Racing for Holland's charge halted

The Dutch-run No.14 Dome-Judd had enjoyed a terrific run in the hands of the trio of ex-Formula 1 drivers Lammers, Stefan Johansson and Alex Yoong, climbing as high as third until it ran over the kerbs at the chicane while the Malaysian was at the wheel.

"He went off at the first chicane and it was pretty hard apparently," said Johansson.

"We think he has broken both steering arms and that means it looks like it might be all over. If you can't steer the thing it makes it pretty difficult to get it back to the pits."

A stuck throttle appears to be the cause of Yoong's off on Mulsanne.

"Heading down the Mulsanne straight the throttle suddenly stuck open with no warning, speared me off the track and straight into the barrier," said Yoong.

"Nothing I could do. If we had just made it to the flag third was ours I think. It's a real shame."

Lammers has come close on several occasions to a podium finish as an entrant, but things always seem to go wrong for the evergreen 50-year-old who also runs Holland's A1 Grand Prix team.

The car has yet to be officially retired, but its imminent demise had promoted the troubled No.7 Audi back up to third, behind the No.8 Audi and the No.17 Pescarolo.

Pedro Lamy is now chasing a podium finish in the leading GT1 Aston Martin.