Backstretch Motorsports

Franck Montagny still leads the race with the #8 Peugeot 908 Hdi FAP followed by the sister works car #9 driven by Marc Gene. The #1 and #2 Audis are next up. Mention should be made also of the quick laps (with a best of 3′27.500) of the Pescarolo #17 driver Simon Pagenaud and the good showing of the first petrol-powered cars, the #007 and #008 Aston Martins in the 5th and 6th places just 2 laps behind the leading car.

First in LM P2 is the #31 Essex Porsche RS Spyder, in 14th place overall. The second LM P2 is the #5 Navi Team Goh Porsche RS Spyder in 16th place and third is the #33 Speedy Racing team Sebah Lola driven by Xavier Pompidou.

Whilst the #66 Jetalliance Aston Martin is in its garage, the LM GT1 category is dominated by the Corvettes. The works cars #63 and #64 are followed by the Luc Alphand Aventures #73 and #72.

Last but not least ,in LM GT2, the leading car is the #80 Flying Lizard Motorsport Porsche in 33rd place, followed by the #76 IMSA Performance Matmut,another Porsche in 34th. In third place and the first Ferrari,the #82 Risi Competizione (2008 class winner) is in 37th place.

Lightning fast pit stops for #8 and #9 Peugeot 908s

The 2 Peugeot 908 HDIs came in together for a tyre change under the safety car. The drivers did change over , with Stéphane Sarrazin handing to Sebastien Bourdais leading the field in the #8 car, and David Brabham third overall in the #9 car handing over to Alex Wurz.

Oliver Panis - #11 Oreca 01 AIM (TEAM ORECA MATMUT AIM
“The start went well, everyone was calm and I thought that this was a good thing for a 24 hour race. The car was handling well and was comfortable to drive. I was able to develop a good rhythm. During the first stint, I was following an Aston Martin, during the second, I was able to close in on an Audi R10. But these two prototypes are too powerful to pass. The grip is improving which is quite positive. It is a shame that we had this problem with the rubber, but the team reacted quickly and Nicolas started his race under the best possible conditions”

The #40 Ginetta Zytek has retired after going off at Arnage. The car had had another spin a few laps beforehand. With damaged bodywork and a ripped off suspension, the Portuguese team decided to call it a day. This is the third retirement so far. It was announced at 18:47, and Miguel Amaral was the final driver of the car.

At 19:12, Rinaldo Capello set the best lap time today for the Audi #1 car in 3:28.520. The nose change which was done during the last pit stop seems to have had some positive effect, as the car is now regularly lapping in under 3 minutes and 30 seconds, and catching up with the two leading Peugeot #8 and #9 cars.