The battle for the overall lead of the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours continues with Andre Lotterer maintaining a narrow margin over Allan McNish in the other Audi e-tron as the 14th hour came to a close under yellow, despite a spin for the #1.
The #75 Prospeed Porsche hit the wall at the Porsche Curves and repair work is taking place leading to the second safety car period of the race.
McNish had briefly taken the lead when Marcel Fassler spun at the Porsche Curves, catching the wall with the rear of his car and sustaining slight damage but after the pitstops the #1 Audi retook the lead under the stewardship of current fastest lap man Lotterer.
Oliver Jarvis is the lead Audi ultra driver in the #4 car, as he continues to build his lead over the first of the non-Audi contenders, the #12 Lola driven by Nicolas Prost.
In LMP2 the battle for class honors continues between #44 Starworks HPD and #49 ORECA-Nissan, with both cars now solidly in the top 10 overall, lying seventh and eighth.
Brendon Hartley in the #48 Murphy ORECA-Nissan had an incident at the final chicane, sustaining rear suspension damage and failing to restart. The car is yet to return to the pits and has now slipped from fifth position in class to 12th and 19th overall.
At the hour mark it is Toni Vilander in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari who leads the battle for GTE Pro honours by a small margin from Jaime Melo in the #59 Luxury Racing Ferrari with Darren Turner trailing by a lap in his #97 Aston Martin.
Despite the problems for its Pro drivers, Chevrolet is currently leading GTE Am with #50 Larbre Chevrolet entry by Patrick Bornhauser, although the #67 Porsche driven by Nicolas Armindo is close behind.
NOTES
- Faisal spins the #75 Porsche at Porsche Curves, hitting the wall to bring the safety car out
- Marcel Fassler spins the #1 Audi e-tron at the Porsche curves, handing the lead to McNish
- 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 niggles, 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 14 HOURS
Pos Car Drivers Class Laps Gap
1. #1 Audi Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer LMP1 219
2. #2 Audi McNish/Capello/Kristensen LMP1 219 + 2m13.585s
3. #4 Audi Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller LMP1 217 + 2 Laps
4. #12 Lola Prost/Heidfeld/Jani LMP1 212 + 7 Laps
5. #3 Audi Gene/Dumas/Duval LMP1 210 + 9 Laps
6. #13 Lola Belicchi/Bleekemolen/Primat LMP1 209 + 10 Laps
7. #44 HPD Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith LMP2 205 + 14 Laps
8. #49 Oreca Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari LMP2 204 + 15 Laps
9. #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts LMP1 204 + 12.701s
10. #22 HPD Brabham/Dumbreck/Chandhok LMP1 204 + 2m19.709s
11. #26 Oreca Ragues/Panciatici/Rusinov LMP2 204 + 4m43.643s
12. #46 Oreca Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau LMP2 204 + 7m20.984s
13. #41 Zytek Zugel/Julian/Gonzalez LMP2 202 + 17 Laps
14. #33 HPD Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz LMP2 202 + 1.110s
15. #25 Oreca Martin/Charouz/Graves LMP2 201 + 18 Laps
16. #42 Zytek Brundle/Brundle/Ordonez LMP2 199 + 20 Laps
17. #45 Oreca Briere/Nakano/Petersen LMP2 197 + 22 Laps
18. #48 Oreca Firth/Hartley/Hughes LMP2 196 + 23 Laps
19. #35 Morgan H Hansson/Leinders/Martin LMP2 196 +27m53.189s
20. #51 Ferrari Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander GTEP 195 + 24 Laps
21. #59 Ferrari Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher GTEP 194 + 25 Laps
22. #15 OAK Montagny/Kraihamer/Baguette LMP1 194 + 5m24.932s
23. #23 Oreca Tresson/Mailleux/Lombard LMP2 193 + 26 Laps
24. #97 Aston Mucke/Fernandez/Turner GTEP 193 +31m34.938s
25. #38 Zytek Hancock/Dolan/Kurosawa LMP2 193 +34m58.544s
26. #71 Ferrari Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci GTEP 191 + 28 Laps
27. #30 Lola Sims/Buurman/Iannetta LMP2 190 + 29 Laps
28. #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy GTEA 190 + 2m59.648s
29. #67 Porsche Pons/Armindo/Narac GTEA 190 + 3m04.641s
30. #66 Ferrari Walker/Cocker/Wills GTEP 189 + 30 Laps
31. #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor GTEP 187 + 32 Laps
32. #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo GTEA 187 + 2m22.085s
33. #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti GTEA 185 + 34 Laps
34. #77 Porsche Lietz/Lieb/Henzler GTEP 184 + 35 Laps
35. #75 Porsche al Faisal/Curtis/Edwards GTEA 180 + 39 Laps
36. #70 Corvette Bourret/Gibon/Belloc GTEA 180 + 6m16.987s
37. #40 Oreca Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry LMP2 178 + 41 Laps
38. #43 Norma Rosier/Haezebrouck/Thirion LMP2 176 + 43 Laps
39. #55 Porsche Daniels/Palttala/Camathias GTEA 176 + 5m28.373s
40. #79 Porsche Neiman/Pumpelly/Pilet GTEA 175 + 44 Laps
41. #61 Ferrari Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers GTEA 174 + 45 Laps
42. #17 Dome Minassian/Bourdais/Ara LMP1 173 + 46 Laps
43. #83 Ferrari Rodrigues/Illiano/Ferte GTEA 163 + 56 Laps
44. #74 Corvette Gavin/Westbrook/Milner GTEP 159 + 60 Laps
45. #31 Lola Holzer/Schultis/Moro LMP2 155 + 64 Laps
46. #58 Ferrari Ehret/Jeannette/Montecalvo GTEA 146 + 73 Laps
47. #24 Morgan Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla LMP2 139 + 80 Laps
48. #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima LMP1 134 + 85 Laps
49. #80 Porsche Bergmeister/Long/Holzer GTEP 114 + 105 Laps
50. #28 Lola Giroix/Badey/Johansson LMP2 92 + 127 Laps
51. #8 Toyota Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin LMP1 82 + 137 Laps
52. #0 DeltaWing Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama CDNT 75 + 144 Laps
53. #81 Ferrari Perazzini/Cadei/Griffin GTEA 70 + 149 Laps
54. #99 Aston Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen GTEA 31 + 188 Laps
55. #16 Pescarolo Collard/Bouillon/Hall LMP1 20 + 199 Laps
56. #29 Lola Ihara/Deletraz/Rostan LMP2 17 + 202 Laps