Le Mans Hour 23: #1 Audi e-tron quattro edges closer to historic win
The #1 Audi e-tron looks assured of 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours victory as it goes into the final hour of the race carrying a one-lap lead over the sister #2 car
Despite Allan McNish's best efforts and some very rapid laps from the #2 car as the Scot tries to recover from his crash earlier on Sunday morning, #1 Audi driver Andre Lotterer is managing to maintain the advantage that his car has held for much of the event.
Audi will be hard-pressed to return to the 1-2-3-4 formation it held for a while, though, as Neel Jani's speed in the Rebellion Lola-Toyota looks sufficient to keep him in fourth place and clear of the recovering #3 Audi.
LMP2 and GTE Pro appear similarly settled, with TDS back on the same lap as Starwork but still two minutes behind, and AF Corse three laps clear of fellow Ferrari runner Luxury in the top GT dice - although Aston Martin's Adrian Fernandez has not given up on catching the latter for second.
GTE Am is still very close, with under half a minute separating the leading Imsa Porsche and the chasing Larbre Corvette.
POSITIONS AFTER 23 HOURS Pos Car Drivers Class Laps Gap 1. #1 Audi Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer LMP1 361 2. #2 Audi McNish/Capello/Kristensen LMP1 360 + 1 Lap 3. #4 Audi Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller LMP1 358 + 3 Laps 4. #12 Lola Prost/Heidfeld/Jani LMP1 350 + 11 Laps 5. #3 Audi Gene/Dumas/Duval LMP1 349 + 12 Laps 6. #22 HPD Brabham/Dumbreck/Chandhok LMP1 340 + 21 Laps 7. #44 HPD Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith LMP2 337 + 24 Laps 8. #46 Oreca Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau LMP2 337 + 2m21.566s 9. #49 Oreca Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari LMP2 336 + 25 Laps 10. #26 Oreca Ragues/Panciatici/Rusinov LMP2 334 + 27 Laps 11. #13 Lola Belicchi/Bleekemolen/Primat LMP1 333 + 28 Laps 12. #41 Zytek Zugel/Julian/Gonzalez LMP2 331 + 30 Laps 13. #25 Oreca Martin/Charouz/Graves LMP2 330 + 31 Laps 14. #35 Morgan H Hansson/Leinders/Martin LMP2 324 + 37 Laps 15. #23 Oreca Tresson/Mailleux/Lombard LMP2 324 + 1m44.670s 16. #42 Zytek Brundle/Brundle/Ordonez LMP2 323 + 38 Laps 17. #51 Ferrari Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander GTEP 320 + 41 Laps 18. #59 Ferrari Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher GTEP 318 + 43 Laps 19. #97 Aston Mucke/Fernandez/Turner GTEP 316 + 45 Laps 20. #67 Porsche Pons/Armindo/Narac GTEA 313 + 48 Laps 21. #50 Corvette Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy GTEA 313 + 27.915s 22. #73 Corvette Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor GTEP 311 + 50 Laps 23. #71 Ferrari Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci GTEP 311 + 33.459s 24. #45 Oreca Briere/Nakano/Petersen LMP2 309 + 52 Laps 25. #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo GTEA 308 + 53 Laps 26. #40 Oreca Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry LMP2 304 + 57 Laps 27. #21 HPD Leventis/Kane/Watts LMP1 302 + 59 Laps 28. #79 Porsche Neiman/Pumpelly/Pilet GTEA 297 + 64 Laps 29. #70 Corvette Bourret/Gibon/Belloc GTEA 294 + 67 Laps 30. #43 Norma Rosier/Haezebrouck/Thirion LMP2 293 + 68 Laps 31. #55 Porsche Daniels/Palttala/Camathias GTEA 288 + 73 Laps 32. #61 Ferrari Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers GTEA 288 +16m55.356s 33. #83 Ferrari Rodrigues/Illiano/Ferte GTEA 278 + 83 Laps 34. #74 Corvette Gavin/Westbrook/Milner GTEP 204 + 157 Laps 35. #17 Dome Minassian/Bourdais/Ara LMP1 201 + 160 Laps 36. #38 Zytek Hancock/Dolan/Kurosawa LMP2 271 Retired 37. #33 HPD Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz LMP2 240 Retired 38. #30 Lola Sims/Buurman/Iannetta LMP2 239 Retired 39. #88 Porsche Ried/Roda/Ruberti GTEA 222 Retired 40. #15 OAK Montagny/Kraihamer/Baguette LMP1 219 Retired 41. #66 Ferrari Walker/Cocker/Wills GTEP 204 Retired 42. #48 Oreca Firth/Hartley/Hughes LMP2 196 Retired 43. #77 Porsche Lietz/Lieb/Henzler GTEP 184 Retired 44. #75 Porsche al Faisal/Curtis/Edwards GTEA 180 Retired 45. #31 Lola Holzer/Schultis/Moro LMP2 155 Retired 46. #58 Ferrari Ehret/Jeannette/Montecalvo GTEA 146 Retired 47. #24 Morgan Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla LMP2 139 Retired 48. #7 Toyota Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima LMP1 134 Retired 49. #80 Porsche Bergmeister/Long/Holzer GTEP 114 Retired 50. #28 Lola Giroix/Badey/Johansson LMP2 92 Retired 51. #8 Toyota Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin LMP1 82 Retired 52. #0 DeltaWing Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama CDNT 75 Retired 53. #81 Ferrari Perazzini/Cadei/Griffin GTEA 70 Retired 54. #99 Aston Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen GTEA 31 Retired 55. #16 Pescarolo Collard/Bouillon/Hall LMP1 20 Retired 56. #29 Lola Ihara/Deletraz/Rostan LMP2 17 Retired
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