LM24 Hour 6: Treluyer and Duval continue tense battle
Audi's Benoit Treluyer and Loic Duval continue to be separated by just over half a minute after a safety car-interrupted sixth hour of the Le Mans 24 Hours
Treluyer, in the #1 R18 that has led for most of the race, initially extended his advantage as Duval lost ground when he pitted under the first of two caution periods during the hour.
That dynamic then reversed during a second safety-car period, which came just moments after the track had gone green.
Tristan Gommendy had prompted the first caution when his left-rear tyre punctured and then shredded, spewing debris - much of it from the back of his #36 Signatech Alpine-Nissan - onto the Mulsanne straight.
Duval pitted straight away but came out in the second safety car group, dropping him away from Treluyer in the lead Audi.
Oliver Jarvis briefly inherited second, but within minutes the rear bodywork of Dominik Kraihamer's #32 Lotus T128 flew early into the Mulsanne straight, triggering a second caution.
That effectively cancelled out Treluyer and Jarvis's advantage, and allowed Duval to slip back into second, 40s off the lead.
He had reduced that by a handful of seconds as the race reached its quarter-distance mark, setting a new race best of 3m23.269s in the process.
Jarvis meanwhile slipped back slightly in the #3 R18 e-tron quattro, and is now just under two minutes off the lead.
The same was true of the two Toyotas, neither of which could respond as Audi's leaders upped their pace.
Alex Wurz slipped to 2m32s down at the end of the sixth hour, with Sebastien Buemi a further 30s down the road, although still on the lead lap.
The LMP2 lead meanwhile continues to change hands between the #26 G-Drive/Delta-ADR ORECA-Nissan and #35 Oak Racing Morgan-Nissan.
After the pitstops cycled through - both cars have now stopped eight times - it is John Martin in the #26 who holds the advantage, his lead officially just 1.7s but actually more like 40s as Martin Plowman was still in the pits as the hour finished.
Simon Dolan meanwhile moved into third in the #38 Jota Sport Zytek-Nissan, his cause aided by contact between Duval's Audi and David Heinemeier Hansson in the #24 Oak Racing Morgan-Nissan.
Heinemeier Hansson had been leading the class when he and Duval collided in the Porsche Curves, sending the Dane into a spin. An earlier-than-scheduled pitstop dropped him to fifth in class, where he remains.
The lead also changed hands in GTE Pro, as Peter Dumbreck moved the #97 Aston Martin back to the front as Stefan Mucke handed over under green-flag conditions
Bruno Senna - taking over the #99 machine from the imperious Frederic Makowiecki - ended the hour back in front however, 1.2s ahead; the Brazilian having taken over during a safety-car period in which his machine had been forced to wait at the exit of the pitlane.
Patrick Pilet completes a fantastic three-way fight for class honours in third, his #82 Manthey Porsche just two seconds down the road.
In GTE Am, Piergiuseppe Perazzini leads for the #55 AF Corse squad, 19s ahead of Gianluca Roda's Proton Porsche.
The previous class leader, the #61 AF Corse car, was spun twice by Jack Gerber and now lies fifth.
POSITIONS AFTER 6 HOURS Pos Cl Car Drivers Laps Gap 1. P1 #1 Audi Lotterer/Treluyer/Fassler 88 2. P1 #2 Audi Kristensen/McNish/Duval 87 + 1 Lap 3. P1 #3 Audi Gene/Jarvis/di Grassi 87 + 1m11.083s 4. P1 #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima 87 + 1m55.476s 5. P1 #8 Toyota Davidson/Sarrazin/Buemi 87 + 2m47.802s 6. P1 #13 Lola Beche/Belicchi/Cheng 85 + 3 Laps 7. P1 #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts 84 + 4 Laps 8. P1 #12 Lola Prost/Jani/Heidfeld 84 + 53.420s 9. P2 #26 Oreca Rusinov/Martin/Conway 82 + 6 Laps 10. P2 #35 Morgan Baguette/Plowman/Gonzalez 82 + 1.746s 11. P2 #38 Zytek Dolan/Turvey/Luhr 82 + 1m49.687s 12. P2 #46 Oreca Thiriet/Badey/Martin 82 + 2m25.079s 13. P2 #42 Zytek Krumm/Mardenborough/Ordonez 82 + 2m26.735s 14. P2 #24 Morgan Pla/Brundle/H Hansson 82 + 2m27.083s 15. P2 #34 Oreca Frey/Niederhauser/Bleekemolen 82 + 2m39.334s 16. P2 #49 Oreca P-Companc/Kaffer/Minassian 81 + 7 Laps 17. P2 #33 HPD Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe 81 + 1m10.405s 18. P2 #43 Morgan Gachnang/Mailleux/Lombard 80 + 8 Laps 19. P2 #32 Lotus Holzer/Kraihamer/Charouz 80 + 2m48.159s 20. GTP #99 Aston Makowiecki/Senna/Bell 79 + 9 Laps 21. GTP #97 Aston Mucke/Turner/Dumbreck 79 + 1.031s 22. GTP #92 Porsche Lieb/Richard Lietz/Dumas 79 + 3.393s 23. GTP #91 Porsche Bergmeister/Pilet/Bernhard 79 + 2m07.630s 24. GTP #74 Corvette Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 78 + 10 Laps 25. GTP #71 Ferrari Beretta/Kobayashi/Vilander 78 + 26.992s 26. GTP #98 Aston Dalla Lana/Lamy/Auberlen 78 + 1m34.427s 27. P2 #30 Lola Mowlem/Burgess/Hirschi 78 + 1m58.227s 28. GTP #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor 78 + 2m02.889s 29. GTP #51 Ferrari Bruni/Fisichella/Malucelli 78 + 2m37.383s 30. P2 #47 Morgan Imperatori/Howson/Tung 78 + 2m41.298s 31. P2 #45 Morgan Nicolet/Merlin/Mondolot 77 + 11 Laps 32. P2 #48 Oreca Hartley/Chandhok/Patterson 77 + 0.130s 33. P2 #41 Zytek Rossi/K-Smith/Lux 77 + 1m06.777s 34. GTA #55 Ferrari Perazzini/O'Young/Case 77 + 1m39.948s 35. GTA #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti 77 + 2m05.171s 36. GTP #93 SRT Wittmer/Kendall/Bomarito 76 + 12 Laps 37. GTA #76 Porsche Narac/Vernay/Bourret 76 + 1m03.329s 38. GTA #77 Porsche Dempsey/Foster/Long 76 + 1m17.747s 39. GTA #61 Ferrari Gerber/Griffin/Cioci 76 + 1m38.566s 40. P2 #40 Oreca Dagoneau/Downs/Younessi 76 + 2m57.601s 41. GTA #67 Porsche Gibon/Milesi/Henzler 76 + 2m59.351s 42. GTP #53 SRT Farnbacher/Goossens/Dalziel 76 + 3m28.444s 43. GTA #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Taylor 76 + 3m57.758s 44. GTA #96 Aston Goethe/Campbell-Walter/Hall 76 + 4m04.126s 45. GTA #75 Porsche Collard/Perrodo/Crubile 75 + 13 Laps 46. GTP #66 Ferrari Bertolini/Faisal/Qubaisi 74 + 14 Laps 47. P2 #39 Lola Porta/Brandela/Raffin 74 + 2m15.718s 48. P2 #36 Alpine Ragues/Panciatici/Gommendy 73 + 15 Laps 49. P2 #25 Oreca Graves/Hamilton/Nakano 73 + 17.701s 50. GTA #70 Corvette MacNeil/Rodrigues/Dumas 73 + 1m19.881s 51. GTA #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Mediani 73 + 1m27.971s 52. GTA #81 Ferrari Potolicchio/Aguas/Bright 71 + 17 Laps 53. GTA #54 Ferrari Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank 71 + 16m20.658s 54. P2 #28 Lola Giroix/Haezebrouck/Ihara 20 + 68 Laps 55. P2 #31 Lotus Weeda/Rossiter/Bouchut 17 + 71 Laps 56. GTA #95 Aston Simonsen/Nygaard/Poulsen 2 Retired
LM24 H5: Duval closes in on Audi team-mate Treluyer at front
LM24 H7: Benoit Treluyer's leading Audi hits trouble, Duval leads
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