24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans 24 Hours LIVE at Planetlemans - Chapter 11

© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat

Four hours remaining and the outcome of this race is still not known. Audi looked unbeatable but in the last hour the number 1 car hit trouble. At 11:00 CET the two Peugeots were still within striking distance of the race leading Audi R10. What more is yet to come?

11:00- Villeneuve is pulling away from Capello after passing the German on the previous lap.

11:01- Peugeot 8 is in the pit for another stop.

11:04- At Creation they are working on the number 14.

11:07- Pit stop time again. The 007 Aston, 5 Oreca and the 82 Risi Ferrari have been in.

11:08- And a spin for the number 8 Peugeot…as the number 9 Peugeot comes back in after only three laps!

11:10- Another 10 seconds gone from the lead of Capello by a very quick Villeneuve.

11:11- Capello in the pit for another scheduled stop. Intermediates are fitted, fuel is added…and off he goes.

11:12- As a result of the extra pit stop by Klien Alexandre Premat has moved into third.

11:14- Villeneuve in for a pit stop. Intermediates are put on the car.

11:19- Audi number 3 has made a fuel-only pit stop.

11:22- Christian Fittipaldi has switched to slicks and is setting quicker times than the cars on intermediate can set.

11:23- Premat nudged the back of one of the Ferrari 430 GTs coming towards the Dunlop Bridge, no spin by either car.

11:26- Jaime Melo is in with the Risi Ferrari. Slicks for the GT2 leader as he goes out again.

11:27- Villeneuve keeps setting faster times than the Audi of Capello.

11:29- Stuart Moseley has parked his Zytek coming into the Playstation Chicane.

11:31- Garcia leaves the pit after yet another completed pit stop by the 009 Aston Martin.

11:38- Moseley has reached the pit.

11:41- The LMP2 leading Porsche is in for a stop. It is joined by the number 1 Audi.

11:44- Wurz is in the pit. He will pass the fifth placed Peugeot 908 to Pedro Lamy.

11:46- And the Premat car is in. Rockenfeller takes over.

11:48- Another Peugeot stop. Zonta jumps into the car as Klien went out.

11:50- The Autocon Creation has been retired. An Alphand Corvette spins towards Dunlop.

11:55- Third placed LMP2 Saulnier Racing driver Mathieu Lahaye is in trouble. As he spun the Pescarolo it was clipped by what looked like the Farnbacher Ferrari 430. The car is damaged and Lahaye is slowly crawling back to the pit.

11:56- Kristensen makes a pit stop.

11:58- Villeneuve makes a pit stop. He hands over the car to Marc Gene.

12:00- Only three hours left…333 laps completed.

12:05- Saulnier Racing is in…the team is working on the car. Left rear and rear wing damaged.

12:10- At the moment the top 6 is doing very similar lap times. Looks like this race will only be decided by errors or bad luck.

12:12- Rain at the Porsche Curves.

12:13- Rain at the finish straight…

12:15- Flying Lizards, still running despite severe problems, has spun and continued.

12:18- Several pit crews are preparing, with wet tyres at their disposal.

12:20- Casper Elgaard (Team Essex) and Melo (Risi) are in for pit stops.

12:22- Barazi-Epsilon Zytek in..it was stil on wet tyres?

12:24- Out goes the Barazi car again. Rolled back into its boxes are the 55 Lambo and 96 Virgo Ferrari

12:25- In comes the Marco Werner Audi R10.

12:28- Van Merksteijn Motorsport in the box. Jos Verstappen gets out of the car and Jeroen Bleekemolen takes over.

12:29- Virgo Motorsport has probably suffered an engine problem. The car is in the box and might not return. They are still second in the class five laps ahead of the BMS Ferrari but this lead will evaporate.

12:30- More overheating problems for Peugeot? Like during the night the radiators are being workd on and steam is coming out. It is back on track soon after though.

12:33- Tom Kristensen nearly went wide but managed to regain control.

12:35- Lola Aston Martin and the 72 Alphand Corvette are in. Saulnier Racing 35 looks ready to get out.

12:36- The number 17 Pescarolo is slow on track. Bruichladdich Radical in quickly after its previous stop.

12:38- Pescarolo 17 and Peugeot 7 are in the pit.

12:45- Pedro Lamy has gone off at Arnage. It is in the wall. Marshalls are quickly at the scene and within a few moments the car is back on track.

12:47- Wet track! Pedro Lamy is back in the pit lane.

12:49- Front AND rear bodywork changed to LMS spec rather than Le Mans 24 spec (due to lack of spares).

12:51- A crash between the Barazi-Epsilon Zytek and the leading Audi! The Zytek has lost left front bodywork as it hit the Audi, Kristensen spun but has also returned. The team is preparing a pit stop.

12:55- As Kristensen stays on track the Barazi car comes into the pit lane.

12:58- Audi leads…Peugeot trailing them.