Andre Lotterer stretched the #1 Audi e-tron's Le Mans 24 Hours lead further still as he set a rapid pace through the 16th hour.
Although pitting for tires and fuel while the chasing #2 e-tron only took on fuel took a little out of Lotterer's advantage, his string of 3m27s laps in the early-morning sunshine meant his lead over team-mate Dindo Capello stood at over a minute and a half at the end of the hour.
Audi still continues to hunt for a top-four sweep, with the #4 Audi running solidly third and the #3 ultra taking 10sec-15sec per lap out of the fourth-placed Rebellion Lola-Toyota, but yet to get back on the same lap as the top LMP1 privateer.
The main incidents of the hour came in GTE Pro, where the AF Corse Ferrari's lead was bolstered by a right rear puncture for the Luxury Ferrari. Aston Martin is now out of contention after the flying Stefan Mucke, who was splitting the Ferraris, went off at Indianapolis. Although the car sustained relatively little damage considering the speed of the incident and force of image with the barriers, it still lost four laps getting repairs in the garage.
In the other classes, Pecom and Pierre Kaffer are keeping the LMP2-leading Starworks team on the its toes and Larbre's Corvette retains the GTE Am edge over the Imsa Porsche.
NOTES
- Mucke damages the #97 Aston Martin in a crash at Indianapolis, dropping it away from GTE Pro leaders
- The #48 ORECA-Nissan driven by Brendon Hartley has retired after contact with the Status Lola
- 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 16 HOURS
Pos Car Drivers Class Laps Gap
1. #1 Audi Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer LMP1 249
2. #2 Audi McNish/Capello/Kristensen LMP1 248 + 1 Lap
3. #4 Audi Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller LMP1 247 + 2 Laps
4. #12 Lola Prost/Heidfeld/Jani LMP1 241 + 8 Laps
5. #3 Audi Gene/Dumas/Duval LMP1 240 + 9 Laps
6. #13 Lola Belicchi/Bleekemolen/Primat LMP1 235 + 14 Laps
7. #22 HPD Brabham/Dumbreck/Chandhok LMP1 233 + 16 Laps
8. #44 HPD Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith LMP2 232 + 17 Laps
9. #49 Oreca Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari LMP2 232 + 51.689s
10. #26 Oreca Ragues/Panciatici/Rusinov LMP2 232 + 2m54.414s
11. #46 Oreca Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau LMP2 231 + 18 Laps
12. #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts LMP1 231 + 1m33.846s
13. #41 Zytek Zugel/Julian/Gonzalez LMP2 229 + 20 Laps
14. #33 HPD Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz LMP2 229 + 36.796s
15. #25 Oreca Martin/Charouz/Graves LMP2 229 + 57.625s
16. #42 Zytek Brundle/Brundle/Ordonez LMP2 225 + 24 Laps
17. #35 Morgan H Hansson/Leinders/Martin LMP2 224 + 25 Laps
18. #45 Oreca Briere/Nakano/Petersen LMP2 223 + 26 Laps
19. #51 Ferrari Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander GTEP 221 + 28 Laps
20. #15 OAK Montagny/Kraihamer/Baguette LMP1 219 + 30 Laps
21. #23 Oreca Tresson/Mailleux/Lombard LMP2 219 + 5m39.382s
22. #59 Ferrari Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher GTEP 219 + 6m04.578s
23. #30 Lola Sims/Buurman/Iannetta LMP2 217 + 32 Laps
24. #97 Aston Mucke/Fernandez/Turner GTEP 217 + 56.725s
25. #71 Ferrari Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci GTEP 217 + 1m31.408s
26. #67 Porsche Pons/Armindo/Narac GTEA 215 + 34 Laps
27. #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy GTEA 215 + 36.599s
28. #38 Zytek Hancock/Dolan/Kurosawa LMP2 214 + 35 Laps
29. #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor GTEP 214 + 3m04.266s
30. #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo GTEA 212 + 37 Laps
31. #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti GTEA 210 + 39 Laps
32. #66 Ferrari Walker/Cocker/Wills GTEP 204 + 45 Laps
33. #70 Corvette Bourret/Gibon/Belloc GTEA 204 + 36m02.839s
34. #40 Oreca Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry LMP2 204 + 36m30.890s
35. #79 Porsche Neiman/Pumpelly/Pilet GTEA 201 + 48 Laps
36. #55 Porsche Daniels/Palttala/Camathias GTEA 200 + 49 Laps
37. #43 Norma Rosier/Haezebrouck/Thirion LMP2 200 + 3m23.920s
38. #61 Ferrari Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers GTEA 199 + 50 Laps
39. #74 Corvette Gavin/Westbrook/Milner GTEP 186 + 63 Laps
40. #83 Ferrari Rodrigues/Illiano/Ferte GTEA 185 + 64 Laps
41. #17 Dome Minassian/Bourdais/Ara LMP1 173 + 76 Laps
42. #48 Oreca Firth/Hartley/Hughes LMP2 196 + 53 Laps
43. #77 Porsche Lietz/Lieb/Henzler GTEP 184 + 65 Laps
44. #75 Porsche al Faisal/Curtis/Edwards GTEA 180 + 69 Laps
45. #31 Lola Holzer/Schultis/Moro LMP2 155 + 94 Laps
46. #58 Ferrari Ehret/Jeannette/Montecalvo GTEA 146 + 103 Laps
47. #24 Morgan Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla LMP2 139 + 110 Laps
48. #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima LMP1 134 + 115 Laps
49. #80 Porsche Bergmeister/Long/Holzer GTEP 114 + 135 Laps
50. #28 Lola Giroix/Badey/Johansson LMP2 92 + 157 Laps
51. #8 Toyota Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin LMP1 82 + 167 Laps
52. #0 DeltaWing Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama CDNT 75 + 174 Laps
53. #81 Ferrari Perazzini/Cadei/Griffin GTEA 70 + 179 Laps
54. #99 Aston Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen GTEA 31 + 218 Laps
55. #16 Pescarolo Collard/Bouillon/Hall LMP1 20 + 229 Laps
56. #29 Lola Ihara/Deletraz/Rostan LMP2 17 + 232 Laps