Peugeot dominant at half-distance

Having taken over from Alex Wurz, Anthony Davidson held a nine-second lead over the sister car of Pedro Lamy with Stephane Sarrazin almost a minute behind in third.

Sarrazin's deficit was an after-effect of a huge crash for Christophe Bouchut at Eau Rouge, when the Level 5 Lola became embedded in the tyres after something broke on the right rear of the car.

Unlike Davidson and Lamy, Sarrazin was picked up by a second safety car as the field was neutralised under yellow flags.

The safety car was not good for Audi either. Benoit Treluyer, who had been lying fourth, understeered off into the tyres at Fanges and returned to the pits immediately.

However, as he was preparing to rejoin the track, the red light was shown in the pits as a result of the safety car being deployed. The delay in getting out cost the Frenchman a minute and dropped him two laps behind the leader.

His was not the only Audi in trouble. Timo Bernhard was clipped by Christian Zugel's Formula Le Mans Car at Blanchimont, dislodging the rear bodywork and necessitating a long pit-stop.

Dindo Capello, meanwhile, knocked the pitlane speed limiter button on while he was rounding the Bus Stop chicane on the 90 minute mark. The incident lost him third place to Sarrazin. He is now fourth with Bernhard's co-driver Romain Dumas and Treluyer behind him.

Just as Treluyer was thwarted by red lights in the pits, so too was the Strakka HPD squad. Danny Watts had hauled his car into the lead of the LMP2 class, but his delay in the pits dropped his co-driver Nick Leventis to fourth.

Leventis is a lap behind the class leader, Boutsen ORECA driver Dominik Kraihamer, with Pierre Thiriet (TDS ORECA) and Marc Rostan (Race Performance ORECA) between them.

The battle in GTE Pro continued to rage between the AF Corse and JMW Ferrari squads. James Walker took the lead from Toni Vilander at La Source in the second hour, but the JMW squad lost the advantage while the Jerseyman handed over to Rob Bell in the pits.

The safety car allowed Bell to close to within a second of Vilander's co-driver Jaime Melo, before a gravelly moment exiting Les Combes that cost him time. The BMW of Uwe Alzen and Giancarlo Fisichella's AF Corse Ferrari were next up.

Adam Christodoulou took over the GT Am-leading CRS Ferrari from Phil Quaife, but has seen his advantage over the recovering Nicolas Armindo shrink, thanks to a good recovery by the IMSA Porsche driver after his earlier spin.

The Hope Racing squad still held the lead of the Formula Le Mans class as the halfway point passed, with Luca Moro having taken over from Nicolas Marroc behind the wheel.