/Watts             226   + 1m52.012s
 8. P1  #1  Audi      Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler       225   +   11 Laps
 9. P2  #24 Morgan    Pla/Brundle/H Hansson           222   +   14 Laps
10. P2  #35 Morgan    Baguette/Plowman/Gonzalez       222   +   27.135s
11. P2  #42 Zytek     Krumm/Mardenborough/Ordonez     221   +   15 Laps
12. P2  #26 Oreca     Rusinov/Martin/Conway           220   +   16 Laps
13. P2  #46 Oreca     Thiriet/Badey/Martin            220   + 1m14.018s
14. P2  #49 Oreca     P-Companc/Kaffer/Minassian      220   + 3m23.858s
15. P2  #43 Morgan    Gachnang/Mailleux/Lombard       218   +   18 Laps
16. P2  #38 Zytek     Dolan/Turvey/Luhr               215   +   21 Laps
17. P2  #33 HPD       Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe       215   + 2m26.860s
18. P2  #48 Oreca     Hartley/Chandhok/Patterson      214   +   22 Laps
19. P2  #47 Morgan    Imperatori/Howson/Tung          214   +   57.137s
20. GTP #99 Aston     Makowiecki/Senna/Bell           213   +   23 Laps
21. GTP #92 Porsche   Lieb/Richard Lietz/Dumas        213   +   39.017s
22. GTP #97 Aston     Mucke/Turner/Dumbreck           213   + 1m10.177s
23. GTP #91 Porsche   Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard      212   +   24 Laps
24. GTP #51 Ferrari   Bruni/Fisichella/Malucelli      212   + 2m22.143s
25. P2  #36 Alpine    Ragues/Panciatici/Gommendy      211   +   25 Laps
26. P2  #34 Oreca     Frey/Niederhauser/Bleekemolen   211   + 2m08.752s
27. GTP #71 Ferrari   Beretta/Kobayashi/Vilander      211   + 2m16.614s
28. P2  #41 Zytek     Rossi/K-Smith/Lux               211   + 2m41.153s
29. GTP #74 Corvette  Gavin/Milner/Westbrook          210   +   26 Laps
30. GTP #73 Corvette  Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor         209   +   27 Laps
31. P2  #32 Lotus     Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz        209   + 1m42.488s
32. GTA #76 Porsche   Narac/Vernay/Bourret            207   +   29 Laps
33. GTP #98 Aston     Dalla Lana/Lamy/Auberlen        206   +   30 Laps
34. GTA #55 Ferrari   Perazzini/O'Young/Case          206   + 11m25.778s
35. GTA #61 Ferrari   Gerber/Griffin/Cioci            206   + 12m52.722s
36. GTA #77 Porsche   Dempsey/Foster/Long             205   +   31 Laps
37. GTP #53 SRT       Farnbacher/Goossens/Dalziel     205   + 2m10.365s
38. GTA #67 Porsche   Gibon/Milesi/Henzler            204   +   32 Laps
39. GTA #50 Corvette  Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor         204   +   56.072s
40. P2  #40 Oreca     Dagoneau/Downs/Younessi         203   +   33 Laps
41. GTP #93 SRT       Wittmer/Kendall/Bomarito        203   + 2m22.424s
42. GTA #96 Aston     Goethe/Campbell-Walter/Hall     202   +   34 Laps
43. GTP #66 Ferrari   Bertolini/Faisal/Qubaisi        202   + 3m57.551s
44. GTA #75 Porsche   Collard/Perrodo/Crubile         201   +   35 Laps
45. GTA #88 Porsche   Ried/Roda/Ruberti               199   +   37 Laps
46. P2  #45 Morgan    Nicolet/Merlin/Mondolot         197   +   39 Laps
47. GTA #81 Ferrari   Potolicchio/Aguas/Bright        195   +   41 Laps
48. P2  #39 Lola      Porta/Brandela/Raffin           182   +   54 Laps
49. GTA #70 Corvette  MacNeil/Rodrigues/Dumas         171   +   65 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