24h du Mans: Resumé of a wet night at Le Mans

Source: Official Event Website

Over the years the night time at Le Mans has not always brought us much drama. But this year it did! It was the Peugeot.v.Audi battle that has been raging all the way from the green flag that really got interesting. It has been a fascinating battle of wits between the very rapid but thirsty Peugeots and the slower Audis who need to pit less often.

Not only was it dark but it began to rain heavily and these are the sort of conditions that Tom Kristensen revels in. As soon as it began to rain, at around 04:30 hrs the Audis immediately began to make their move.

Afterwards Jacques Villeneuve also mentioned that the Peugeots are a handful in the wet. The rain meant that the Audis apparent lack of overall speed was no longer relevant and their attack began.

On the 234th lap he took the lead from Villeneuve's #7 Team Peugeot Total, Peugeot 908 HDI FAP while it was in the pits refueling. The #2 Audi, thanks to a faster pitstop (because only the tyres were changed) came out first.

But The Peugeot then spent longer in the pits carrying out a tyre and driver change. It was wonderful stuff. But when Kristensen took the lead he began to put in some spectacularly fast laps and extended his lead. It wasn't until Gené got behind the wheel of the #7 Team Peugeot Total, Peugeot 908 HDI FAP that the gap began to close.

Allan McNish was not quite as quick as Kristensen initially and the Audi lead shrank rapidly. But by 07:00 hrs it had settled down to around 46 secs.
There were still Peugeots running 2nd and 3rd but Audi had now shown what they could do.

In LM P2 the Porsche Spyders initially carried on in their unruffled way with the #34 Van Merksteijn Motorsport, car running 8th overall. But then the #31 Team Essex car developed a misfire and slipped back down the leader board to be replaced by #35 Saulnier Racing, Pescarolo Judd.

In LM GT1 the Aston Martin #009 still leads by a lap and a half from the #63 Corvette Racing, Corvette C6.R. The #64 Corvette Racing, Corvette C6.R is third. The second works Aston Martin is now running 5th after a long stop for an alternator change. So the Aston.v.Corvette battle is still going strong.

In LM GT2 the Porsche challenge evaporated earlier in the day when the two leading cars, #76 Imsa Performance Matmut, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR and the similar #80 Flying Lizard Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR came together while leading the class.

The #76car retired but the #80 Flying Lizard Motorsports, Porsche 911 GT3 RSR was still in the race but running 36 laps behind the leader. So LMGT2 suddenly became a Ferrari 1/2/3/4/5. Not quite what anybody expected but very impressive none the less.

The 82 Ferrari lead by two laps from #96 Ferrari in 2nd and #97 Ferrari in 3rd. 41 cars remained at 07:00.