H5: Davidson suffers huge crash at le Mans, shortly after Dumas hits barriers
A dramatic fifth hour of the Le Mans 24 Hours ended under yellow cars following a terrifying accident involving Anthony Davidson's #8 Toyota and Piergiuseppe Perazzini's #81 AF Corse Ferrari
Davidson's car got airborne on the entry to Mulsanne after making contact with the Ferrari he was trying to lap. Both cars careered into the barriers; Davidson's car the right way up, with the Ferrari on its roof.
Davidson initially climbed from his car gesticulating, before lying back down on the sidepod, where medics began to work with the Englishman. Perazzini appeared to be unharmed.
The hour had already created huge drama as it ended with Toyota in the lead after a side-by-side dice between Nicolas Lapierre and Benoit Treluyer. The lead changed several times, with Lapierre passing his compatriot on the grass out of Mulsanne, before they switched positions twice more.
The clash was the climax of increasing pressure from Toyota, with Treluyer's lead - held for much of the hour - coming under more and more threat.
Sebastien Buemi had closed to within two seconds of the leading Audi halfway through the hour before pitting the #8 TS030 for the seventh time and handing over to Davidson. Lapierre did a similar thing before he too pitted to take on more fuel.
Romain Dumas, 2010 winner, meanwhile found himself charging up to the rear of the now fuel-heavy Toyota when disaster struck the #3 ultra.
Following the then class-leading #79 Flying Lizard Porsche into the first chicane on the Mulsanne, Dumas appeared to go straight on - almost as if he slid on fluid - from the apex and clouted the tyres hard with the right front of the Audi.
There then ensued some slightly comical tearing away of the crumpled bodywork by Dumas, so that he could slowly retrieve the car to the pits. By the end of the hour, it had already lost five laps.
Shortly after Seth Niemen suffered his own crash in this #79 Porsche, shunting on the exit of Indianapolis - this in spite of the fact the car had not made contact with the Audi.
Behind the leading trio, Dindo Capello was a minute back in the previously delayed #2 Audi - and was the last car now on the lead lap. Marco Bonanomi was fifth in the other ultra.
Nicolas Prost continued Rebellion's impressive progress with the Toyota-powered black Lola ahead of Harold Primat in the sister car. Karun Chandhok was eighth for JRM.
The two Morgans were in control of LMP2 with David Heinemeier-Hansson ahead of Jacques Nicolet, although they swapped position before lining up behind the safety car.
Richard Westbrook led the GTE-Pro category ahead of Adrian Fernandez's Aston Martin, with Toni Vilander's previous advantage lost when he pitted as the safety car emerged.
Julien Canal now leads GTE-Am for Larbre following the problems for Niemen.
POSITIONS AFTER 5 HOURS Pos Car Drivers Class Laps Gap 1. #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima LMP1 83 2. #1 Audi Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer LMP1 83 + 0.737s 3. #8 Toyota Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin LMP1 82 + 1 Lap 4. #2 Audi McNish/Capello/Kristensen LMP1 82 + 2m25.842s 5. #4 Audi Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller LMP1 81 + 2 Laps 6. #12 Lola Prost/Heidfeld/Jani LMP1 81 + 3m48.374s 7. #13 Lola Belicchi/Bleekemolen/Primat LMP1 80 + 3 Laps 8. #22 HPD Brabham/Dumbreck/Chandhok LMP1 80 + 1m12.424s 9. #15 OAK Montagny/Kraihamer/Baguette LMP1 79 + 4 Laps 10. #24 Morgan Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla LMP2 78 + 5 Laps 11. #35 Morgan H Hansson/Leinders/Martin LMP2 78 + 1m02.342s 12. #3 Audi Gene/Dumas/Duval LMP1 77 + 6 Laps 13. #44 HPD Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith LMP2 77 + 11m39.507s 14. #48 Oreca Firth/Hartley/Hughes LMP2 77 + 11m41.009s 15. #49 Oreca Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari LMP2 77 + 12m13.938s 16. #26 Oreca Ragues/Panciatici/Rusinov LMP2 77 + 12m38.551s 17. #25 Oreca Martin/Charouz/Graves LMP2 77 + 12m46.191s 18. #23 Oreca Tresson/Mailleux/Lombard LMP2 76 + 7 Laps 19. #30 Lola Sims/Buurman/Iannetta LMP2 76 + 28.048s 20. #38 Zytek Hancock/Dolan/Kurosawa LMP2 76 + 1m00.691s 21. #45 Oreca Briere/Nakano/Petersen LMP2 76 + 1m41.928s 22. #33 HPD Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz LMP2 76 + 3m03.502s 23. #46 Oreca Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau LMP2 75 + 8 Laps 24. #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts LMP1 75 + 47.149s 25. #41 Zytek Zugel/Julian/Gonzalez LMP2 75 + 2m20.791s 26. #31 Lola Holzer/Schultis/Moro LMP2 74 + 9 Laps 27. #40 Oreca Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry LMP2 74 + 53.784s 28. #42 Zytek Brundle/Brundle/Ordonez LMP2 74 + 2m43.040s 29. #51 Ferrari Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander GTEP 73 + 10 Laps 30. #74 Corvette Gavin/Westbrook/Milner GTEP 73 + 56.316s 31. #97 Aston Mucke/Fernandez/Turner GTEP 73 + 1m42.557s 32. #59 Ferrari Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher GTEP 73 + 3m22.315s 33. #77 Porsche Lietz/Lieb/Henzler GTEP 72 + 11 Laps 34. #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor GTEP 72 + 25.927s 35. #66 Ferrari Walker/Cocker/Wills GTEP 71 + 12 Laps 36. #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy GTEA 71 + 2.724s 37. #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti GTEA 71 + 19.883s 38. #58 Ferrari Ehret/Jeannette/Montecalvo GTEA 71 + 33.102s 39. #67 Porsche Pons/Armindo/Narac GTEA 71 + 1m16.273s 40. #61 Ferrari Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers GTEA 71 + 3m02.641s 41. #81 Ferrari Perazzini/Cadei/Griffin GTEA 70 + 13 Laps 42. #43 Norma Rosier/Haezebrouck/Thirion LMP2 70 + 1m28.238s 43. #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo GTEA 70 + 1m29.403s 44. #83 Ferrari Rodrigues/Illiano/Ferte GTEA 70 + 3m39.908s 45. #71 Ferrari Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci GTEP 69 + 14 Laps 46. #70 Corvette Bourret/Gibon/Belloc GTEA 69 + 3m21.114s 47. #55 Porsche Daniels/Palttala/Camathias GTEA 68 + 15 Laps 48. #79 Porsche Neiman/Pumpelly/Pilet GTEA 67 + 16 Laps 49. #80 Porsche Bergmeister/Long/Holzer GTEP 66 + 17 Laps 50. #0 DeltaWing Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama CDNT 65 + 18 Laps 51. #75 Porsche al Faisal/Curtis/Edwards GTEA 64 + 19 Laps 52. #17 Dome Minassian/Bourdais/Ara LMP1 58 + 25 Laps 53. #28 Lola Giroix/Badey/Johansson LMP2 58 + 43m03.132s 54. #99 Aston Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen GTEA 31 + 52 Laps 55. #16 Pescarolo Collard/Bouillon/Hall LMP1 20 + 63 Laps 56. #29 Lola Ihara/Deletraz/Rostan LMP2 17 + 66 Laps
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