19.00 – 23.00 CET
Quotes from RadioLe Mans (Bruce Jones, Joe Bradley and Bob Constanduras) and Eurosport

Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, Audi Motorsport

“We’ve been running constantly and without any troubles to now. Our competition had some problems with two cars and lost some time. In the last half to three quarter hours the cars in front are doing quite similar lap times so I think it’s important to stay constant on pace and run without troubles. Another 20 hours which is long.”

On endurance vs. speed “Endurance is important factor but also need a car that has a certain speed.”

Hugh Chamberlain #19 Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport on the stricken car situation

“I’m not smiling but I’m hopeful. We had a demon and sneaky idea. We got her to get the front damper hatch off and wind down the damper to raise the damaged front wheel off the ground so she’s back in the car. The water temperature’s down now. We’re on the engine map for behind the safety car to give enough cooling.”

Olivier Panis, #6 Team Oreca Matmut

“Quick car. Really good team. You lose a lot of time when you make mistakes. For sure it’s difficult to close the gap. Traffic is really hard. It was OK in free practice but during the race is really tough. On minimum it’s overtaking one car per lap.”

John Nielsen, #31 Team Essex

After a fast stop: “My guys have been practicing all winter so they should be good. We had a puncture so came in two laps early so didn’t do too much to our strategy. So far we’ve been double stinting but may triple at about 11pm. Pretty sure the battle [with Van Merksteijn] will go on. They’re in the same car.”

Oliver Gavin #64 Corvette Racing

“I’m dying to get in. Max is coming in in about 10 laps or so then I’ll do a couple of stints. 009 seems to be slightly faster but there’s only a wafer thin mint in it at the moment. This race is going to come down to a mistake by one of these cars. We’ve got to be pushing ourselves, the tyres and the fuel. It’s a full on sprint race.”

Amanda Stretton #19 Chamberlain Synergy

“Thank goodness the lads had the foresight to pack a good toolkit! I had a 10m long cable that allowed me to walk round the car and basically I hadto do what the lads told me to. I’ve never used so many muscles trying to undo the spring with a poxy screwdriver. Bodywork removal was a bit tricky as well. We’re working out what’s going on. It snapped out on me and there’s an engine problem as well.”

Pedro Lamy #8 Team Peugeot Total

“Yeh – trying to catch up. Lost many laps. 18 hours to go – it’s a long way but we’re too far [behind]. We don’t have a lot of pressure. Just push on track and try and catch up some time. We’re not at the front – we’re just trying to catch – so we can push a bit more.”

Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, Audi Motorsport – on 11 versus 12 laps per tank

“It depends on a driver’s fuel consumption. Sometimes it works and sometimes not. And we need to avoid all 3 cars in the pitlane.”

Jacques Villeneuve, #7 Team Peugeot Total

“I didn’t really have a good time in the traffic. Always hitting it at the wrong spot. Would love to win Le Mans but it’s a long way to go.”

Alex Wurtz, #8 Team Peugeot Total

“We had some sort of gearbox problem. It’s a shame. All of us three are the fastest guys out there. We’re 5 or 6 laps down which is a pretty tough cookie to swallow. No more mercy. We need to take more risks through traffic and just go for it.”

Hugh Chamberlain #19 Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport

“We’ve given it a bit of a wash and brush-up. There was a bent front suspension, bent rear suspension, broken rear wing and problems with the alternator drive and oil feed to the turbo. We still don’t know why she went off – possibly oil on the tyres from the turbo problem. At the moment we’re having a run round the countryside. We didn’t want to put Amanda back in given that we don’t know what will happen as we don’t know what the original problem was so her husband gallantly volunteered.”

Ricardo Zonta, #9 Peugeot Sport Total

“Of course we have to keep position close to #7 and try to keep the same gap. Franck did a good job and I will try to do the same. Our strategy is a little different to Audi. All three Peugeots are quick. We have to fight but be careful.”

David Richards, Aston Martin

“It’s as close as it ever is between us and Corvette. We’re first and third with the Corvettes chasing hard. The Corvettes are running one lap more on fuel. We’re expecting rain in the next hour so anything could happen. #10 is running smoothly now we’ve sorted out the accident damage – it’s running like a train.”

Alex Davison, #77 Team Felbermayer-Proton

“These cars require quite a lot of hard brake pressure so I’ve got a niggling problem with my foot. We’ll keep flogging through the night and see where we end up. Horst [who hasn’t been in the car yet] will have a stint – not sure when – I’m not sure what the plan is.”