MIDNIGHT: NO CHANGE

 In release no.5 it was announced that the no.42 McLaren BMW of Lehto-Soper-Piquet did not go out at 20h00. In fact, the car was back out on the circuit in 35th position and by midnight it was up to 13th place thanks to the efforts of its 3 drivers especially a highly- motivated JJ Lehto.

 In the prototype category apart from the no.7 Joest Porsche in third place and the 333 SP Ferrari solidly installed in 10th spot (Moretti was not at all happy with the fuel tank limitation of 80 litres: "our only chance of remaining in contact in case ...is to go flat-out), it was a rout. In particular for Courage as the only one of his entries that was in a challenging position was no.13 in the hands of Cottaz-Policand-Goosens. The team apparently had planned some secret tactics for this car in the best traditions of Jean Gratton but a prolonged stop dropped it down to 19th place at midnight. The Kremer K8 which was wellplaced went out around 23h25.

 The Nissans attempted to up the pace while in front the 2 works Porsches continued on their merry way. The Japanese cars were too far behind however, to make much impact. The best-placed was the R390 GT1 driven by Hoshino-Comas-Kageyama in 9th spot. Thus, as midnight struck there had been no changes in the first 6 for almost 3 hours. Behind the leading Porsches, the 3 McLarens of Gounon-Raphanel-Olofsson, Gilbert Scott-Bellm-Sekiya and Cox-Ravaglia-Hélary were waiting to pounce should the leaders show any signs of weakening.. Only no.41 was on the same lap as the first 3.

 In GT2, the Gache-Beretta-Dupuy Viper was back in the lead in front of the Neugarten-Martinolle-Lagniez 911 GT2 Porsche. The 100 lap barrier was breached at 22h20 and that of 1500 kms covered by the leaders at 22h56 showing that there was no let-up in the pace up front.