Release n°7 - Saturday 20h00 - 22h00

No magic triple for no."7"

Just after 21h00 the no.7 prototype Porsche, winner in 1996 and 97, saw its chances of a triple go up in smoke as electrical problems sidelined Michele Alborteo at the start of the Hunaudiàres straight. Fourth overall at the time of the incident, the category lead was taken over by the second works Porsche of Raphanel-Murry-Weaver, which was involved in a battle with the no.13 Courage and the no.30 Nissan for fourth, fifth and sixth places, all cars being on the same lap.

Uwe Alzen had an off in the second-placed Porsche no.25 when he went into the gravel trap in the Dunlop chicane after coming out of the pits for a double stint but he was able to continue.

The nos 3 and 5 Ferraris, third and fourth in their category, were in tenth and eleventh spots overall after 8 hours racing. After the time lost by Wayne Gardner the no.21 Riley & Scott which required a front bonnet change, Gache put in some quick laps to pull back the precious seconds. The C36 Courage Porsche also lost several minutes in the pits after part of the rear wing flew off. Grouillard then went straight across the Ford chicane in typical Olivier style!. Franck Montagny took to endurance racing like a duck to water.

The first third of the race ended as 22h00 struck and it was the moment choosen by Toyota, Nissan and Porsche to change brake pads.

GT2 : One Viper chases another

The no.51 Viper leading the GT2 category lost several minutes changing its gearbox. It then fell well back down the field. No.53 driven by Bell-Donahue-Drudi took up the running but was still under threat from the no.64 Roock Porsche. Taking advantage of refuelling it went in front at 22h00. The no.55 Viper entered by Chamberlain Engineering got up to third ahead of the Larbre (no.60), Haberthur (67), Roock (65) and CJ Motorsport (62) Porsches. It took an hour to change the drive shafts, pads and part of the wing on the no.72 911 GT2 entered by Chereau.