The TWR PORSCHE KEEPS UP THE PRESSURE:
THE no.42 McLAREN RETIRES

 The TWR-Porsche continued to harry the leading Porsche 911 GT1 under grey skies but no rain. The action was in the lower category as the leader of the GT2s since the middle of the night lost a wheel at 8h40. The car crawled back to its pit and was passed by its sister car entered by Roock Racing in the hands of Pilgrim-Ahrlé-Eichmann. Not for long as the no.74 GT2 911 also came in for a pit stop that seemed to go on and on. Thus, hope changed camps and the no.61 Chrysler Viper of Beretta-Gache-Dupuy upped the pace: "we're really going for it", said Philippe Gache.

 The no.13 Vaillant Courage and its drivers must be regretting the problems that they ran into during the night as they were back up into 7th place in a car that was going like a top. Another Courage, no.8, was in eighth place just ahead of the 333 SP Ferrari. The Italian car had run into electrical problems in the early morning caused by the alternator, and had had to borrow one from Michel Ferté's team. The team's aim is to give the 333SP its first-ever Le Mans finish.

 No chequered flag for the no.42 McLaren of Soper-Lehto-Piquet as after getting back into 7th place it hit the wall hard at Mulsanne with JJ Lehto at the wheel. He got it back to the pit but front-end damage was too serious. At 09H05, the leaders had covered over 3500 kms at an average speed of over 205 km/h.