Le Mans 24 Hours - Hour 3

The Art Car gets back to the pits and is pushed into the garage.

Leinders gets the remains of the #70 Ford underway again and is coming slowly back to the pits.

In LMP2 the earlier issue for RML hasn't hurt them too much - they're up to second in class at present, with Franchitti now aboard the the Highcroft car having had a slower pit stop than the Quifel ASM Ginetta Zytek and having lost third in class as a result. The Scot though gets by Pla into Indianapolis on their lap 31.

The Jaguar is a retirement - the team telling dsc that the wiring loom is burned out - a six-hour replacement task. Four4 laps completed - unhappily this performance rather confirms the pre-race feeling that this car wasn't yet ready for the Le Mans 24 Hour challenge. 

The Vettes pit - Bruni leads GT2 for the moment.

The #70 Ford - looking very second-hand - makes it back to the pits.

17:15 Montagny now leads Lamy by around 11 seconds with Gene still close behind - Lapierre is a further 30 seconds back, with McNish and Bernhard a further minute astray; and Fassler now over two minutes behind the leading Peugeot. 

Two hours and 23 minutes in and we get the first Audi tyre change - not quite as far as Audi would like the tyres to go and after what seems to have been a shorter 11-lap stint.

17:24 Montagny pits as Gene is pressuring Lamy for (effectively) second place.

Lamy though, as he takes the lead, has a problem at the right front corner - smoke pouring from that corner as the car comes into the first chicane. The #1 908 goes by for the lead but will pit this time around.

McNish meanwhile is on the tail of Lapierre for fourth but will pit too.

Sarrazin is aboard #2 now with Davidson climbing aboard #1.

Bernhard and McNish pit together - Dumas and Kristensen rejoin (in that order). This pair had reshuffled themselves as they pitted to allow a more orderly entry to their respective pit areas.

Oddly, Capello should (on pre-announced rotation) have got into the #7 car.   

The #3 908 is in the garage.

Hirschi is pulling away from Maassen in GT1, the ford lapping under four minutes to a 4:03 from the Vette last time around. Closing in on both though is Tomas Enge.

Bourdais looks distraught in the Peugeot pit - is #3 in real trouble?

Dirk Muller on the Art Car's woes: "I had a puncture on the left rear and I went off at Tertre Rouge.  The car went over the 'bananas' on the outside of the track and went up in the air.  The tyre went very quickly and the car landed hard on that side when I was sideways in the air.  The floor is damaged [it has a large hole in it] and they will have to change the suspension also."

Bas Leinders: "I don't know what happened but I think it was the left rear tyre, coming down after the Dunlop chicane the car just went and I was into the tyres."

Lapierre is still aboard the Oreca Peugeot - the only man in the top 10 still to be aboard from the start.

A bit of earwigging from Graham Tyler says that the suspension point has pulled out of the tub on the #3 car. It looks set to retire. 

The Lamborghini is in tyre trouble - right rear puncture.

17:47 Enge goes by Maassen for second in GT1.

The Drayson Lola is in the garage - and the Quifel ASM car has had a brief period in the garage too but is now back out on track.

The #79 car rejoins the race at 17:54.

The Race Performance Radical is in the gravel at Indianapolis after a nerf from Tracey Krohn in the #83 Ferrari. The Ferrari has damage at the front right corner - it pits and is garaged.

Henzler goes by Pilet for fourth in GT2 - #77 taking #76.

Jonny Cocker; "We had an imbalance in my first stint and we presumed it was a wheel weight because the guys found one in the pits.  We changed tyres, which we normally wouldn't do after one stint.  I then did another full stint but it didn't get any better, in fact it continued to get worse.  Something was really vibrating, I could hardly see, it was like having four flat-spotted tyres.  I do hope they find something because it is undriveable.  It's coming from the rear so at least we can isolate it." 

The #3 Peugeot is a confirmed retirement.

GG/ PS/ ML

Hour 3 Round-Up

Le Mans 2010 Hour 3

Leinders staggered around with the wounded Ford - left rear askew - leaving Jonathan Hirschi (No. 60 Matech Ford) now leading GT2. There was some swapping about in LM P2. Kane maintained a substantial lead in the class while Tommy Erdos moved into second with the RML entry. There was a good battle brewing for third between Olivier Pla in the ASM Ginetta and Marino Franchitti taking over from Brabham in the Highcroft Honda-like thing.

Sam Hancock took over in the ninth-overall No. 009 Lola-Aston Martin that was hounding Adrian Fernandez (No. 007) for the Petrol lead. The No. 95 Ferrari (Giancarlo Fisichella) is proving to be quite strong in GT2 - fast and clear ahead of the Corvettes after the second round of stops. Further back Augusto Farfus stepped into the artless BMW.

The overall leading No. 2 Peugeot stopped and became first of the two 908s to switch to the second driver, Stephane Sarrazin in their case. Just as Lamy retook the lead the No. 3 Peugeot had a puncture that rubbed off on the bodywork halfway around the lap. It’s far more serious than that as the car pulls into the pits with major suspension problems and it is covered up - une frog mort.

Apart from the other Peugeots and Audis, most of the other cars had switched to their second drivers, with a few even going to their third. At the 2-1/2 mark two of the Audis stopped, nearly colliding on the way out. Tom Kristensen took over the now-third place R15 Plus while Romain Dumas took over from Bernhard in No. 9. Among the Peugeots the No. 3 went into the garage while Anthony Davidson took over from Gene in No. 1. These moves promoted Sarrazin into a healthy lead.

The Race Performance Radical is circulating, strangely enough, on cut slicks.  Whether for that reason or not, Pierre Bruneau spins it at Arnage - tapped by the green Ferrari of Tracy Krohn. Olivier Pla had one of the most marathon stints among the opening drivers and brought the seemingly nicely running Portuguese LM P2 Ginetta in to hand over to Warren Hughes. Cocker brought the pretty green Lola coupe in, but before Emanuele Pirro could take over the car was pushed into the garage to deal with bad vibrations.

As the hour ends, Sarrazin’s lead over Davidson narrows. Lapierre - still in marathon mode - is in third in the Oreca Peugeot, with Kristensen the first Audi to knock on Peugeot’s door.  The LM P2 fight is again an HPD squabble, Strakka (Danny Watts) leading the Indy 500 winner’s brother. 

JW