Hour 5: Status Quo Maintained in All Categories

The penultimate hour ended as it began with the nr1 Audi holding a comfortable lead over the Round 1 winning nr2 e-tron quattro.  The nr7 Toyota that had been leading the race for most of the first half of the race officially retired after the hybrid system caused the rear brakes to overheat.

Rebellion Racing was having a good race with a 1-2 in the LMP1 Privateer class with the nr12 Lola-Toyota 19 seconds ahead of the nr13 car at the top of the hour.  The nr21 Strakka Racing HPD finished the 5th hour 4 laps behind the two Rebellions mainly due to the earlier accident with the Oak Racing Morgan. 

The nr49 Pecom Racing Oreca was still leading the class by over a lap when a front left puncture forced the car into the pits for new rubber.  However because the advantage over the chasing nr24 Oak Racing Morgan of Olivier Pla was so great Pierre Kaffer was able to rejoin the track still in the lead of the class.  

Gianmaria Bruni in the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 moved ahead of Toni Vilander in the No.71 car at the last round of pit stops and now holds a 4.5 second lead over his team mate.  In third place, and pushing very hard, is Frederic Makowiecki in the No.98 Aston Martin Vantage, a further 3 seconds behind the Finnish driver. 

Despite having suffered from a tap from an LMP1 car, which caused damage to the wing mirror and necessitated a change of door, the No.81 8Star Motorsports car is still at the head of the LMGTE Am category, one lap ahead of the No.95 Aston Martin Vantage of Allan Simonsen which is now just ahead of the No.50 Larbre Corvette of Julien Canal.

As the hour ticked over, the No.61 AF Corse Ferrari of Griffin-Gerber-Cioci crawled back into the pits with a broken driveshaft, and – after a 40-minute stop in the garage for repairs – the car rejoined the race.

RACE FACTS

• 19:31:07Allan McNish into pits in #2 Audi, Loic Duval into the car - fuel and tyres 

• 19:29:32Pecom Oreca #49 still leads LMP2 by one minute 15 secs from #38 Jota Zytek 

• 19:25:10McNish leads by 23 secs from Lotterer and one minute 4 secs from Jarvis 

• 19:22:59Ferrari #61 has retired 

• 19:22:12Allan McNish back into lead in #2 Audi 

• 19:19:57Leading Audi #1 into pits - fuel and tyres 

• 19:18:51Fastest lap for Andre Lotterer on lap 124 with 2:00.435 in Audi #1 

• 19:17:44AF Corse Ferrari #61 has broken driveshaft 

• 19:17:07Krohn Ferrari #57 has puncture 

• 19:14:10Lotus #31 pushed into garage 

• 19:13:32Stop and go for #45 Oak-Morgan for pit stop infringement 

• 19:11:45Lotus #31 smoking badly - maybe dropping oil 

• 19:10:26Ferrari #61 pushed into it's pit 

• 19:09:57Black and white flag for #88 Porsche for not respecting limits 

• 19:08:50Bruni in #51 Ferrari back into lead of GTE Pro during pit stops, #71 Ferrari now second 

• 19:07:16Small fire reported at rear of #26 G-Drive Lola which returns to it's pit 

• 19:04:338Star Ferrari #81 reports it was hit by an Audi at Raidillon and lost it's right mirror - the door has been replaced 

• 18:59:05New fastest lap by Andre Lotterer on lap 123 of 2:00.882 

• 18:57:48Aston #97 now leads GTE Pro by 19 seconds from #51 Ferrari 

• 18:55:122nd place Audi #3 into pits Oliver Jarvis will stay in - fuel and tyres 

• 18:53:16Car #45 Oak Morgan told to have both headlights on 

• 18:50:08Rebellion Lola #12 still leads LMP1 privateer battle from team mate Lola #13 

• 18:48:10Leading Audi #2 into pits - fuel only and Audi #1 retakes the lead 

• 18:42:16New fastest lap on lap 115 for Andre Lotterer 2:00.964 

• 18:40:30Garage door down on Toyota #7 

• 18:40:02Audi #2 with McNish at wheel now leads by 48 seconds 

• 18:38:57Pecom Oreca #49 has one minute 3 second lead from #38 Jota Zytek in LMP2 

• 18:37:05Leading Audi #1 into pits Fassler out, Lotterer in 

• 18:30:33At 4 hour mark #1 Audi leads by 28 secs from #2 Audi with 3rd Audi #3 in 3rd

Full results can be found HERE