Le Mans 24 Hours - Hour 18

The JLOC crew are working on the gearbox in the back of the truck so are clearly hoping that the Lamborghini will reappear at some point.

#007 is now behind the #009 sister car.

The Quifel ASM car repairs will mean that Greaves inherits fifth. 

3:19.527 for Davidson, his job is to push as hard as possible.  Win or bust presumably.  He is up behind the leader and storms past to the left of the leader, well onto the red strip on the Mulsanne, kicking dust up; and then, despite Dumas getting out of his way, cutting back in quite aggressively. 

Jousse in the second in class #71 Corvette has pulled off the circuit on the kink after Mulsanne corner.  Nygaard and Policand (1:41 apart) could inherit second and third as a result.

#15 is still pit-bound as Albers displaces it and inherits seventh for Kolles.

Davidson is on a real mission - driving rather aggressively, he sets the fastest first sector of the race so far.  Oddly #2 has been brought back to the garage rather than parc ferme.  They can now check what happened and perhaps make sure it doesn't happen on the remaining car, and they can also presumably salvage any bits they might need later on.

Davidson swipes the GT2 leader off at the Porsche curves. Collard backwards hard into the wall, big damage to the rear, but Collard eventually gets it going again and back to the pits.  If the car can be repaired, it is going to take a long time.  If Davidson made contact, it was only light, but that would be all it would take on the first left of the Porsche curves.  It's not the best place to stick one up the inside. (We believe there was no contact - but neither did the Peugeot give Collard any option)

Davidson pits and rejoins, seemingly routine.

Safety car comes out, presumably for the debris at the Porsche curves and/or repairing the barrier that the Corvette hit. The timing of the Safety Car call though enabled the Peugeot to leave the pit before it was scrambled. That is unacceptable.

The Corvette guys have started to work on the car, but it may be that only once the damaged parts are removed will they be able to determine if a repair is feasible.  Lieb inherits a full lap lead in GT2 and #95 and #89 will inherit the remaining podium places for now.

It's only a short safety car period, so the barrier will not be fixed.  It is deranged, but intact.

#007 has now lost out to the #008 Signature Plus car. 

De Pourtales had rejoined for KSM but spins into the gravel at the Dunlop chicane. 

McNish is right behind Davidson and looking very keen to get his lap back.

The #76 car has been in the garage for some time now and, whilst in the night it was fighting with the #77 car (so would now be fighting for the lead), the car has now dropped to eighth.  Incredibly, Prospeed are seventh.  #88 is also in the pits and even further from contention.

Davidson pulls out nearly two seconds on McNish, so we are denied what would have been an interesting, if relatively insignificant (at this stage at least), tussle.

Doug Fehan tells Radio Le Mans that it appears that the Peugeot appears not to have respected Collard's line and didn't leave him anywhere to go.  Collard is saying he is okay and apparently the car should be back out (in Gavin's hands, just so they can make sure Collard is really okay) in as little as five minutes time!  Alesi and Simonsen have inherited second and third in GT2; Holzer is about to take fourth, but the Corvette might be able to rejoin ahead of Alzen.

Pat Long has brought the IMSA car back out and is back up to speed, but it appears that there is little to fight for now.

De Pourtales is back in the pits again with KSM, perhaps it was a car issue that led to his recent trip to the gravel.

Dumas pits from the lead for fuel and rejoins without drama.  #73 is retired just as Enge passes it on the track.  So now there are only four GT1s left.  There are about to be just the three now because it's 9AM and the Lamborghini hasn't done 50% of the distance, so will be 'eliminated'; not that it is actually on track in any event.

PS

Hour 18 Update

Davidson isn’t giving up. He sets the race’s fast lap at 08:15 with a time of 3:19.527. The next lap he puts four wheels off, passing a pair of cars on the outside. The Peugeot team gets a hand slap and warning - a lot can happen by doing such things. The drama continues as a lap later Julien Jousse stops past Mulsanne with the second in GT1 Alphand Corvette. If he can’t get going, Enge’s Aston Martin will assume second. Meanwhile, Primat has parked in the pits, postponing personal primacy of the petrol peddlers - gearbox problems.

Davidson gets out of control two laps later. Coming through the Porsche curves he either clips the GT1 leading Corvette or causes it to lose its air, sending Collard hard into the barriers at the chicane with considerable damage to the rear of the car. Red card for Davidson?

Collard is able to make it back and the damage looks repairable. But it is clear that Lieb will take the class lead.  There is ample debris at the scene of the incident and the safety car has been called out.

The interruption is brief and on the restart de Pourtales beaches the KSM entry - another cold play spin. The Corvette is repaired in time to resume the race in fifth spot in GT2, behind Lieb (Porsche No. 77), Alesi (Ferrari No. 95), Allan Simonsen (Farnbacher Ferrari No. 89), and Marc Holzer (No. 97 BMS Porsche).

 As the race passes the 18-hour mark we have another milestone. The rules call for disqualification of any cars that have not made 50% of the leaders’ distance. That applies to the Lamborghini. The previously stopped No. 73 Alphand Corvette has also been retired, leaving only three cars in GT1.

JW