Le Mans 24 Hours: #2 Audi in front as Mark Webber's Porsche slows
Audi retook the lead of the Le Mans 24 Hours from Porsche in the 22nd hour of the event, as Mark Webber's 919 hit trouble
The #20 Porsche inherited the lead from the #1 Audi when Tom Kristensen hit trouble in the previous hour, but even at that stage the car had been losing ground to the chasing #2 Audi.
Andre Lotterer continued that pursuit, closing to three seconds off the lead before a pistop early in the 22nd hour.
The Audi then set about slashing the Porsche's lead again after that stop, and by the time the next pitstop cycle began it was inevitable that the #2 car would assume the lead.
Lotterer came close to building up a big enough lead to allow for a driver change and a new set of tyres, but Audi opted against doing that just before the end of the hour and kept him in the car.
Porsche did change drivers - slightly ahead of schedule due to a slow puncture for Timo Bernhard - with Webber taking the #20 car over in second place.
However, Webber was not running at the same pace as the Audi, and just before the top of the hour he slowed dramatically on the Mulsanne Straight.
The #35 OAK Ligier driven by Alex Brundle still leads LMP2, but the car is down on power and its lead was rapidly being whittled away by the #46 TDS Ligier of Tristan Commendy.
At the current rate, the lead will change in the next hour.
Harry Tincknell, in the #38 Jota Zytek, is also in contention and runs a strong third in class.
Giancarlo Fisichella continues to lead the GTE Pro class for AF Corse, as the factory Ferrari squad edges ever closer to victory.
The Italian is still comfortably clear of Frederic Makowiecki's Manthey Porsche in second, which is gradually being caught by the #73 Corvette.
A triple stint for Jordan Taylor, which the young American described as "the best stint I've ever driven here", slashed the gap between the two cars to 40s over the course of the hour.
Tommy Milner has moved into fourth in the #74 Corvette, as the Aston Martin Vantage dropped to fifth.
Nicki Thiim consolidated Aston's GTE Am advantage further though, with Klaus Bachler's Proton Porsche several laps behind.
POSITIONS AFTER 22 HOURS Pos Cl Car Drivers Laps Gap 1. LMP1 #2 Audi Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer 345 2. LMP1 #20 Porsche Bernhard/Webber/Hartley 345 + 28.125s 3. LMP1 #1 Audi Di Grassi/Gene/Kristensen 342 + 3 Laps 4. LMP1 #8 Toyota Davidson/Lapierre/Buemi 339 + 6 Laps 5. LMP1 #14 Porsche Dumas/Jani/Lieb 337 + 8 Laps 6. LMP1 #12 Rebellion Prost/Heidfeld/Beche 326 + 19 Laps 7. LMP2 #35 Ligier Brundle/Mardenborough/Shulzhitskiy 323 + 22 Laps 8. LMP2 #46 Ligier Thiriet/Badey/Gommendy 322 + 23 Laps 9. LMP2 #38 Zytek Dolan/Tincknell/Turvey 322 + 4.680s 10. LMP2 #36 Alpine Chatin/Panciatici/Webb 322 + 2m29.772s 11. LMP2 #24 Oreca Rast/Charouz/Capillaire 321 + 24 Laps 12. LMP2 #43 Morgan Klien/Hirsch/Brandela 319 + 26 Laps 13. LMP2 #33 Ligier Cheng/Tung/Fong 315 + 30 Laps 14. LMP2 #34 Oreca Frey/Mailleux/Lancaster 312 + 33 Laps 15. LMP2 #50 Morgan Ragues/Taylor/Ihara 309 + 36 Laps 16. GTEP #51 Ferrari Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella 309 + 44.402s 17. GTEP #92 Porsche Holzer/Makowiecki/Lietz 307 + 38 Laps 18. GTEP #73 Chevrolet Magnussen/Garcia/Taylor 307 + 42.673s 19. LMP2 #29 Morgan Schell/Leutwiller/Roussel 306 + 39 Laps 20. GTEA #95 Aston Poulsen/Heinemeier-Hansson/Thiim 305 + 40 Laps 21. GTEP #74 Chevrolet Gavin/Milner/Westbrook 301 + 44 Laps 22. GTEA #88 Porsche Ried/Bachler/Al Qubaisi 301 + 10.926s 23. GTEA #61 Ferrari Perez-Companc/Cioci/Venturi 301 + 2m18.906s 24. GTEA #90 Ferrari Montecalvo/Roda/Ruberti 300 + 45 Laps 25. GTEP #97 Aston Turner/Mucke/Senna 298 + 47 Laps 26. GTEA #98 Aston Dalla Lana/Lamy/Nygaard 298 + 19m10.822s 27. GTEA #77 Porsche Dempsey/Foster/Long 298 + 19m30.561s 28. GTEA #66 Ferrari Al Faisal/Neiman/Pumpelly 298 + 20m25.502s 29. LMP2 #42 Zytek Kimber-Smith/McMurry/Dyson 297 + 48 Laps 30. GTEA #57 Ferrari Krohn/Jonsson/Collins 297 + 22.322s 31. GTEA #70 Ferrari Nakano/Ehret/Rich 297 + 1m20.361s 32. GTEA #58 Ferrari Barthez/Pons/Ayari 295 + 50 Laps 33. GTEA #76 Porsche Narac/Armindo/Hallyday 294 + 51 Laps 34. LMP2 #27 Oreca Zlobin/Salo/Ladygin 290 + 55 Laps 35. GTEP #79 Porsche MacNeil/Curtis/Bleekemolen 289 + 56 Laps 36. GTEA #53 Ferrari Mowlem/Patterson/Hamilton 289 + 1m28.669s 37. GTEA #67 Porsche Maris/Merlin/Helary 287 + 58 Laps 38. GTEP #91 Porsche Pilet/Bergmeister/Tandy 278 + 67 Laps 39. GTEA #62 Ferrari Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank 266 + 79 Laps 40. LMP1 #7 Toyota Wurz/Sarrazin/Nakajima 219 Retired 41. GTEA #72 Ferrari Bertolini/Shaitar/Basov 196 Retired 42. GTEA #75 Porsche Perrodo/Collard/Palttala 194 Retired 43. GTEP #52 Ferrari Griffin/Parente/Leo 140 Retired 44. LMP2 #26 Morgan Rusinov/Pla/Canal 120 Retired 45. GTEA #60 Ferrari Mann/Case/Giammaria 115 Retired 46. LMP2 #47 Oreca Howson/Bradley/Imperatori 87 Retired 47. LMP1 #13 Rebellion Kraihamer/Belicchi/Leimer 73 Retired 48. LMP2 #48 Oreca Berthon/Gonzalez/Chandhok 73 Retired 49. LMP2 #41 Zytek Munemman/Latif/Winslow 31 Retired 50. GTEP #71 Ferrari Rigon/Kaffer/Beretta 28 Retired 51. LMP1 #3 Audi Albuquerque/Bonanomi/Jarvis 25 Retired 52. GTEA #81 Ferrari Wyatt/Rugolo/Bird 22 Retired 53. LMP2 #37 Oreca Ladygin/Minassian/Mediani 9 Retired 54. CDNT #0 Nissan Ordonez/Reip/Motoyama 5 Retired
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