Le Mans 24 Hours - Hours 22 - 23

The #35 Pescarolo makes it back and is pushed into the pit garage - it has a 15 lap advantage over the next LMP2, this the #40 Quifel ASM Lola.

The Farnbacher Ferrari has had its borrowed Krohn Racing door demolished, the team taking a lump hammer to the door catch.

In LMP1 the Peugeots are not, at present, making any real impact on the Audis times.

In GT1 the chasing Corvettes are making no impact on the #009 Aston Martin.

Its raining on the pit straight again - Not good news for Peugeot.

The #32 has rejoined but Juan Barazi is the first man caught out by the prevailing conditions - the car spins but rejoins with no visible damage.

We have an ALMS race length remaining! The rain has stopped on the pit straight - greasy track, everything to lose - this is where the tacticians and crew earn their money.

#55 Lamborghini into the pit garage - #32 Zytek pits again with damage to the rear still visible, the team get busy with a running repair.

The Virgo Ferrari is into the garage from 2nd in GT2 - we'll chase that one up asap - Tim Mullen reports that the car has engine problems of the potentially terminal variety. Heartbreaking stuff for one of the best little teams in this or any other paddock.

One car we haven't mentioned for a long time is the #14 Creation AIM, a couple of punctures and a sizeable impact after one of them have added further delays for the car. The car leaves the pits and will now chase down the #4 Pescarolo ahead in 25th position and 2 minutes ahead.

The #8 Peugeot is in trouble again, into the garage briefly possibly for a deep clean of the sidepods - Apparently the remains of an animal or bird were dragged out of the intakes on the previous stop.

The leading petrol car, the #17 Pescarolo , Christophe Tinseau at the wheel is reported slow on circuit on its out lap. Ayari's Courage Oreca is six laps adrift.

In better Pescarolo news the #35 LMP2 car rejoins the race after its repairs, still 8 laps clear of the Quifel ASM car.

Both Epsilon Euskadis and the Tokai University Courage are confirmed retirements.

Rollcentre - Joao Barbosa: “It’s going well so far. We are fairly happy, no problems to report. We are still on inters (at the time) and are waiting for the right moment to change which will be soon, and I will take the next stint. Really we are just keeping going and hoping other cars will have problems. It’s not the best way to race, but it’s what we have to do here.”

009 Aston Martin - A rapid decision to change the car to slicks.

Antonio Garcia, “It’s been a tough night, with the rain coming – I was in the car when it started, but the car was OK and I managed to pull out a gap in difficult conditions.

The change to slicks was inevitable given that the Corvettes had just made the switch, but from the driver’s point of view the car was due to pit anyway, “I went out for a double stint with used tyres and I found them going off and off, so I was ready to change in any case. But the no. 59 Modena car had tried slicks and found them to be OK, so that made the decision easy for us.”

Stuart Moseley on the latest problems to hit the Barazi Epsilon Zytek:

“The car was running fine, we’d picked up a little bit of understeer, but nothing that wasn’t manageable, then I was halfway down the Mulsanne and I just got a blow out. There was no vibration, no warning; I figured I’d probably picked up some debris or something. When the tyre blew out it obviously did a lot of damage to the rear engine cover, but it also completely took out the electrics. So when I pulled off I had to get that working straight away before I could get it out of 6th gear. Then I couldn’t get it into neutral to be able to manoeuvre the car. So there was a lot of in-and-out of the car while I tried to get a gear selected to get me back to the pits. We’ve had some very unfortunate things happen, but we’ll get it to the end now.”

Guy Smith, Quifel ASM Lola: “We’ve had a really tough week up until the race. The most I’d done in the car was about 3 laps. The race is going pretty well; our dry pace is good, but it’s really terrible in the wet, for whatever reason, we don’t know – 20 seconds off the pace. It’s drying out now, which is better, but we’ve also had to go back to a manual shift. That reminds you just how good the paddle shift is..”

“It was always going to be tough against the Porsches, but we are pushing to the finish and with any luck we might just get a podium.”

“Actually the pace of the Porsche over this distance doesn’t surprise me really. We have some hard races in the States, Sebring being particularly tough, but it’s encouraging for sure. What I’d like to see is Porsche really coming over here and taking a challenge to Audi. This proves just what a great car it is.”

The #32 is off the circuit again and being pushed behind the barrier.

The #8 Peugeot is straight on into the tyre wall on the exit of Arnage - a very spirited group of marshals pulls the car out and it continues but must be sporting damage. It pits but Lamy seems to have got away with that remarkably lightly.

Its raining again.

The Peugeot crew have now decided to change the #8 cars bodywork belatedly, front, rear and wing, the high downforce kit? The nose section is seemingly jammed on as a result of the impact.

Juan Barazi gets together at the Dunlop Chicane with the lkeading car, Kristensen spins, continues, seemingly unaffected but will they risk it? They do, TK carries on regardless.

Down at Virgo there is raw emotion by the skip load, the engine gone, the team reactions ranging from shock to tears. Chris Warne and his loyal gang though have shown what can be achieved by a small team with very big hearts. Journalistically you aren't supposed to have favourites but frankly that goes out of the window at moments like this. A truly cruel moment in the sport.

Pedro Lamy meanwhile wasn't in the mood to chat: "We have had a fast car and all of the bad luck." said the #8 pilot.

Allan McNish meanwhile was very matter of fact at a point where his nerves must be jangling loud enough to hear: "It's simple now, they have to catch us and we have to try not to let them."

Both the leading petrol cars pit, #17 Pescarolo 6 laps ahead of #5 Courage with the #31 Porsche the third placed petrol car, 9th overall and the Lola Aston Martin a lap behind.

The lead gap is 2 minutes 14 seconds with 80 minutes of the race remaining - Kristensen vs Minassian and it has started to rain, lightly, on the pit straight - Minassian's last lap was a 3:27, Kristensen's close to a 3:31

Make that heavy rain - 70 minutes to go now, the gap below 2 minutes - TK's 3:27 responded to with a 3:24 from Minassian.

Intermediates are ready at Peugeot and Audi.

David Richards on what a victory would mean to Aston Martin: “It’s not over until it’s over, and Le Mans is always Le Mans. It’s a pity it only comes up once a year, but that’s what makes it so special. All the focus is here on the people in this pit garage, but there are an awful lot of people back at Banbury and at Aston Martin in Gaydon who have worked so hard, and all in the hands of a few drivers here. Every person has played a fantastic part in this and that’s what we’ll celebrate at the end of the day.”

Given the hint from the drivers that perhaps this year their cars didn’t have the edge over the Corvettes, this has not proven to be the case, the team taking a fairly low profile, calm approach during qualifying:

“Well, that’s what 24 hour racing’s about, personally. If you look at the driver line up we have here...getting the right combination of drivers is central to the success of the campaign. There’s enormous camaraderie in the team; when we first came here a few years ago we were learning the ropes and making lots of mistakes. Sure, mistakes are still made, but the team is working so well in unison now, it’s great to watch.”

Given there is no official works Aston Martin programme, should they win here what does the future hold for the organisation in sportscar racing?

“Well clearly it’s part of our heritage; it’s also part of our future. What we will actually do is determined by the rules and we will sit down after this event and consider a longer term strategy. Who would have believed a few years ago, when there wasn’t a single Aston Martin race car, that things would be what they are today? I can’t tell what the future will be precisely, all I know is that we will be there.”

Make that heavy rain - 70 minutes to go now, the gap below 2 minutes - TK's 3:27 responded to with a 3:24 from Minassian.

Intermediates are ready at Peugeot and Audi but the rain is coming down very hard indeed - Intermediates go onto the leading car.

Minassian pits - the Radical pits ahead and the #7 car can't reach its pit space - the team use the dolly wheels to re position the car but send the car back out on slicks!

The #9 and #8 Peugeot pit as does the #3 Audi - BUT #3 AND #9 GO INTO THEIR RESPECTIVE GARAGES! The third and fourth placed cars are both in trouble.

The circuit from the Porsche Curves to Tertre Rouge is wet, the remainder dry - What a finish!