24 Hours of Le Mans

24 Hours of Le Mans 2010 : Hours 10-12

© Planetlemans – Brecht Decancq

Fifteen minutes into the tenth hour of the race the safety car was sent out again after the Ford GT of GT1 race leader Thomas Mutsch and the OAK Racing Pescarolo of Jean-Francois Yvon. The Ford GT was tapped by the Pescarolo and then hit again as it came back on the track after spinning.

The result is rear bodywork damage on the Ford GT (again) and the OAK Racing Pescarolo missing its entire front left part of the car (bodywork, wheel etc). The result of the Ford GT going into the pit – where it joined the #72 Alphand Corvette was that the Larbre Saleen quickly closed in. The safety car was immediately deployed.

Moments after the safety car had come in there was more trouble for Rebellion Racing. At the Ford Chicane Bouillon spun his Lola and slammed into the barrier backwards. Unfortunately for Alex Pesci and his men this means the end of the #13 in this years race.
Jack Leconte’s Larbre Saleen meanwhile moved into the lead. In front of him (!) Pilet takes third place in GT2 from Alesi’s AF Corse Ferrari.

With the Matech #60 still in the box and the #73 Corvette back out on track Maassen moved into second place in GT1. As Hirschi – who took over from Mutsch – rejoined he was already some eight laps behind the Corvette.

The GT2 Corvettes were meanwhile still far ahead of their bigger GT1 brothers, their battle with the #82 Risi Competizione Ferrari came to an end with the retirement of the Ferrari.

After closing in on Kristensen by posting quick lap times Anthony Davidson than lost his momentum when he spun his Peugeot into the gravel while trying to pass a slower GT car. The #63 Corvette, which was second, also spun into the gravel, but fortunately its lead was big enough to stay out of trouble and O’Connell quickly came in to have the car checked and handing over the wheel to Garcia.

At 1.27 pm the AF Corse car of Alesi is slow out on track. A right rear puncture causing the problem and after losing a couple of minutes on its in-lap the Italian squad replaces the tyre, checks for damage and sends him out. The result is now that the first Ferrari F430 in the race is now in fifth place (the Hankook Farnbacher car).
Greaves spun his Bruichladdich Ginetta-Zytek into the tyres at the Ford chicane, but he was back on track quickly.

At 2.30 pm the Aston Martin Racing #009 was slow on the track and it was like that for a while. Ten minutes later the Oreca 01 AIM came into the pit, followed by the Bruichladdich car and the Oreca Peugeot only a few minutes later.

Just before the halfway mark of the race both Oreca cars were still in the pit. And were dropping down the order. As a result Audi had moved into second and third.

Standings after 10 hours:
P1: Peugeot (2) – Peugeot (4) – Audi (9)
P2: HPD (42) – HPD (26) – Pescarolo (35)
GT1: Saleen (50) – Corvette (73) – Ford GT (60)
GT2: Corvette (64) – Corvette (63) – Porsche (77)

Standings after 11 hours:
P1: Peugeot (2) – Peugeot (4) – Audi (9)
P2: HPD (42) – HPD (26) – Pescarolo (35)
GT1: Saleen (50) – Corvette (73) – Ford GT (60)
GT2: Corvette (64) – Corvette (63) – Porsche (77)

Standings after 12 hours:
P1: Peugeot (2) – Audi (9) – Audi (8)
P2: HPD (42) – HPD (26) – Pescarolo (35)
GT1: Saleen (50) – Corvette (73) – Ford GT (60)
GT2: Corvette (64) – Corvette (63) – Porsche (77)