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Audi's R18 e-tron quattros continued to head an all-Audi top three in the ninth hour at Le Mans.
Andre Lotterer continued to lead the way in the #1 machine, although his advantage was slashed after he lost time in the first sector 10 minutes before the turn of the hour.
The leading trio of Audis circulated just over a lap apart for much of the hour until making their routine stops, each seemingly driving to a target time of 3m30s. Third-placed Mike Rockenfeller was half a minute behind Allan McNish, who was in turn three minutes behind Lotterer.
The leader's progress seemed serene until he took more than a minute to complete the first sector on lap 134. Whatever mishap he suffered, it was missed by the trackside cameras.
Three laps behind Rockenfeller, Formula 1 refugee Nick Heidfeld headed the petrol-powered prototypes in the Rebellion Lola coupe with a lap in hand over team-mate Andrea Belicchi. Loic Duval ran sixth in the delayed #3 Audi R18 ultra.
The wounded #7 Toyota returned to the fray with Kazuki Nakajima at the wheel, 30 laps down and showing nothing like the pace it had demonstrated in the early phase of the race.
Warren Hughes led LMP2 in the Murphy Prototypes ORECA-Nissan that had been on the reserve list until just a few weeks ago, albeit with just a few seconds in hand over Olivier Pla's Oak Racing Morgan after making a routine pit stop.
The Starworks Motorsport HPD continued to hold third in class, one lap down, with Tom Kimber-Smith at the wheel.
In GTE Pro, the Ferrari 458's ability to run longer between fuel stops enabled Gianmaria Bruni to stay in touch with class leader Tommy Milner's Corvette. Antonio Garcia was third, a lap behind the class leaders but with over 40sEC in hand over Frederic Makowiecki.
Raymond Narac got back behind the wheel of the #67 IMSA Performance Porsche as the gentleman drivers of the top three took over, and in doing so moved into the class lead. Patrick Bornhauser, in for erstwhile leader Pedro Lamy in the Larbre Corvette, ran second ahead of Tracy Krohn, who took over his own car from pro driver Michele Rugolo.
NOTES
• Spin at Ford chicane for #21 Strakka HPD
• Problems for the #7 Toyota following collision with DeltaWing at the restart.
• Huge crash for Anthony Davidson in the #8 Toyota, leading to lengthy safety car period.
• #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 9 HOURS
Pos Car Drivers Class Laps Gap
1. #1 Audi Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer LMP1 138
2. #2 Audi McNish/Capello/Kristensen LMP1 138 + 2m06.636s
3. #4 Audi Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller LMP1 137 + 1 Lap
4. #12 Lola Prost/Heidfeld/Jani LMP1 134 + 4 Laps
5. #13 Lola Belicchi/Bleekemolen/Primat LMP1 133 + 5 Laps
6. #3 Audi Gene/Dumas/Duval LMP1 131 + 7 Laps
7. #48 Oreca Firth/Hartley/Hughes LMP2 130 + 8 Laps
8. #24 Morgan Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla LMP2 130 + 8.091s
9. #44 HPD Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith LMP2 129 + 9 Laps
10. #26 Oreca Ragues/Panciatici/Rusinov LMP2 129 + 2m11.950s
11. #49 Oreca Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari LMP2 129 + 2m17.633s
12. #38 Zytek Hancock/Dolan/Kurosawa LMP2 128 + 10 Laps
13. #23 Oreca Tresson/Mailleux/Lombard LMP2 128 + 35.461s
14. #22 HPD Brabham/Dumbreck/Chandhok LMP1 128 + 50.427s
15. #30 Lola Sims/Buurman/Iannetta LMP2 128 + 2m06.576s
16. #45 Oreca Briere/Nakano/Petersen LMP2 128 + 2m37.948s
17. #46 Oreca Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau LMP2 128 + 2m58.615s
18. #33 HPD Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz LMP2 127 + 11 Laps
19. #25 Oreca Martin/Charouz/Graves LMP2 127 + 40.649s
20. #41 Zytek Zugel/Julian/Gonzalez LMP2 127 + 2m34.688s
21. #15 OAK Montagny/Kraihamer/Baguette LMP1 126 + 12 Laps
22. #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts LMP1 126 +10m21.834s
23. #40 Oreca Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry LMP2 126 +11m44.824s
24. #42 Zytek Brundle/Brundle/Ordonez LMP2 126 +11m52.264s
25. #74 Corvette Gavin/Westbrook/Milner GTEP 124 + 14 Laps
26. #31 Lola Holzer/Schultis/Moro LMP2 124 + 8.021s
27. #51 Ferrari Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander GTEP 124 + 33.409s
28. #35 Morgan H Hansson/Leinders/Martin LMP2 123 + 15 Laps
29. #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor GTEP 123 + 6m11.991s
30. #59 Ferrari Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher GTEP 123 + 6m57.073s
31. #77 Porsche Lietz/Lieb/Henzler GTEP 122 + 16 Laps
32. #97 Aston Mucke/Fernandez/Turner GTEP 122 + 1m20.239s
33. #67 Porsche Pons/Armindo/Narac GTEA 120 + 18 Laps
34. #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy GTEA 120 + 9.577s
35. #66 Ferrari Walker/Cocker/Wills GTEP 120 + 2m42.209s
36. #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo GTEA 119 + 19 Laps
37. #71 Ferrari Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci GTEP 119 + 8.436s
38. #70 Corvette Bourret/Gibon/Belloc GTEA 116 + 22 Laps
39. #61 Ferrari Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers GTEA 116 + 33.576s
40. #58 Ferrari Ehret/Jeannette/Montecalvo GTEA 116 + 1m13.917s
41. #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti GTEA 116 + 1m30.579s
42. #43 Norma Rosier/Haezebrouck/Thirion LMP2 116 + 3m28.421s
43. #75 Porsche al Faisal/Curtis/Edwards GTEA 113 + 25 Laps
44. #80 Porsche Bergmeister/Long/Holzer GTEP 111 + 27 Laps
45. #55 Porsche Daniels/Palttala/Camathias GTEA 111 + 2m27.932s
46. #17 Dome Minassian/Bourdais/Ara LMP1 110 + 28 Laps
47. #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima LMP1 109 + 29 Laps
48. #79 Porsche Neiman/Pumpelly/Pilet GTEA 106 + 32 Laps
49. #83 Ferrari Rodrigues/Illiano/Ferte GTEA 105 + 33 Laps
50. #28 Lola Giroix/Badey/Johansson LMP2 91 + 47 Laps
51. #8 Toyota Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin LMP1 82 + 56 Laps
52. #0 DeltaWing Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama CDNT 75 + 63 Laps
53. #81 Ferrari Perazzini/Cadei/Griffin GTEA 70 + 68 Laps
54. #99 Aston Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen GTEA 31 + 107 Laps
55. #16 Pescarolo Collard/Bouillon/Hall LMP1 20 + 118 Laps
56. #29 Lola Ihara/Deletraz/Rostan LMP2 17 + 121 Laps