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Marcel Fassler responded to a charge from Allan McNish as the two Audi e-tron quattros pulled clear in the fight for the lead of the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours.
McNish, taking over in the #2 R18 despite Dindo Capello originally being slated for the stint, regularly dipped below the 3m30s mark as he brought the gap to Fassler down below 80 seconds. Fassler, however, improved his own pace in response to the McNish pressure, stabilising the gap somewhat at the close of the 13th hour.
The #R18 ultra also remains in the hunt, Oliver Jarvis keeping within two laps of Fassler. The sister #3 ultra meanwhile managed to move up into fifth and split the two Rebellion Lolas. Neel Jani remained fourth in the #12 B12, while Jeroen Bleekemolen was fifth at the wheel of the sister #13.
The pace continues to be furious across in LMP2, with three cars – the Starworks Motorsport HPD and Pecom and Signature ORECA-Nissans – currently above the JRM and Strakka LMP1 entries.
Tom Kimber-Smith leads the class in the #44 HPD, ahead of Soheil Ayari and Roman Rusinov.
Ferrari's progress at the head of the GTE Pro field has been aided by a cocktail of maladies for Corvette, with the #73 suffering a 25-minute stop and the #74, which had led for much of the first half, still yet to go out.
AF Corse's Toni Vilander currently holds a two minute advantage over Jaime Melo in the Luxury Racing 458, with Wolf Henzler and Darren Turner regularly swapping third in class in their respective Felbermayr Porsche and Aston Martin Vantage. Turner has already stopped 15 times in the race, four more than Vilander.
GTE Am continues to be dominated by the IMSA Porsche 911 and Larbre Corvette. Raymond Narac in the #67 machine heads Pedro Lamy by just over two minutes.
NOTES
• Dumas tipped into a spin while passing traffic at Ford chicane
• Davidson confirms he sustained a broken back as a result of huge earlier crash
• Westbrook loses a wheel, and with it the lead of the GTE Pro class
• Peter Dumbreck suffers blow-out in the #22 JRM HPD
• Spin at Ford chicane for #21 Strakka HPD
• Problems for the #7 Toyota following collision with DeltaWing at the restart
• #29 Gulf Racing Lola B12 the first official retirement
• #40 hit with a two-minute stop and go penalty for second pitlane speeding offence
• 30s pit stop penalties for #40 and #49 LMP2s for speeding in pitlane
• Audi hits early troubles, with Tom Kristensen the third unexpected delay for the marque across its four cars
• Early GTE Pro scrap between Corvette, Aston Martin and Ferrari
• #99 Aston Martin Vantage suffers early misfire and then retires with damage
POSITIONS AFTER 13 HOURS
Pos Car Drivers Class Laps Gap
1. #1 Audi Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer LMP1 204
2. #2 Audi McNish/Capello/Kristensen LMP1 204 + 2m16.644s
3. #4 Audi Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller LMP1 202 + 2 Laps
4. #12 Lola Prost/Heidfeld/Jani LMP1 198 + 6 Laps
5. #3 Audi Gene/Dumas/Duval LMP1 195 + 9 Laps
6. #13 Lola Belicchi/Bleekemolen/Primat LMP1 195 + 45.637s
7. #44 HPD Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith LMP2 191 + 13 Laps
8. #49 Oreca Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari LMP2 190 + 14 Laps
9. #26 Oreca Ragues/Panciatici/Rusinov LMP2 190 + 26.326s
10. #22 HPD Brabham/Dumbreck/Chandhok LMP1 190 + 49.807s
11. #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts LMP1 190 + 1m23.683s
12. #46 Oreca Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau LMP2 189 + 15 Laps
13. #23 Oreca Tresson/Mailleux/Lombard LMP2 189 + 1m54.110s
14. #48 Oreca Firth/Hartley/Hughes LMP2 189 + 2m58.520s
15. #33 HPD Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz LMP2 188 + 16 Laps
16. #41 Zytek Zugel/Julian/Gonzalez LMP2 188 + 1m03.488s
17. #25 Oreca Martin/Charouz/Graves LMP2 187 + 17 Laps
18. #42 Zytek Brundle/Brundle/Ordonez LMP2 186 + 18 Laps
19. #38 Zytek Hancock/Dolan/Kurosawa LMP2 183 + 21 Laps
20. #45 Oreca Briere/Nakano/Petersen LMP2 183 + 6m46.100s
21. #35 Morgan H Hansson/Leinders/Martin LMP2 182 + 22 Laps
22. #51 Ferrari Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander GTEP 181 + 23 Laps
23. #59 Ferrari Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher GTEP 181 + 2m10.687s
24. #97 Aston Mucke/Fernandez/Turner GTEP 180 + 24 Laps
25. #77 Porsche Lietz/Lieb/Henzler GTEP 180 + 36.080s
26. #15 OAK Montagny/Kraihamer/Baguette LMP1 179 + 25 Laps
27. #30 Lola Sims/Buurman/Iannetta LMP2 178 + 26 Laps
28. #71 Ferrari Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci GTEP 177 + 27 Laps
29. #67 Porsche Pons/Armindo/Narac GTEA 177 + 2m27.641s
30. #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy GTEA 176 + 28 Laps
31. #66 Ferrari Walker/Cocker/Wills GTEP 176 + 2m57.752s
32. #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor GTEP 175 + 29 Laps
33. #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo GTEA 174 + 30 Laps
34. #17 Dome Minassian/Bourdais/Ara LMP1 173 + 31 Laps
35. #61 Ferrari Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers GTEA 173 + 14.211s
36. #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti GTEA 171 + 33 Laps
37. #40 Oreca Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry LMP2 170 + 34 Laps
38. #75 Porsche al Faisal/Curtis/Edwards GTEA 169 + 35 Laps
39. #70 Corvette Bourret/Gibon/Belloc GTEA 168 + 36 Laps
40. #55 Porsche Daniels/Palttala/Camathias GTEA 163 + 41 Laps
41. #43 Norma Rosier/Haezebrouck/Thirion LMP2 163 + 22.394s
42. #79 Porsche Neiman/Pumpelly/Pilet GTEA 162 + 42 Laps
43. #74 Corvette Gavin/Westbrook/Milner GTEP 156 + 48 Laps
44. #31 Lola Holzer/Schultis/Moro LMP2 155 + 49 Laps
45. #83 Ferrari Rodrigues/Illiano/Ferte GTEA 151 + 53 Laps
46. #58 Ferrari Ehret/Jeannette/Montecalvo GTEA 146 + 58 Laps
47. #24 Morgan Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla LMP2 139 + 65 Laps
48. #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima LMP1 134 + 70 Laps
49. #80 Porsche Bergmeister/Long/Holzer GTEP 114 + 90 Laps
50. #28 Lola Giroix/Badey/Johansson LMP2 92 + 112 Laps
51. #8 Toyota Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin LMP1 82 + 122 Laps
52. #0 DeltaWing Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama CDNT 75 + 129 Laps
53. #81 Ferrari Perazzini/Cadei/Griffin GTEA 70 + 134 Laps
54. #99 Aston Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen GTEA 31 + 173 Laps
55. #16 Pescarolo Collard/Bouillon/Hall LMP1 20 + 184 Laps
56. #29 Lola Ihara/Deletraz/Rostan LMP2 17 + 187 Laps