LeMans Hour 4: Audi leads, then Peugeot takes over

The Risi Ferrari led the GT2 category

Risi Competizione charged through the GT2 field and into the lead after four hours at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Gianmaria Bruni holding the point in the No. 62 Ferrari F430 GT he shares with Mika Salo and Jaime Melo. The Ferrari was one of two American Le Mans Series entries to lead their classes.

At the front of the grid, Audi’s Le Mans strategy was working perfectly as the diesel-powered R10 TDI of Dindo Capello, Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen led by just over 30 seconds over the leading Peugeot 908. The Audi had made five stops through four hours compared to six for the Peugeot, enabling the R10 to take the lead in the third hour. However, by the 5th hour Peugeot was back on top.

The Audi R10 led overall for awhile but then Peugeot just drove right past them

At the 4th hour Capello led Nic Minassian by 34 seconds with Audi seeking its third straight victory with the R10 TDI and eighth since 2000. Two other Audis were on the lead lap with Alexandre Premat running fourth and Marco Werner, looking for his fourth consecutive win, in fifth place.

In addition to the overall lead, the American Le Mans Series had drivers leading the three other classes.

In LMP2, the Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder of Penske Racing’s Sascha Maassen along with Casper Elgaard and John Nielsen led by 15 seconds over the Van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche.

The GT1 battle was as close as expected. Aston Martin Racing’s David Brabham drove the factory Aston Martin DBR9 to lead past Corvette Racing’s works Corvette C6.R of Johnny O’Connell. Entering the fifth hour, Darren Turner led Olivier Beretta in the No. 64 car by four seconds with the pole-sitting 63 another 12 seconds back with Ron Fellows at the wheel.

Back in GT2, Bruni led the Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 911 GT3 RSR of Wolf Henzler, who drives for Flying Lizard Motorsports in the American Le Mans Series. Bruni held the advantage by less than a minute.

Disaster struck the Lizard Porsche early nearly two hours in when Seth Neiman and the IMSA Performance Porsche of American factory driver Patrick Long made contact and sent both cars into the gravel. The Lizard entry suffered significant damage including severe bodywork damage on all sides, a broken rear wheel (and the other three badly damaged), two broken radiators and right rear suspension damage.

It took 80 minutes to get the car repaired. Jörg Bergmeister rejoined the race but was 20 laps behind Bruni.

Hour 5 Standings

Pos

# Class Drivers Team Car Laps Gap
1. 7 LM P1 M.Gene, N.Minassian, J.Villeneuve Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 83 0.000
2. 2 LM P1 R.Capello, A.McNish, T.Kristensen Audi Sport North America Audi R10 83 35.965
3. 9 LM P1 F.Montagny, R.Zonta, C.Klein Peugeot Sport Total Peugeot 908 83 1:01.843
4. 3 LM P1 L.Luhr, A.Premat, M.Rockenfeller Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R10 82 1 Lap
5. 1 LM P1 F.Biela, E.Pirro, M.Werner Audi Sport North America Audi R10 82 19.275
6. 5 LM P1 S.Ayari, L.Duval, L.Groppi Team Oreca Matmut Courage-Oreca LC70 Judd 79 4 Laps
7. 17 LM P1 H.Primat, C.Tinseau, B.Treluyer Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo Judd 79 1:00.029
8. 11 LM P1 D.Ito, Y.Tachikawa, T.Kataoka Dome Racing Team Dome S102 Judd 79 1:53.947
9. 6 LM P1 S.Pagenaud, O.Panis, M.Fassler Team Oreca Matmut Courage-Oreca LC70 Judd 79 1:54.623
10. 31 LM P2 J.Nielsen, C.Elgaard, S.Maassen Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder 78 5 Laps
11. 16 LM P1 J.C.Boullion, E.Collard, R.Dumas Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo Judd 78 1.928
12. 18 LM P1 V.Ickx, S.Gregoire, J.Barbosa Rollcentre Racing Pescarolo Judd 77 6 Laps
13. 34 LM P2 P.van Merksteijn, J.Verstappen, J.Bleeke Van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche RS Spyder 77 13.508
14. 8 LM P1 P.Lamy, S.Sarrazin, A.Wurz Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 77 54.375
15. 20 LM P1 A.Burgueno, M.A.De Castro, A.Valles Epsilon Euskadi Epsilon Euskadi EE01 Judd 76 7 Laps
16. 33 LM P2 X.Pompidou, A.Belicchi, S.Zacchia SpeedY Racing Team Sebah Lola B08/80Judd 76 1:10.375
17. 45 LM P2 W.Hughes, J.Kane, J.Foster Embassy Racing Embassy WF01 Zytek 75 8 Laps
18. 35 LM P2 P.Ragues, M.Lahaye, C.Cheng Saulnier Racing Pescarolo Judd 74 9 Laps
19. 40 LM P2 M.Amaral, O.Pla, G.Smith Quifel-ASM Team Lola B05/40 AER 74 1:13.154
20. 00 LM GT1 D.Brabham, D.Turner, A.Garcia Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin DBR9 74 1:36.748
21. 4 LM P1 M.Faggionato, J.Nicolet, R.Hein Saulnier Racing Pescarolo Judd 74 1:36.855
22. 64 LM GT1 O.Beretta, O.Gavin, M.Papis Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R 74 1:58.021
23. 63 LM GT1 J.O'Connell, J.Magnussen, R.Fellows Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R 74 1:58.843
24. 00 LM GT1 H.-H.Frentzen, A.Piccini, K.Wendlinger Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin DBR9 74 2:20.287
25. 12 LM P1 G.Pickett, K.Graf, J.Lammers Charouz Racing System Lola Judd 73 10 Laps
26. 32 LM P2 J.Barazi, M.Vergers, S.Moseley Barazi Epsilon Zytek 07S/2 73 1:55.324
27. 72 LM GT1 L.Alphand, J.Policand, G.Moreau Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R 72 11 Laps
28. 44 LM P2 J.de Pourtales, H.Noda, J.-F.Yvon Kruse Schiller Motorsport Lola B05/40 Mazda 71 12 Laps
29. 59 LM GT1 J.Menten, C.Fittipaldi, T.Borcheller Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9 71 5:05.129
30. 82 LM GT2 M.Salo, J.Melo, G.Bruni Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GTC 70 13 Laps
31. 77 LM GT2 A.Davison, W.Henzler, H.Felbermayr Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 70 54.216
32. 73 LM GT1 P.Goueslard, J.Blanchemain, L.Pasquali Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R 70 2:11.388
33. 10 LM P1 S.Mucke, J.Charouz, T.Enge Charouz Racing System Lola B08/80 Aston Martin 70 2:51.839
34. 78 LM GT2 T.Biagi, C.Montanari, T.Vilander AF Corse Ferrari F430 GTC 70 2:54.224
35. 53 LM GT1 A.Negrao, P.Hardman, N.Leventis Vitaphone Racing Team Aston Martin DBR9 69 14 Laps
36. 96 LM GT2 T.Mullen, R.Bell, T.Sugden Virgo Motorsport Ferrari F430 GTC 69 5:44.695
37. 26 LM P2 B.Devlin, M.Rostan, G.Jeannette Team Bruichladdich Radical Radical SR9 AER 69 7:27.322
38. 97 LM GT2 F.Babini, P.Ruberti, M.Malucelli BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari F430 GTC 69 7:32.768
39. 90 LM GT2 L.-E.Nielsen, P.Ehret, P.Kaffer Farnbacher Racing Ferrari F430 GTC 69 9:02.447
40. 99 LM GT2 B.Aucott, S.Dauodi, A.Ferte JMB Racing Ferrari F430 GTC 68 15 Laps
41. 14 LM P1 S.Hall, J.Mowlem, M.Goossens Creation Autosportif Creation CA07 AIM 65 18 Laps
42. 23 LM P1 M.Lewis, B.Willman, C.McMurry Autocon Creation CA07 Judd 65 28:19.226
43. 25 LM P2 T.Erdos, M.Newton, A.Wallace RML Lola B05/40 MG 65 28:51.925
44. 94 LM GT2 A.Chiesa, B.Leuenberger, I.Alexander-Dav Speedy Racing Team Spyker C8 Laviolette 63 20 Laps
45. 21 LM P1 J.-M.Gounon, S.Nakano, S.Johansson Epsilon Euskadi Epsilon Euskadi EE01 Judd 62 21 Laps
46. 22 LM P1 T.Suzuki, M.Kageyama, H.Kurosawa Tokai University-YGK Power Courage-Oreca YGK 57 26 Laps
47. 50 LM GT1 C.Bouchut, P.Bornhauser, D.Hallyday Larbre Competition Saleen S7R 57 43.701
48. 19 LM P1 G.Evans, B.Berridge, A.Stretton Chamberlain-Synergy Motorspr Lola B06/10 AER 56 27 Laps
49. 80 LM GT2 J.Bergmeister, J.van Overbeek, S.Neiman Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 51 32 Laps
50. 85 LM GT2 P. Dumbreck, R.Kelleners, A.Vasiliev Spyker Squadron Spyker C8 Laviolette 43 40 Laps
51. 55 LM GT1 P.Kox, R.Rusinov, M.Hezemans Interprogressbank Spartak Lamborghini Murcielago 40 43 Laps
52. 24 LM P1 Y.Terada, K.Takahashi, H.Katoh Terramos Courage Mugen 37 46 Laps