Halfway Through Le Mans 24, Audi Still Leads

After twelve hours of racing Audi still runs 1–2–3 in the Le Mans 24, despite yet another incident with the #3.
Halfway Through Le Mans 24, Audi Still Leads
Audi continues to control the Le Mans 24 after 12 hours. All four cars are still running, despite the #3 having a pair of incidents. Audi Motorsport
Updated:
<a><img class="size-full wp-image-1786067" title="WEC - 24h Le Mans 2012" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/qqqq10402zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.jpg" alt="Audi continues to control the Le Mans 24 after 12 hours. All four cars are still running, despite the #3 having a pair of incidents. (Audi Motorsport)" width="750" height="500"/></a>
Audi continues to control the Le Mans 24 after 12 hours. All four cars are still running, despite the #3 having a pair of incidents. (Audi Motorsport)

After twelve hours of racing Audi still runs 1–2–3 in the Le Mans 24, despite yet another incident with the #3.

The #1 Audi Audi R18 e-tron quattro driven by Marcel Fässler has 40-second over the #2 e-tron of Tom Kristensen. This pair is two laps ahead of Marco Bonanomi in the #4 R18 Ultra.

The #3 Audi, which had already visited the tire wall early in the race had yet another off—with Romain Dumas at the wheel in both cases. This time Dumas tried to pass the #70 Larbre Corvette through the Ford Chicane, and he cut across the Corvette’s nose, spinning both cars deep into the gravel.

The #3 made it back to the pits, got fresh rubber and some adjustments, and carried on, now nine laps down.

The two Rebellion Racing Lola-Toyotas held fourth and fifth overall, the best of the privateers, by dint of reliability—every other P1 privateer had problems of some sort or another, while the rebellions ran faultlessly.

Tom Kimber-Smith kept the #44 Starworks HPD-Honda atop P2 and seventh overall, a lap ahead of the #49 Pecom Oreca, which was 32 seconds ahead of the #26 Signatech Nissan.

The #51 Ferraris continued to lead in GTE. Just as the twelve-hour mark passed, two serious rivals, the second-place #59 Luxury Racing Ferrari and the once-leading #74 Corvette Racing CR6 both got into trouble. The Luxury racing car spun off into the gravel and had to be towed, while the Corvette went back to the garage to get its driveshafts replaced.

The #70 Larbre Corvette led in GTE-Am by half a lap over the IMSA Matmut Porsche.

80th Le Mans 24 after Twelve Hours

 

#

class

car

driver

team

laps

gap

1

LM P1

Audi R18 e-tron quattro

M. Fässler

Audi Sport Team Joest

187

 

2

LM P1

Audi R18 e-tron quattro

T. Kristensen

Audi Sport Team Joest

187

41.515

4

LM P1

Audi R18 Ultra

M. Bonanomi

Audi Sport North America

186

1 Lap

12

LM P1

Lola B12/60-Toyota

N. Jani

Rebellion Racing

182

5 Laps

13

LM P1

Lola B12/60-Toyota

J. Bleekemolen

Rebellion Racing

180

7 Laps

3

LM P1

Audi R18 Ultra

R. Dumas

Audi Sport Team Joest

178

9 Laps

44

LM P2

HPD ARX 03b-Honda

T Kimber-Smith.

starworks motorsport

175

12 Laps

49

LM P2

Oreca 03-Nissan

L. Perez Companc

Pecom Racing

174

13 Laps

26

LM P2

Oreca 03-Nissan

R. Rusinov

Signatech Nissan

174

32.475

10

46

LM P2

Oreca 03-Nissan

M. Beche

Thiriet by TDS Racing

174

1:43.596

23

51

LM GTE Pro

Ferrari 458 Italia

Fisichella G.

AF Corse

166

21 Laps

24

59

LM GTE Pro

Ferrari 458 Italia

Farnbacher D.

Luxury Racing

166

29.008

25

73

LM GTE Pro

Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1

Magnussen J.

Corvette Racing

166

2:20.505

31

50

LM GTE Am

Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1

P. Lamy

Larbre Competition

162

1:20.808

32

67

LM GTE Am

Porsche 911 RSR (997)

R. Narac

IMSA Performance Matmut

162

1:48.052

33

66

LM GTE Pro

Ferrari 458 Italia

R. Wills

JMW Motorsport

162

2:50.254

34

57

LM GTE Am

Ferrari 458 Italia

M. Rugolo

Krohn Racing

160

27 Laps