LM24 H17: Tom Kristensen on course for record ninth victory

The Dane, who has won the race more times than anybody else, but has not claimed victory since 2008, is now comfortably more than a lap ahead of the field in his #2 R18 e-tron quattro.

Stephane Sarrazin and Alex Wurz are still second and third in their Toyotas with Lucas di Grassi losing time in his chase of the #7 TS030 HYBRID when he overshot his pit box during a stop and had to be pushed back.

The ultra-close battle between the OAK Racing Morgan-Nissans for LMP2 victory continued; Bertrand Baguette's #35 machine only slightly increasing its advantage over the #24 machine - now with David Heinemeier Hansson at the wheel - to 24s.

Jann Mardenborough continues to hold third in Greaves Motorsport's #42 Zytek-Nissan, despite the best efforts of Mike Conway - 50s behind - to bring his #26 G-Drive/Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan back into contention, having led the class early on.

Mardenborough's Greaves team-mate Tom Kimber-Smith dropped to 15th in class after spending time in the pits for a second burst of major suspension repairs.

The TDS ORECA, seven in the classification, was in the garage as the hour ticked over; a nose change necessary to Maxime Martin's car.

Richard Lietz has pegged his #92 Porsche's deficit to GTE Pro leader Bruno Senna's #99 Aston Martin at 39s, the Austrian losing nothing in the past hour.

Christophe Bourret has taken over the GTE Am-leading #76 Imsa Porsche but is lapping over 10s slower than Lorenzo Case in the #55 AF Corse Ferrari.

POSITIONS AFTER 17 HOURS

Pos Cl      Car       Drivers                         Laps  Gap
 1. P1  #2  Audi      Kristensen/McNish/Duval         253   
 2. P1  #8  Toyota    Davidson/Sarrazin/Buemi         252   +     1 Lap
 3. P1  #7  Toyota    Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima          251   +    2 Laps
 4. P1  #3  Audi      Gene/Jarvis/di Grassi           251   + 1m42.286s
 5. P1  #13 Lola      Beche/Belicchi/Cheng            245   +    8 Laps
 6. P1  #12 Lola      Prost/Jani/Heidfeld             242   +   11 Laps
 7. P1  #1  Audi      Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler       242   +   48.332s
 8. P1  #21 HPD       Leventis/Kane/Watts             241   +   12 Laps
 9. P2  #35 Morgan    Baguette/Plowman/Gonzalez       238   +   15 Laps
10. P2  #24 Morgan    Pla/Brundle/H Hansson           238   +   34.830s
11. P2  #42 Zytek     Krumm/Mardenborough/Ordonez     236   +   17 Laps
12. P2  #26 Oreca     Rusinov/Martin/Conway           236   +   52.053s
13. P2  #49 Oreca     P-Companc/Kaffer/Minassian      235   +   18 Laps
14. P2  #43 Morgan    Gachnang/Mailleux/Lombard       233   +   20 Laps
15. P2  #46 Oreca     Thiriet/Badey/Martin            233   +    4.154s
16. P2  #38 Zytek     Dolan/Turvey/Luhr               231   +   22 Laps
17. P2  #33 HPD       Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe       230   +   23 Laps
18. P2  #47 Morgan    Imperatori/Howson/Tung          229   +   24 Laps
19. P2  #48 Oreca     Hartley/Chandhok/Patterson      229   + 1m13.638s
20. GTP #99 Aston     Makowiecki/Senna/Bell           228   +   25 Laps
21. GTP #92 Porsche   Lieb/Richard Lietz/Dumas        228   +   28.955s
22. GTP #97 Aston     Mucke/Turner/Dumbreck           227   +   26 Laps
23. P2  #36 Alpine    Ragues/Panciatici/Gommendy      227   + 1m07.703s
24. GTP #91 Porsche   Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard      227   + 1m15.210s
25. GTP #51 Ferrari   Bruni/Fisichella/Malucelli      227   + 3m33.012s
26. P2  #34 Oreca     Frey/Niederhauser/Bleekemolen   227   + 3m53.007s
27. GTP #71 Ferrari   Beretta/Kobayashi/Vilander      226   +   27 Laps
28. GTP #74 Corvette  Gavin/Milner/Westbrook          225   +   28 Laps
29. GTP #73 Corvette  Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor         224   +   29 Laps
30. GTA #76 Porsche   Narac/Vernay/Bourret            221   +   32 Laps
31. GTA #55 Ferrari   Perazzini/O'Young/Case          220   +   33 Laps
32. GTP #98 Aston     Dalla Lana/Lamy/Auberlen        220   +   34.765s
33. GTP #53 SRT       Farnbacher/Goossens/Dalziel     220   + 1m55.330s
34. P2  #32 Lotus     Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz        219   +   34 Laps
35. GTA #77 Porsche   Dempsey/Foster/Long             219   + 18m46.658s
36. GTA #61 Ferrari   Gerber/Griffin/Cioci            219   + 20m50.988s
37. P2  #41 Zytek     Rossi/K-Smith/Lux               219   + 22m13.378s
38. GTA #50 Corvette  Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor         218   +   35 Laps
39. P2  #40 Oreca     Dagoneau/Downs/Younessi         217   +   36 Laps
40. GTA #67 Porsche   Gibon/Milesi/Henzler            217   + 1m28.404s
41. GTP #93 SRT       Wittmer/Kendall/Bomarito        217   + 2m19.473s
42. GTA #96 Aston     Goethe/Campbell-Walter/Hall     217   + 2m46.063s
43. GTP #66 Ferrari   Bertolini/Faisal/Qubaisi        216   +   37 Laps
44. GTA #75 Porsche   Collard/Perrodo/Crubile         215   +   38 Laps
45. GTA #88 Porsche   Ried/Roda/Ruberti               214   +   39 Laps
46. GTA #81 Ferrari   Potolicchio/Aguas/Bright        210   +   43 Laps
47. P2  #45 Morgan    Nicolet/Merlin/Mondolot         207   +   46 Laps
48. P2  #39 Lola      Porta/Brandela/Raffin           196   +   57 Laps
49. GTA #70 Corvette  MacNeil/Rodrigues/Dumas         184   +   69 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