LM24 H9: Audi's Kristensen on verge of putting Toyotas one lap down
Audi ace Tom Kristensen increased his lead in the ninth hour of the Le Mans 24 Hours and is now on the verge of putting the chasing Toyotas a lap down

Kristensen's metronomic progress has brought his #2 R18 e-tron quattro more than three minutes clear of the #8 and #7 Toyotas of Stephane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima.
The safety car was deployed right at the end of the hour after Tracy Krohn crashed in the Porsche curves, but failed to significantly affect the gap between the first three.
Lucas di Grassi holds fourth, the Brazilian having climbed into the #3 Audi after it had several body panels changed with Marc Gene at the wheel.
Fifth is Andrea Belicchi in the best of the Rebellion Lola-Toyotas, while the formerly-leading Audi, now driven by Marcel Fassler, continues to make up ground and climbed from 21st to 16th.
Bertrand Baguette pitted from the lead of the LMP2 class as the hour came to an end, but the Belgian's #35 OAK Morgan-Nissan was held at the end of the pitlane under red lights for over 30s after Ricardo Gonzalez climbed in.
Olivier Pla (OAK), Jann Mardenborough (Greaves Zytek) and Oliver Turvey (Jota Zytek) were all within a lap as Nissan-engined cars held the top seven positions in the class.
Level 5's slim hopes of a class podium continued to fade as its HPD caught fire for a second time in the pits - this time with Ryan Briscoe at the wheel. The car is now 12th in LMP2.
The GTE Pro-leading #99 Aston Martin was given breathing space when Richard Lietz spun his factory Porsche - ironically at the Porsche curves.
Lietz dropped to third, behind the #99 Aston of Darren Turner, before handing over to co-driver Marc Lieb. Turner is 17s behind team-mate Rob Bell.
The best of the Ferraris, the #51 AF Corse Ferrari of Gianmaria Bruni, is fifth, while Tommy Milner is leading the charge for the factory Corvette squad one place further back in the #74 machine.
Paolo Ruberti ceded the lead of GTE Am to Pat Long, but got it back when the American made his ninth stop of the race late in the hour to hand the reins of the #77 Porsche over to his Dempsey Del Piero team co-owner Patrick Dempsey.
Ruberti, driving the #88 Proton 911 GT3 RSR, leads Dempsey by an ever-increasing margin, now 1m13s.
POSITIONS AFTER NINE HOURS Pos Cl Car Drivers Laps Gap 1. P1 #2 Audi Kristensen/McNish/Duval 134 2. P1 #8 Toyota Davidson/Sarrazin/Buemi 133 + 1 Lap 3. P1 #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima 133 + 2.720s 4. P1 #3 Audi Gene/Jarvis/di Grassi 132 + 2 Laps 5. P1 #13 Lola Beche/Belicchi/Cheng 131 + 3 Laps 6. P1 #12 Lola Prost/Jani/Heidfeld 128 + 6 Laps 7. P1 #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts 128 + 1m51.256s 8. P2 #35 Morgan Baguette/Plowman/Gonzalez 127 + 7 Laps 9. P2 #24 Morgan Pla/Brundle/H Hansson 126 + 8 Laps 10. P2 #42 Zytek Krumm/Mardenborough/Ordonez 126 + 1m07.933s 11. P2 #38 Zytek Dolan/Turvey/Luhr 125 + 9 Laps 12. P2 #26 Oreca Rusinov/Martin/Conway 125 + 3m00.124s 13. P2 #46 Oreca Thiriet/Badey/Martin 125 + 3m01.220s 14. P2 #49 Oreca P-Companc/Kaffer/Minassian 125 + 4m08.025s 15. P2 #43 Morgan Gachnang/Mailleux/Lombard 124 + 10 Laps 16. P1 #1 Audi Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler 123 + 11 Laps 17. P2 #32 Lotus Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz 122 + 12 Laps 18. P2 #34 Oreca Frey/Niederhauser/Bleekemolen 122 + 9.324s 19. P2 #47 Morgan Imperatori/Howson/Tung 122 + 11.657s 20. GTP #99 Aston Makowiecki/Senna/Bell 122 + 34.501s 21. GTP #97 Aston Mucke/Turner/Dumbreck 121 + 13 Laps 22. GTP #92 Porsche Lieb/Richard Lietz/Dumas 121 + 26.306s 23. P2 #33 HPD Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe 121 + 1m10.404s 24. GTP #91 Porsche Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard 121 + 1m47.759s 25. P2 #30 Lola Mowlem/Burgess/Hirschi 120 + 14 Laps 26. P2 #48 Oreca Hartley/Chandhok/Patterson 120 + 2m28.220s 27. GTP #51 Ferrari Bruni/Fisichella/Malucelli 120 + 2m53.445s 28. GTP #74 Corvette Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 120 + 3m04.785s 29. GTP #71 Ferrari Beretta/Kobayashi/Vilander 119 + 15 Laps 30. GTP #98 Aston Dalla Lana/Lamy/Auberlen 119 + 18.929s 31. GTP #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor 119 + 3m10.995s 32. P2 #45 Morgan Nicolet/Merlin/Mondolot 119 + 3m33.241s 33. GTA #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti 118 + 16 Laps 34. GTA #77 Porsche Dempsey/Foster/Long 118 + 1m42.094s 35. GTA #55 Ferrari Perazzini/O'Young/Case 118 + 1m50.444s 36. GTA #76 Porsche Narac/Vernay/Bourret 117 + 17 Laps 37. GTP #93 SRT Wittmer/Kendall/Bomarito 117 + 58.135s 38. GTA #61 Ferrari Gerber/Griffin/Cioci 117 + 2m41.964s 39. P2 #36 Alpine Ragues/Panciatici/Gommendy 117 + 2m49.777s 40. P2 #41 Zytek Rossi/K-Smith/Lux 117 + 3m04.984s 41. P2 #40 Oreca Dagoneau/Downs/Younessi 116 + 18 Laps 42. GTA #75 Porsche Collard/Perrodo/Crubile 116 + 1m32.613s 43. GTA #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor 116 + 1m43.865s 44. GTP #53 SRT Farnbacher/Goossens/Dalziel 115 + 19 Laps 45. GTA #96 Aston Goethe/Campbell-Walter/Hall 115 + 1m51.997s 46. GTA #67 Porsche Gibon/Milesi/Henzler 115 + 1m59.623s 47. GTP #66 Ferrari Bertolini/Faisal/Qubaisi 115 + 2m04.103s 48. P2 #39 Lola Porta/Brandela/Raffin 113 + 21 Laps 49. GTA #70 Corvette MacNeil/Rodrigues/Dumas 112 + 22 Laps 50. GTA #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Mediani 111 + 23 Laps 51. GTA #54 Ferrari Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank 110 + 24 Laps 52. GTA #81 Ferrari Potolicchio/Aguas/Bright 107 + 27 Laps 53. P2 #25 Oreca Graves/Hamilton/Nakano 101 + 33 Laps 54. P2 #28 Lola Giroix/Haezebrouck/Ihara 21 + 113 Laps 55. P2 #31 Lotus Weeda/Rossiter/Bouchut 17 Retired 56. GTA #95 Aston Simonsen/Nygaard/Poulsen 2 Retired

LM24 H8: Kristensen leads under caution as night descends
LM24 H10: Kristensen takes command, puts Toyota one lap down

Latest news
Daytona 24, Hour 3: Cadillac leads Acura and Porsche
The #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac leads the Acuras of Meyer Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing after three hours of action in the 61st Daytona 24 Hours.
Hughes "happy to feel a nudge" over the line from Evans after Diriyah FE energy shortage
McLaren Formula E driver Jake Hughes says he was "happy to feel a nudge" from Mitch Evans in the Diriyah E-Prix, which pushed him over the finish line for fifth.
Daytona 24, Hour 1: Acura leads, BMW in trouble early
Tom Blomqvist lead the opening hour of the Daytona 24 Hours aboard the Meyer Shank Racing Acura, as BMW became the first of the GTP manufacturers to hit trouble.
F1 champion Button "definitely interested" in NASCAR road course outings
The 2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button says competing in NASCAR Cup races on road courses is something he is "definitely interested in".
Why the WEC should make space for modern garagistes in 2023
OPINION: There is plenty of excitement over the glut of manufacturers tackling the Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship this season. The selection committee is set to face headaches over who it decides to admit and who gets turned away from the 2023 entry list, but history tells us that the smaller entrants have a place
Autosport writers' most memorable moments of 2022
The season just gone was a memorable one for many of our staff writers, who are fortunate enough to cover motorsport around the world. Here are our picks of the best (and in some cases, most eventful) from 2022
Is Qatar the price motorsport fans have to pay?
OPINION: Fresh from hosting a controversial 2022 football World Cup, Qatar has added its name to the 2024 World Endurance Championship calendar. Although questions may be asked about its presence on the calendar, is it simply the price to pay for having a healthy racing championship?
How Toyota defeated Alpine for the 2022 WEC title
Toyota #8 trio Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa outscored their rivals in the last season before the World Endurance Championship’s top class gets ultra-competitive. Here's how their Hypercar battle with Alpine and the remaining class tussles played out in LMP2, GTE Pro and GTE Am
The long road to convergence for sportscar racing's new golden age
The organisers of the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship worked together to devise the popular new LMDh rule set. But to turn it from an idea into reality, some serious compromises were involved - both from the prospective LMDh entrants and those with existing Le Mans Hypercar projects...
How Porsche's Le Mans legend changed the game
The 956 set the bar at the dawn of Group C 40 years ago, and that mark only rose higher through the 1980s, both in the world championship and in the US. It and its successor, the longer-wheelbase 962, were voted as Autosport's greatest sportscar in 2020 - here's why
Why BMW shouldn't be overlooked on its return to prototypes
OPINION: While the focus has been on the exciting prospect of Ferrari vs Porsche at the Le Mans 24 Hours next year, BMW’s factory return to endurance racing should not be ignored. It won't be at the French classic next year as it focuses efforts on the IMSA SportsCar Championship, but could be a dark horse in 2024 when it returns to La Sarthe with the crack WRT squad
The problem sausage kerbs continue to cause
Track limits are the problem that motorsport doesn't seem to be able to rid itself of. But the use of so-called 'sausage kerbs' as a deterrent has in several instances only served to worsen the problem, and a growing number of voices want to see action taken
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.