There remains nothing to choose between the two Audi e-trons going into the final five hours of Le Mans, with the #2 car of Dindo Capello half a minute ahead of Marcel Fassler in the #1.
Fassler made a fuel stop just before the turn of the hour, having previously been 20 seconds in front as the two cars swap the lead on their divergent pit strategies.
Behind the all-Audi top four, there was bad news for Rebellion Racing. Its #12 car remains fifth, but the #13 lost its sixth place when it had to come into the garage for a clutch change, which is still in progress.
That has elevated the JRM HPD into the top six, and it looks more comfortable now that the chasing Strakka HPD has had a few more delays, including a puncture and a spin.
Starworks continues to lead LMP2, with its nearest rival now the TDS ORECA after Soheil Ayari visited the gravel in the Pecom car and fell to fourth following a resultant pitstop, although he has already reclaimed third from the #26 Signatech car.
NOTES
- #1 Audi gets rear bodywork damage in incident with #74 Corvette, then goes wheel to wheel with #2 after repairs in next pit stop
- 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 19 HOURS
Pos Car Drivers Class Laps Gap
1. #2 Audi McNish/Capello/Kristensen LMP1 299
2. #1 Audi Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer LMP1 298 + 1 Lap
3. #4 Audi Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller LMP1 296 + 3 Laps
4. #3 Audi Gene/Dumas/Duval LMP1 290 + 9 Laps
5. #12 Lola Prost/Heidfeld/Jani LMP1 289 + 10 Laps
6. #22 HPD Brabham/Dumbreck/Chandhok LMP1 280 + 19 Laps
7. #13 Lola Belicchi/Bleekemolen/Primat LMP1 279 + 20 Laps
8. #44 HPD Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith LMP2 279 + 13m41.915s
9. #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts LMP1 278 + 21 Laps
10. #46 Oreca Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau LMP2 278 + 4m29.553s
11. #26 Oreca Ragues/Panciatici/Rusinov LMP2 278 + 5m00.840s
12. #49 Oreca Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari LMP2 278 + 5m46.413s
13. #25 Oreca Martin/Charouz/Graves LMP2 275 + 24 Laps
14. #41 Zytek Zugel/Julian/Gonzalez LMP2 274 + 25 Laps
15. #35 Morgan H Hansson/Leinders/Martin LMP2 269 + 30 Laps
16. #42 Zytek Brundle/Brundle/Ordonez LMP2 265 + 34 Laps
17. #23 Oreca Tresson/Mailleux/Lombard LMP2 265 + 17.047s
18. #51 Ferrari Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander GTEP 265 + 2m14.013s
19. #59 Ferrari Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher GTEP 264 + 35 Laps
20. #97 Aston Mucke/Fernandez/Turner GTEP 261 + 38 Laps
21. #38 Zytek Hancock/Dolan/Kurosawa LMP2 261 + 59.768s
22. #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy GTEA 258 + 41 Laps
23. #67 Porsche Pons/Armindo/Narac GTEA 258 + 7.566s
24. #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor GTEP 258 + 2m23.157s
25. #45 Oreca Briere/Nakano/Petersen LMP2 255 + 44 Laps
26. #71 Ferrari Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci GTEP 255 + 52.152s
27. #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo GTEA 254 + 45 Laps
28. #40 Oreca Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry LMP2 247 + 52 Laps
29. #70 Corvette Bourret/Gibon/Belloc GTEA 244 + 55 Laps
30. #79 Porsche Neiman/Pumpelly/Pilet GTEA 244 + 2m04.420s
31. #55 Porsche Daniels/Palttala/Camathias GTEA 240 + 59 Laps
32. #43 Norma Rosier/Haezebrouck/Thirion LMP2 239 + 60 Laps
33. #61 Ferrari Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers GTEA 237 + 62 Laps
34. #83 Ferrari Rodrigues/Illiano/Ferte GTEA 225 + 74 Laps
35. #74 Corvette Gavin/Westbrook/Milner GTEP 203 + 96 Laps
36. #17 Dome Minassian/Bourdais/Ara LMP1 201 + 98 Laps
37. #33 HPD Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz LMP2 240 + 59 Laps
38. #30 Lola Sims/Buurman/Iannetta LMP2 239 + 60 Laps
39. #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti GTEA 222 + 77 Laps
40. #15 OAK Montagny/Kraihamer/Baguette LMP1 219 + 80 Laps
41. #66 Ferrari Walker/Cocker/Wills GTEP 204 + 95 Laps
42. #48 Oreca Firth/Hartley/Hughes LMP2 196 + 103 Laps
43. #77 Porsche Lietz/Lieb/Henzler GTEP 184 + 115 Laps
44. #75 Porsche al Faisal/Curtis/Edwards GTEA 180 + 119 Laps
45. #31 Lola Holzer/Schultis/Moro LMP2 155 + 144 Laps
46. #58 Ferrari Ehret/Jeannette/Montecalvo GTEA 146 + 153 Laps
47. #24 Morgan Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla LMP2 139 + 160 Laps
48. #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima LMP1 134 + 165 Laps
49. #80 Porsche Bergmeister/Long/Holzer GTEP 114 + 185 Laps
50. #28 Lola Giroix/Badey/Johansson LMP2 92 + 207 Laps
51. #8 Toyota Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin LMP1 82 + 217 Laps
52. #0 DeltaWing Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama CDNT 75 + 224 Laps
53. #81 Ferrari Perazzini/Cadei/Griffin GTEA 70 + 229 Laps
54. #99 Aston Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen GTEA 31 + 268 Laps
55. #16 Pescarolo Collard/Bouillon/Hall LMP1 20 + 279 Laps
56. #29 Lola Ihara/Deletraz/Rostan LMP2 17 + 282 Laps