24 Hours of Le Mans

24 Hours of Le Mans 2010 : Hours 7-9

© Planetlemans – Brecht Decancq

Hour seven started behind the safety car, which came in after some fifteen minutes. Even though the timing screen said it would be in (and teams relaying that message to their drivers) it took more than one lap before the safety cars finally left.

While still under the safety car Manu Rodrigues lost control over the #14 Kolles Audi R10 TDI and hit the barrier hard with the left front of his car. The French driver managed to get the car back on track and into the pit where the Kolles guys had a lot of work to do.

Moments later Nick Leventis spun the Strakka Racing HPD ARX-01c into the gravel trap at the Dunlop chicane. The LMP2 leader had to be pulled out and returned to the pit…just as the safety cars came in.

Meanwhile Corvette and Ferrari still battled it out and with the pit stops now behind us the #64 was ahead of the #82 Ferrari. The two go nose-to-tail around the Circuit de la Sarthe, followed down the road by the #63.

After some fast laps however Melo decided he had enough and put his Ferrari next to the Corvette at the Indianapolis corner, taking the lead. In LMP2 the lead went to Highcroft Racing.

At the Porsche Curves Rockenfeller went wide, allowing Treluyer to pass, but the two Audi’s were still far from the leading Peugeots. Melo and Gavin meanwhile keep exchanging places. At the first chicane Gavin passes Melo, but the Brazilian moves back into the GT2 lead at the second chicane.

As Werner moved into the pit Kane went back to take the lead in LMP2. Mathieu Lahaye had gone ahead of Miguel Amaral and taken third behind the two HPD cars.

Standings after 7 hours:
P1: Peugeot (1) – Peugeot (2) – Peugeot (4)
P2: HPD (42) – HPD (26) – Pescarolo (35)
GT1: Ford GT (60) – Corvette (72) – Saleen (50)
GT2: Ferrari (82) – Corvette (64) – Corvette (63)

Into the eight hour it never looked as if Peugeot was under threat – other than by its customer team Oreca. The Minassian Peugeot had a scary moment with the Race Performance Radical at the Porsche Curves, but fortunately escaped without a problem.

The #1 Peugeot had a small pit stop problem when a wheel gun did not work properly, but not much time was lost and it went out again still in the lead, but now Gene behind the wheel.

But just before half past ten Gene was back in the pit and pushed back into the box. The team took of the engine cover and started to assess what was going wrong. The #2 car went by on the straight, taking the lead of the race. An alternator problem apparently causing the delay of the #1.

Montagny than had a moment of his own when he nearly lost the car trying to overtake the KSM Lola. But fortunately nothing went wrong for the Peugeot driver and he was able to go on. A few minutes later Gene got back into the #1 Peugeot and returned to the track, but now behind the #7 Audi in seventh place.

The GT2 battle got to an abrupt end when the Risi Competizione Ferrari came into the pit and was pushed back into the box, with apparently a gearbox problem. As the clock showed it was eleven o’clock it was still in the pit box.

Standings after 8 hours:
P1: Peugeot (2) – Peugeot (4) – Audi (8)
P2: HPD (42) – HPD (26) – Pescarolo (35
GT1: Ford GT (60) – Corvette (72) – Saleen (50)
GT2: Corvette (64) – Corvette (63) – Porsche (77)

Back on the track Gene went after the guys in front of him, including the Aston Martin of Stefan Mücke.

The non-Aston Martin Racing Lola’s hit trouble again as well with the #11 back in the garage again, as was the #12 with its engine bay open, but it returned later on in the hour. Out on the track the Race Performance Radical spun again. Rostan spun and stalled the car, but managed to clear the track before anyone could run into him.

After a lengthy repair Risi Competizione’s #82 went out on the track, but was back in just one lap later. After a Ferrari walk-over in 2009 it is now a battle between Corvette and Porsche.

And so after nine hours of racing Peugeot was still first and second, albeit not the way they wanted it.

Standings after 9 hours:
P1: Peugeot (2) – Peugeot (4) – Audi (9)
P2: HPD (42) – HPD (26) – Pescarolo (35)
GT1: Ford GT (60) – Corvette (72) – Saleen (50)
GT2: Corvette (64) – Corvette (63) – Porsche (77)