Le Mans Series

LIVE coverage Monza 1000 km LMS - chapter 3

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

Three hours into the race and this event is far from over. The Peugeot with Sarrazin behind the wheel is still leading, but with the incidents in the first three hours the Peugeot team is not celebrating until the chequered flag comes out. Let’s head back to the action at Monza!

15:56- Peugeot #7 in heavy traffic, trying to gain back some ground.

15:59- Stephane Sarrazin is back on track after the #8 Peugeot made a pit stop, its fourth of the day.

16:00- Alexandre Premat crosses the line in second place, the gap to the leading Peugeot is now eleven seconds, the question is when the Audi will make its fourth pitstop.

16:03- The battle for second place in LMP2 is intense. The current gap between Vergers and Ragues is only four seconds. A lap down in fourth is the WF01 of Jonny Kane, just waiting for one of the cars in front of him to get into trouble.

16:05- Charouz Lola is once again in the pit lane, bodywork coming off. At the end of the straight Nic Minassian and Allan McNish are side by side. Minassian passes the Scot and takes seventeenth.

16:08- Sarrazin is closing in on the #1 Audi, Minassian is in the pit handing over the car to Gené. Also in the pit are the #17 Pescarolo and the #5 Courage-Oreca Judd.

16:11- Pit stop time again. Several LMP1 and LMP2 cars are in for another regular stop.

16:13- Apart from the #8 Sarrazin Peugeot all the top LMPs are now in.

16:17- 120 laps have been completed by Sarrazin. 53 laps remain before the chequered flag comes out. Still in the garage is the #5 Courage-Oreca Judd with problems.

16:20- Marc Gené is currently the quickest car on the circuit, but he is only 19th overall at the moment. The leading LM GT1 car, the Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9, has entered the pit lane.

16:21- Peter Kox in the Lamborghini suffers a left rear puncture coming into turn one. A long way back to the pit lane for the Dutchman.

16:23- Collard stuffs the Pescarolo into the wall at turn one. The car missed the turn and spun off, came back over the track and hit the wall at the right hand of the track. Collard is out of the car and behind the barrier. That was the third placed car.

16:24- The Barazi Zytek has gone off and is being pulled from the gravel, further down the track the #95 JWA Porsche has suffered a right rear puncture. Kox is back in the pits, some bodywork damage due to flying rubber.

16:29- Collard tried to avoid several cars in front of him going into the first chicane. Unfortunately for him he hit the grass at the side and that sent him into the wall.

16:32- The incidents in the last couple of minutes have thrown the standings upside down. Here we go.
LMP1 - #8 Peugeot, #2 Audi, #15 Creation; LMP2 - #31 Porsche - #35 Pescarolo - #46 WF01; LMGT1 - #72 Corvette, #59 Aston Martin, #73 Corvette; LMGT2 - #76 Porsche, #90 Ferrari, #91 Porsche.

16:35- Stephane Sarrazin has lapped Mike Rockenfeller, which means the Peugeot has lapped all the other cars out on the track at least once.

16:37- Kane takes the third placed WF01 into the pit lane, will this be the chance for Tommy Erdos to close the gap? The RML car has already completed 5 pit stops.

16:40- Foster has taken over from Kane and has dropped down the order. Erdos did indeed pass the WF01, but the RML Lola itself was passed by Verstappen in the Van Merksteijn Porsche.

16:41- A great race is going on between the Corvette and the Aston Martin. As the GT1 cars completed their 122nd lap Enge is back in the lead, just under four tenths of a second behind him is the Corvette of Beretta!

16:43- Pedro Lamy has taken over from Stephane Sarrazin and this pit stop has allowed Rockenfeller to get back on the lead lap. In fact he is now just ahead of Lamy.

16:44- The Courage-Oreca #5 is back out again. Ortelli is behind the wheel.

16:45- Stuart Hall and Christophe Tinseau fighting for third place. Into Ascari and coming into the first chicane it is all about who brakes late, so far Stuart Hall is keeping the lead of the two cars.

16:46- Virgo Motorsport Ferrari seems to limp around the track with a puncture.

16:48- Rockenfeller has gone straight at the end of the long straight. A small advantage for the Audi driver, now 1 second ahead of the Peugeot. Virgo Motorsport Ferrari is in the box, damage to the rear.

16:51- Great battles still all around the track. Fighting for the overall and LMP1 lead are the Peugeot and Audi, the gap just 0.599s. In GT1 Enge is just under a second ahead of Beretta. The LMP2 and LMGT2 leaders are clear from their opponents. Gené is in the pit again.

16:53- After being 0.010s between the Audi and the Peugeot Pedro Lamy overtakes Rockenfeller and immediately pulls away from the Audi. As they cross the line again the gap has grown to 2.5 seconds in favor of the Peugeot.

16:56- Tomas Enge and Olivier Beretta are doing similar lap times, the gap between the two staying between half a second and a full second.

16:57- Richard Westbrook overtakes team mate Pierre Kaffer and makes it a Porsche 1-2 in GT2 for now with 29 laps to go.

16:58- Pedro Lamy is getting away from Rockenfeller, 6.5 seconds now. Rockenfeller just set a 1:35.140, the car’s fastest lap of the race, but Lamy went even quicker.