Release n°10 - Sunday 2h00 - 8h00

Toyota ? Porsche ? Nissan ?

Showers during the night made the track conditions very hazardous. Laurent Aiello put in a very quick stint and no.26 pulled out a short lead over no.25 while the Toyota was 4 laps down. The best of the Nissans were 8 and 9 laps behind which more or less excluded any chance of victory. The no. 13 Courage of Cottaz-Belloc-Goossens dropped back from fourth to ninth place due a broken accelerator cable but it was still in the lead in the LMP1 Category. Around 03h00 the Bouillon-Sospiri-Policand Ferrari gave up the ghost (gearbox) and the Raphanel-Weaver-Murry Porsche also retired (rear bonnet support broken).

Around 5h55 things began to hot up when Jorg Muller went across the gravel trap at the first chicane on Les Hunaudières and came back slowly to his pit for repairs to the front. At 06h04 the leading car came in with an overheating engine and at 6h2l the no.29 Toyota was back in front.

However, at 7h50 the Toyota stopped at its pit as the gearbox pignons had to be changed for the second time. Thus, at 08h00 McNish's Porsche was back in front with a 43 seconds lead. The no.25 Porsche was battling it out with the nos 32 and 30 Nissans which had set their fastest laps just before 08h00 a sign that they were about to launch their attack. At three-quarters distance there were 6 cars representing 3 makes fighting for victory.

The McLarens were in 6th and 7th places after 16 hours'racing but unfortunately no.41 had to retire following an accident. Nonetheless, the O'Rourke-Sugden-Auberlen entry was in a strong sixth. At 7h42 the no. 13 Courage retired with a blocked gearbox and Gache's Riley & Scott (engine), Brundle's Toyota (accident) the Ferté-Fabre-Migault Ferrari (gearbox) all disappeared from the classification.

In GT2, the Jarier-Rosenblad-Donovan Porsche went out with broken transmission as did no.62 entered by CJ Motorsport following an accident. In the Nourry, Chereau and Haberthur camps drive shafts were changed and no.68 suffered a puncture. The Bell-Donohue-Drudi Chrysler Viper was still in the lead from the Roock Racing no.64 Porsche driven by Hurtgen-Nearn-Ligonnet.