American Le Mans Series

Petit Le Mans - Hour 3: Smith crashes out, Audi 1-2

© Audi Motorsport

The first real action in the third hour came from Guy Smith. The British driver passed the Audi R10 of Capello and started chasing the leading Audi in the hands of Biela. Both Penske Motorsport Spyders came back on the track and started their new task of getting back to the front.
Smith’s hunt for Biela was put to a temporary halt when the two drivers hit traffic and Biela’s lead increased again while the duo passing through the slower cars. The top 3 of the race stayed within 5 seconds of each other with the Lola splitting the two Audi’s.

Two and half hours in to the race Guy Smith took advantage of the Audi being slowed by some GT cars. Within one lap the difference between the two cars dropped from 3 seconds to less than a second. Smith remained behind the Audi for over a lap, trying to find out where to make the move. Before he was actually able to make the move, Smith lost control over the Lola, the car veered to the left and slammed into the wall. After sliding through the gravel trap the car came to a halt. The car was completely destroyed, but Smith got out uninjured.

The safety car came out once again, for the fourth time, and while the track officials started to clean the track and check the barriers several teams came into the pit lane again for fuel and tyres. After 2 hours and 50 minutes of racing the green flag was waved again and the Audi’s were off on a flyer. The cars behind the two R10’s lost several seconds at the restart.

Jörg Bergmeister suffered a problem in the #31 Petersen-White Lightning just after the restart and had to get back into the pit lane to have it solved. He dropped all the way to 5th place in the class. Ahead of him Lazzaro in the #61 Ferrari and Jeannette in the #51 Panoz are fighting for 3rd place.

Compared to the drama in the LMP1 class it’s quite calm in the other classes. In LMP2 Intersport Racing has a clear lead over the other cars in the class. Their nearest is in 12th overall a few laps behind.

In GT1 the #009 Aston Martin is leading, ahead of the #4 Corvette, while the battle in GT2 is too close to call with the #23 Alex Job Racing Porsche marginally ahead of #45 Flying Lizard one.