LeMans Hour 21: McNish takes lead then crashes
Allan McNish assumed the lead of the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours with three hours to go and then promptly crashed his Audi #2 as can be seen in the video below this news item.
When he pitted Treluyer had a 15s advantage over the Scot in Audi #1, but spun as he braked down to speed limit speed, costing him precious seconds.
Behind them Oliver Jarvis continued in third for Audi, three laps down on the leader but still ahead of the second R18 ultra driven by Marc Gene.
Tom Kimber-Smith took over from Ryan Dalziel in the LMP2 leading Starworks HPD and Gianmaria Bruni was still in charge of GTE Pro ahead of Frederic Makowiecki's Ferrari and Stefan Mucke in the Aston.
Hour 21 Standings
|
Pos |
Car | Drivers | Class | Laps | Gap |
| 1. | #2 Audi | McNish/Capello/Kristensen | LMP1 | 333 | +0.000s |
| 2. | #1 Audi | Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer | LMP1 | 332 | +1 Lap |
| 3. | #4 Audi | Jarvis/Bonanomi/Rockenfeller | LMP1 | 330 | +3 Laps |
| 4. | #3 Audi | Gene/Dumas/Duval | LMP1 | 324 | +9 Laps |
| 5. | #12 Lola | Prost/Heidfeld/Jani | LMP1 | 322 | +11 Laps |
| 6. | #22 HPD | Brabham/Dumbreck/Chandhok | LMP1 | 313 | +20 Laps |
| 7. | #44 HPD | Potolicchio/Dalziel/K-Smith | LMP2 | 311 | +22 Laps |
| 8. | #46 Oreca | Thiriet/Beche/Tinseau | LMP2 | 310 | +23 Laps |
| 9. | #49 Oreca | Perez Companc/Kaffer/Ayari | LMP2 | 310 | +22.433s |
| 10. | #26 Oreca | Ragues/Panciatici/Rusinov | LMP2 | 308 | +25 Laps |
| 11. | #13 Lola | Belicchi/Bleekemolen/Primat | LMP1 | 305 | +28 Laps |
| 12. | #41 Zytek | Zugel/Julian/Gonzalez | LMP2 | 305 | +19.226s |
| 13. | #25 Oreca | Martin/Charouz/Graves | LMP2 | 304 | +29 Laps |
| 14. | #21 HPD | Leventis/Kane/Watts | LMP1 | 302 | +31 Laps |
| 15. | #35 Morgan | H Hansson/Leinders/Martin | LMP2 | 297 | +36 Laps |
| 16. | #42 Zytek | Brundle/Brundle/Ordonez | LMP2 | 297 | +1m54.596s |
| 17. | #23 Oreca | Tresson/Mailleux/Lombard | LMP2 | 297 | +3m01.397s |
| 18. | #51 Ferrari | Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander | GTEP | 295 | +38 Laps |
| 19. | #59 Ferrari | Makowiecki/Melo/Farnbacher | GTEP | 292 | +41 Laps |
| 20. | #97 Aston | Mucke/Fernandez/Turner | GTEP | 291 | +42 Laps |
| 21. | #50 Corvette | Bornhauser/Canal/Lamy | GTEA | 288 | +45 Laps |
| 22. | #67 Porsche | Pons/Armindo/Narac | GTEA | 288 | +0.332s |
| 23. | #73 Corvette | Garcia/Magnussen/Taylor | GTEP | 286 | +47 Laps |
| 24. | #71 Ferrari | Bertolini/Beretta/Cioci | GTEP | 285 | +48 Laps |
| 25. | #45 Oreca | Briere/Nakano/Petersen | LMP2 | 284 | +49 Laps |
| 26. | #57 Ferrari | Krohn/Jonsson/Rugolo | GTEA | 283 | +50 Laps |
| 27. | #40 Oreca | Frey/Hirschi/Meichtry | LMP2 | 278 | +55 Laps |
| 28. | #79 Porsche | Neiman/Pumpelly/Pilet | GTEA | 274 | +59 Laps |
| 29. | #70 Corvette | Bourret/Gibon/Belloc | GTEA | 270 | +63 Laps |
| 30. | #55 Porsche | Daniels/Palttala/Camathias | GTEA | 269 | +64 Laps |
| 31. | #43 Norma | Rosier/Haezebrouck/Thirion | LMP2 | 268 | +65 Laps |
| 32. | #61 Ferrari | Kauffman/Aguas/Vickers | GTEA | 264 | +69 Laps |
| 33. | #83 Ferrari | Rodrigues/Illiano/Ferte | GTEA | 253 | +80 Laps |
| 34. | #74 Corvette | Gavin/Westbrook/Milner | GTEP | 204 | +129 Laps |
| 35. | #17 Dome | Minassian/Bourdais/Ara | LMP1 | 201 | +132 Laps |
| 36. | #38 Zytek | Hancock/Dolan/Kurosawa | LMP2 | 271 | Retired |
| 37. | #33 HPD | Tucker/Bouchut/Diaz | LMP2 | 240 | Retired |
| 38. | #30 Lola | Sims/Buurman/Iannetta | LMP2 | 239 | Retired |
| 39. | #88 Porsche | Ried/Roda/Ruberti | GTEA | 222 | Retired |
| 40. | #15 OAK | Montagny/Kraihamer/Baguette | LMP1 | 219 | Retired |
| 41. | #66 Ferrari | Walker/Cocker/Wills | GTEP | 204 | Retired |
| 42. | #48 Oreca | Firth/Hartley/Hughes | LMP2 | 196 | Retired |
| 43. | #77 Porsche | Lietz/Lieb/Henzler | GTEP | 184 | Retired |
| 44. | #75 Porsche | al Faisal/Curtis/Edwards | GTEA | 180 | Retired |
| 45. | #31 Lola | Holzer/Schultis/Moro | LMP2 | 155 | Retired |
| 46. | #58 Ferrari | Ehret/Jeannette/Montecalvo | GTEA | 146 | Retired |
| 47. | #24 Morgan | Nicolet/Lahaye/Pla | LMP2 | 139 | Retired |
| 48. | #7 Toyota | Wurz/Lapierre/Nakajima | LMP1 | 134 | Retired |
| 49. | #80 Porsche | Bergmeister/Long/Holzer | GTEP | 114 | Retired |
| 50. | #28 Lola | Giroix/Badey/Johansson | LMP2 | 92 | Retired |
| 51. | #8 Toyota | Davidson/Buemi/Sarrazin | LMP1 | 82 | Retired |
| 52. | #0 DeltaWing | Franchitti/Krumm/Motoyama | CDNT | 75 | Retired |
| 53. | #81 Ferrari | Perazzini/Cadei/Griffin | GTEA | 70 | Retired |
| 54. | #99 Aston | Nygaard/Poulsen/Simonsen | GTEA | 31 | Retired |
| 55. | #16 Pescarolo | Collard/Bouillon/Hall | LMP1 | 20 | Retired |
| 56. | #29 Lola | Ihara/Deletraz/Rostan | LMP2 | 17 | Retired |