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With 2 hours completed in the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans, it is the No. 8 Peugeot 908 HDI FAP in first and the No. 9 908 HDI FAP in second place, closely followed by the Audi R15 of  Montagny and in fourth the R15 driven by Scotsman Allan McNish. 

Dr. Ullrich of Audi Sport says of the Team Audi Sports stradegy, “Hopefully to be as fast as possible but we must stay concentrated.”

The No. 68 LMGT1 lamborghini Murcielago R-GT or team JLOC Isao Noritake, from Japan, officially retired from the race due to engine problems.

Current Running order by class:
Pos # Team Driver in Pit Laps 

LMP1

1. 8 Team Peugeot Total MONTAGNY Franck  37
2. 9 Peugeot Sport Total GENE Marc  36
3. 2 Audi Sport North America ROCKENFELLER Mike  36
4. 1 Audi Sport Team Joest MCNISH Allan  36
5. 007 AMR Eastern Europe MUCKE Stefan  36
6. 008 Aston Martin Racing VERSTAPPEN Jos  36
7. 17 Pescarolo Sport BOULLION Jean-Christophe  35
8. 14 Kolles ZWOLSMAN Charles  35
9. 15 Kolles ALBERS Christian  35
10. 3 Audi Sport Team Joest PREMAT Alexandre  35

LMP2

1. 31 Team Essex ELGAARD Casper  35
2. 5 Navi Team Goh ARA Seiji  35
3. 33 Speedy Racing Sebah POMPIDOU Xavier  34
4. 25 RML ERDOS Tommy  34
5. 41 G.A.C. Racing Team PETER Philipp  34
6. 35 OAK Racing MOREAU Guillaume  33
7. 32 Team Barazi Epsilon BENNETT Phil  32
8. 26 Bruichladdich Bruneau BRUNEAU Pierre  32
9. 24 OAK Racing YVON Jean-Francois  32 
10. 30 Racing Box BIAGI Thomas  31

LMGT1

1. 63 Corvette Racing O CONNELL Johny  33
2. 64 Corvette Racing BERETTA Olivier  33
3. 73 Alphand Aventures JOUSSE Julien  32
4. 72 Alphand Aventures GOUESLARD Patrice  32
5. 66 Jetalliance Racing Gmbh LICHTNER-HOYER Lukas  14
6. 68 JLOC YAMAGISHI Yutaka  1

LMGT2

1. 76 Imsa Performance Matmut PILET Patrick  32
2. 80 Flying Lizard Motorsport BERGMEISTER Jorg  32
3. 82 Risi Competizione KAFFER Pierre  31
4. 92 JMW Motorsport  31
5. 78 AF Corse COMPANC Luis  31
6. 89 Hankook-Farnbacher MONTANARI Christian  31
7. 99 JMB Racing RODRIGUES Manuel  31
8. 83 Risi Competizione KROHN Tracy  31
9. 87 Drayson Racing FRANCHITTI Marino  31
10. 85 Snoras Spyker Squadron CORONEL Tom  31

Le Mans, France – The 24 hours is off and running with the giant Rolex, winding down the hours until 3:00 Sunday. The pace of the race so far is nothing but spectacular with Audi and Peugeot fighting it out for all out victory at Le Mans, but don’t forget Aston Martin, who are no strangers to Le Mans, however their last win was in 1959 with the Aston Martin DBR1.

Both Audi and Peugeot have already had difficulties in the first hour of the race, with the No. 3 Audi R15, driven by Alexandre Prémat, going off the course in what appeared to be a problem with his brakes in the Indianapolis corner.  The car hit the tire barrier, and had to be towed out of the gravel trap, but was able to continue to the pits, for repairs.

In the same hour, the No. 7 and No. 17 Peugeots had an altercation on the pit lane, the result is that Pedro Lamy’s Peugeot suffered a flat on track, destroying the bodywork, as he limped the car back to the pits. The safety car was called out to the track so that it could be cleared of the debris from the Peugeot.

Current Running Order for each class  as of the first hour is:

LMP1

1. 8 Team Peugeot Total MONTAGNY Franck  19
2. 1 Audi Sport Team Joest MCNISH Allan  19
3. 2 Audi Sport North America ROCKENFELLER Mike  19
4. 9 Peugeot Sport Total GENE Marc  19
5. 007 AMR Eastern Europe MUCKE Stefan  19
6. 008 Aston Martin Racing TURNER D  19
7. 13 Speedy Racing Sebah BELICCHI Andrea  18
8. 16 Pescarolo Sport TINSEAU Christophe  18
9. 14 Kolles ZWOLSMAN Charles  18
10. 11 Team Oreca Matmut AIM PANIS Olivier  18
LMP2

1. 31 Team Essex COLLARD Emmanuel  18
2. 5 Navi Team Goh ARA Seiji  18
3. 33 Speedy Racing Sebah KANE Jonny  18
4. 25 RML ERDOS Tommy  17
5. 30 Racing Box BOBBI Matteo  17
6. 41 G.A.C. Racing Team PETER Philipp  17
7. 32 Team Barazi Epsilon BARAZI Juan  17
8. 35 OAK Racing AJLANI Karim  17
9. 24 OAK Racing HEIN Richard  17
10. 26 Bruichladdich Bruneau ROSTAN Marc  17

GT1

1. 63 Corvette Racing MAGNUSSEN Jan  17
2. 64 Corvette Racing GAVIN Olivier  17
3. 73 Alphand Aventures CLAIRAY Yan  17
4. 72 Alphand Aventures GOUESLARD Patrice  16
5. 66 Jetalliance Racing Gmbh LICHTNER-HOYER Lukas  10
6. 68 JLOC YAMAGISHI Yutaka  1

GT2

1. 76 Imsa Performance Matmut LONG Patrick  17
2. 99 JMB Racing BOUCHUT Christophe  17
3. 82 Risi Competizione MELO Jaime  17
4. 80 Flying Lizard Motorsport LAW Darren  17
5. 89 Hankook-Farnbacher FARNBACHER Dominik  17
6. 92 JMW Motorsport KIRKALDY Andrew  17
7. 78 AF Corse BRUNI Gianmaria  17
8. 83 Risi Competizione KROHN Tracy  17
9. 87 Drayson Racing DRAYSON Paul  16
10. 85 Snoras Spyker Squadron BLEEKEMOLEN Jeroen  16

The build up to the start of the 24 hours of Le Mans, is always quite a spectical in itself, the cars are brought onto the track one at a time, along with pit crews, drivers, and all of the team principals, and other VIPs, and of course Pit Girls. The cars are readied, and and last minute changes are made, unlike Formula 1, the cars are allowed to be worked on all the way upto the race, and durring the race.