SportsCars

LeMans at 12 Hour Mark: Peugeot still leads Audi

Autoracing1

The No. 7 race leading Peugeot in front of an Audi

At the halfway of the 76th 24 Hours of Le Mans, Peugeot and Audi kept up their chase with former F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve leading in the No. 7 Peugeot 908 over Audi’s Dindo Capello, driving the No. 2 Audi R10 TDI that he is sharing with Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen.

The Audis cannot keep up with the Peugeots on speed but they are winning the race in the pits. The No. 2 car made 16 stops in the race’s first half, three less than the leading Peugeot and was behind by less than three minutes.

Audis also were running fourth and fifth.

Risi Competizione continued to lead in GT2 with its Ferrari F430 GT clicking off lap after lap in darkness at La Sarthe. Gianmaria Bruni was in the midst of his second stint with a lap in hand over Rob Bell in the Virgo Motorsport Ferrari.

The Risi entry led the American Le Mans Series contingent through 12 hours of the world’s most famous race. The defending Series GT2 champion has had dismal luck in the first half of the season but a victory at Le Mans would do a lot to erase those memories.

“It was getting a bit hard in the last stint, when it was completely dark but otherwise the car is going very well and is very well balanced," said Jaime Melo, who with Bruni and Mika Salo had advanced The Michelin tires have been very consistent for the triple stint and so far, so good. In the traffic, it’s quite hard to get through – especially the slower prototypes – but everything is going okay. I hope we can finish the race in the same position as now."

Tight fights for the lead in all classes were the norm. In GT1, the battle between Aston Martin Racing and Corvette Racing was living up to expectations…again. David Brabham, who drives for Patr¢n Highcroft Racing and Acura in the American Le Mans Series, led in the No. 009 works Aston Martin DBR9 by just 30 seconds over class pole-winner Jan Magnussen in the factory Corvette C6.R that he shares with Johnny O’Connell and Ron Fellows.

The second Aston Martin was third with Karl Wendlinger at the wheel and also on the lead lap. Corvette Racing’s other entry was a lap down with Olivier Beretta at the wheel, the team having to replace the alternator early in the evening.

12 Hour Standings

Pos

# Class Drivers Team Car Laps Behind
1. 7 LM P1 M.Gene, N.Minassian, J.Villeneuve Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 197 0.000
2. 2 LM P1 R.Capello, A.McNish, T.Kristensen Audi Sport North America Audi R10 196 1 Lap
3. 9 LM P1 F.Montagny, R.Zonta, C.Klein Peugeot Sport Total Peugeot 908 196 2:23.508
4. 3 LM P1 L.Luhr, A.Premat, M.Rockenfeller Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R10 195 2 Laps
5. 1 LM P1 F.Biela, E.Pirro, M.Werner Audi Sport North America Audi R10 194 3 Laps
6. 17 LM P1 H.Primat, C.Tinseau, B.Treluyer Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo Judd 189 8 Laps
7. 8 LM P1 P.Lamy, S.Sarrazin, A.Wurz Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 188 9 Laps
8. 5 LM P1 S.Ayari, L.Duval, L.Groppi Team Oreca Matmut Courage-Oreca LC70 Judd 188 44.985
9. 16 LM P1 J.C.Boullion, E.Collard, R.Dumas Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo Judd 188 2:30.372
10. 34 LM P2 P.van Merksteijn, J.Verstappen, J.Bleeke Van Merksteijn Motorsport Porsche RS Spyder 186 11 Laps
11. 31 LM P2 J.Nielsen, C.Elgaard, S.Maassen Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder 185 12 Laps
12. 18 LM P1 V.Ickx, S.Gregoire, J.Barbosa Rollcentre Racing Pescarolo Judd 183 14 Laps
13. 35 LM P2 P.Ragues, M.Lahaye, C.Cheng Saulnier Racing Pescarolo Judd 177 20 Laps
14. 10 LM P1 S.Mucke, J.Charouz, T.Enge Charouz Racing System Lola B08/80 Aston Martin 177 22.446
15. 00 LM GT1 D.Brabham, D.Turner, A.Garcia Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin DBR9 177 1:02.723
16. 63 LM GT1 J.O'Connell, J.Magnussen, R.Fellows Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R 177 1:36.625
17. 40 LM P2 M.Amaral, O.Pla, G.Smith Quifel-ASM Team Lola B05/40 AER 177 2:47.727
18. 00 LM GT1 H.-H.Frentzen, A.Piccini, K.Wendlinger Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin DBR9 176 21 Laps
19. 64 LM GT1 O.Beretta, O.Gavin, M.Papis Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R 175 22 Laps
20. 4 LM P1 M.Faggionato, J.Nicolet, R.Hein Saulnier Racing Pescarolo Judd 174 23 Laps
21. 33 LM P2 X.Pompidou, A.Belicchi, S.Zacchia SpeedY Racing Team Sebah Lola B08/80Judd 173 24 Laps
22. 72 LM GT1 L.Alphand, J.Policand, G.Moreau Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R 173 10:47.278
23. 59 LM GT1 J.Menten, C.Fittipaldi, T.Borcheller Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9 171 26 Laps
24. 11 LM P1 D.Ito, Y.Tachikawa, T.Kataoka Dome Racing Team Dome S102 Judd 169 28 Laps
25. 73 LM GT1 P.Goueslard, J.Blanchemain, L.Pasquali Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6.R 169 43.246
26. 82 LM GT2 M.Salo, J.Melo, G.Bruni Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GTC 168 29 Laps
27. 96 LM GT2 T.Mullen, R.Bell, T.Sugden Virgo Motorsport Ferrari F430 GTC 166 31 Laps
28. 97 LM GT2 F.Babini, P.Ruberti, M.Malucelli BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari F430 GTC 166 2:31.176
29. 99 LM GT2 B.Aucott, S.Dauodi, A.Ferte JMB Racing Ferrari F430 GTC 165 32 Laps
30. 90 LM GT2 L.-E.Nielsen, P.Ehret, P.Kaffer Farnbacher Racing Ferrari F430 GTC 164 33 Laps
31. 45 LM P2 W.Hughes, J.Kane, J.Foster Embassy Racing Embassy WF01 Zytek 162 35 Laps
32. 32 LM P2 J.Barazi, M.Vergers, S.Moseley Barazi Epsilon Zytek 07S/2 161 36 Laps
33. 14 LM P1 S.Hall, J.Mowlem, M.Goossens Creation Autosportif Creation CA07 AIM 160 37 Laps
34. 26 LM P2 B.Devlin, M.Rostan, G.Jeannette Team Bruichladdich Radical Radical SR9 AER 159 38 Laps
35. 50 LM GT1 C.Bouchut, P.Bornhauser, D.Hallyday Larbre Competition Saleen S7R 155 42 Laps
36. 77 LM GT2 A.Davison, W.Henzler, H.Felbermayr Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 152 45 Laps
37. 23 LM P1 M.Lewis, B.Willman, C.McMurry Autocon Creation CA07 Judd 152 1:14.899
38. 6 LM P1 S.Pagenaud, O.Panis, M.Fassler Team Oreca Matmut Courage-Oreca LC70 Judd 147 50 Laps
39. 44 LM P2 J.de Pourtales, H.Noda, J.-F.Yvon Kruse Schiller Motorsport Lola B05/40 Mazda 147 59:54.949
40. 20 LM P1 A.Burgueno, M.A.De Castro, A.Valles Epsilon Euskadi Epsilon Euskadi EE01 Judd 130 67 Laps
41. 80 LM GT2 J.Bergmeister, J.van Overbeek, S.Neiman Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 130 59:34.280
42. 22 LM P1 T.Suzuki, M.Kageyama, H.Kurosawa Tokai University-YGK Power Courage-Oreca YGK 127 70 Laps
43. 55 LM GT1 P.Kox, R.Rusinov, M.Hezemans Interprogressbank Spartak Lamborghini Murcielago 113 84 Laps
44. 24 LM P1 Y.Terada, K.Takahashi, H.Katoh Terramos Courage Mugen 109 88 Laps
45. 25 LM P2 T.Erdos, M.Newton, A.Wallace RML Lola B05/40 MG 100 97 Laps
46. 21 LM P1 J.-M.Gounon, S.Nakano, S.Johansson Epsilon Euskadi Epsilon Euskadi EE01 Judd 83 114 Laps