Communiqué N° 07 - Saturday 17th June

20h00 - 22h00 : Audi dominate

As night fell on the Le Mans circuit the 3 Audis still monopolised the first 3 places. In fourth was the first of the works Panoz Spyders in the hands of Brabham-Magnussen-Andretti who were still on the same lap as the German cars while its team-mate No10 was two laps behind.
 

The Rafanelli Team Lola in difficulties

Just before 22h00 the No.21 Team Rafanelli Lola stopped beside the wall in the Karting esses. Naspetti got out of a car whose race seemed to be run due to an accident. Thus, the top ten was modified as the Lola had been in sixth place. The No.3 Cadillac of Bernard-Collard-Montagny, the Johansson-Matthews-Smith Reynard-Judd, the No.15 BMW of Bscher-Gounon-Lees all moved up.
The Courage C52 also appeared in the top ten for the first time.
Before this the No.6 Reynard-Mopar stopped at Mulsanne with accelerator problems but managed to get back to its pit. At around 20h35, the No.3 Cadillac driven by Franck Lagorce had a tyre blow on Les Hunaudières but luckily he managed to keep it on the track, and after repairs the car rejoined in 32nd spot at 21h40 in the hands of Andy Wallace who promptly set the quickest lap so far recorded by a Cadillac. On the No.2 Cadillac the rear wing and extractor were changed and it quickly fought back to 19th place.
 

LMP 675 : Falling like flies !

There were not many LMP 675s at the start and they were soon in trouble as No.33, the Reynard-ROC retired soon after 20h00 (engine) while its sister car was also afflicted by similar problems. The No.35 WR was hit by overheating but its team-mate No.36 driven by Balandras-Terada-Boulay was still running strongly. Thus, it was the Lola-Nissan in the hands of Canadians, Maxwell­Graham-Wilkins, that led the dance.
 

The Vipers dominate in LM GTS

The three Team Oreca Vipers were in the lead in spite of the heroic attempts of the Corvettes to follow their rhythm, the Chevrolets being only a lap down. In the overall classification the Chryslers were in 14th, 15th and 16th positions led by No. 51 driven by Olivier Beretta.
In the LM GT Category the Dick Barbour Racing GT3-R No.83 dominated ahead of the No.73 Porsche of Fukuyama-Yogo-Lambert.