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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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