Le Mans 24 Hours 17th hour: Audi moves into 1-2-3-4 order

The Audi e-trons still run one-two overall, with Andre Lotterer ending a very rapid stint of just over three hours to hand the #1 over to Marcel Fassler, while Tom Kristensen has taken the #2 over from Dindo Capello. Mike Rockenfeller holds third in the #4 ultra.

Duval's pursuit of the Rebellion Lola included a new fastest race lap of 3m25.671s, which he shaved another half a second off seven laps later as he put in a 3m25.165s, better than last year's benchmark.

The Rebellion cars still complete the top six ahead of the JRM entry.

Starworks continues to lead Pecom in LMP2, and Ferrari's GTE Pro one-two remains with AF Corse's #51 a lap clear of Luxury's #59. The Larbre Corvette is just under two minutes clear of the Imsa Porsche in GTE Am.

The most dramatic incident of the hour occurred just before its end, as Brian Vickers picked up a left front puncture on the AF-Waltrip Ferrari. By the time he had struggled back to the pits, a spectacular fire had taken hold at the front of the car. It was extinguished by pit crews before the car was wheeled into the garage.

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 17 HOURS

Pos Car            Drivers                      Class  Laps  Gap
 1. #1  Audi       Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer    LMP1   265   
 2. #2  Audi       McNish/Capello/Kristensen    LMP1   265   + 2m31.804s
 3. #4  Audi       Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller LMP1   263   +    2 Laps
 4. #3  Audi       Gene/Dumas/Duval             LMP1   256   +    9 Laps
 5. #12 Lola       Prost/Heidfeld/Jani          LMP1   256   +   20.901s
 6. #13 Lola       Belicchi/Bleekemolen/Primat  LMP1   251   +   14 Laps
 7. #22 HPD        Brabham/Dumbreck/Chandhok    LMP1   248   +   17 Laps
 8. #44 HPD        Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith  LMP2   248   + 2m08.120s
 9. #49 Oreca      Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari   LMP2   248   + 3m11.506s
10. #21 HPD        Leventis/Kane/Watts          LMP1   247   +   18 Laps
11. #26 Oreca      Ragues/Panciatici/Rusinov    LMP2   247   +   51.514s
12. #46 Oreca      Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau        LMP2   247   +   59.953s
13. #25 Oreca      Martin/Charouz/Graves        LMP2   245   +   20 Laps
14. #41 Zytek      Zugel/Julian/Gonzalez        LMP2   244   +   21 Laps
15. #33 HPD        Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz          LMP2   240   +   25 Laps
16. #35 Morgan     H Hansson/Leinders/Martin    LMP2   240   + 17m48.232s
17. #42 Zytek      Brundle/Brundle/Ordonez      LMP2   239   +   26 Laps
18. #45 Oreca      Briere/Nakano/Petersen       LMP2   239   + 8m03.358s
19. #51 Ferrari    Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander    GTEP   235   +   30 Laps
20. #23 Oreca      Tresson/Mailleux/Lombard     LMP2   235   + 3m57.209s
21. #59 Ferrari    Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher   GTEP   234   +   31 Laps
22. #97 Aston      Mucke/Fernandez/Turner       GTEP   231   +   34 Laps
23. #71 Ferrari    Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci      GTEP   231   + 1m31.978s
24. #38 Zytek      Hancock/Dolan/Kurosawa       LMP2   230   +   35 Laps
25. #50 Corvette   Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy        GTEA   230   + 1m27.290s
26. #67 Porsche    Pons/Armindo/Narac           GTEA   229   +   36 Laps
27. #73 Corvette   Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor      GTEP   228   +   37 Laps
28. #30 Lola       Sims/Buurman/Iannetta        LMP2   227   +   38 Laps
29. #57 Ferrari    Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo         GTEA   226   +   39 Laps
30. #88 Porsche    Ried/Roda/Ruberti            GTEA   222   +   43 Laps
31. #40 Oreca      Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry        LMP2   220   +   45 Laps
32. #70 Corvette   Bourret/Gibon/Belloc         GTEA   217   +   48 Laps
33. #79 Porsche    Neiman/Pumpelly/Pilet        GTEA   215   +   50 Laps
34. #55 Porsche    Daniels/Palttala/Camathias   GTEA   214   +   51 Laps
35. #43 Norma      Rosier/Haezebrouck/Thirion   LMP2   213   +   52 Laps
36. #61 Ferrari    Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers       GTEA   211   +   54 Laps
37. #74 Corvette   Gavin/Westbrook/Milner       GTEP   201   +   64 Laps
38. #83 Ferrari    Rodrigues/Illiano/Ferte      GTEA   198   +   67 Laps
39. #17 Dome       Minassian/Bourdais/Ara       LMP1   180   +   85 Laps
40. #15 OAK        Montagny/Kraihamer/Baguette  LMP1   219   +   46 Laps
41. #66 Ferrari    Walker/Cocker/Wills          GTEP   204   +   61 Laps
42. #48 Oreca      Firth/Hartley/Hughes         LMP2   196   +   69 Laps
43. #77 Porsche    Lietz/Lieb/Henzler           GTEP   184   +   81 Laps
44. #75 Porsche    al Faisal/Curtis/Edwards     GTEA   180   +   85 Laps
45. #31 Lola       Holzer/Schultis/Moro         LMP2   155   +  110 Laps
46. #58 Ferrari    Ehret/Jeannette/Montecalvo   GTEA   146   +  119 Laps
47. #24 Morgan     Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla           LMP2   139   +  126 Laps
48. #7  Toyota     Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima       LMP1   134   +  131 Laps
49. #80 Porsche    Bergmeister/Long/Holzer      GTEP   114   +  151 Laps
50. #28 Lola       Giroix/Badey/Johansson       LMP2   92    +  173 Laps
51. #8  Toyota     Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin      LMP1   82    +  183 Laps
52. #0  DeltaWing  Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama    CDNT   75    +  190 Laps
53. #81 Ferrari    Perazzini/Cadei/Griffin      GTEA   70    +  195 Laps
54. #99 Aston      Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen     GTEA   31    +  234 Laps
55. #16 Pescarolo  Collard/Bouillon/Hall        LMP1   20    +  245 Laps
56. #29 Lola       Ihara/Deletraz/Rostan        LMP2   17    +  248 Laps