Le Mans

LE MANS, France — There are four hours left in the race and the lone Audi #1 R10 continues to lead the race, but neither of the two Peugeots have given up and are running second and third a constant nagging threat to the Audi.

There is no lack of talent driving the #1 Audi but the closer that the clock gets to the 3 pm end time, the slower the second hand runs, and the louder every little incidental noise is to driver, crew chief, and crew.

It is not like the Peugeots have been flawless either. They have had issues with wheel bearings and have had to clean the radiator duct regularly on pit stops of loose rubber from the track.

There is another concern that is starting to look like it might be a concern and that is the weather. After brilliant sunrise and blue skies in the morning the clouds began moving in around 9 am. Whether they will bring showers like they did yesterday remains to be seen — but if the rains come — they could be the wild card that the Peugeots need in order to find their miracle in Le Mans.

At this point all either team can do is play the waiting game.

The 1st place #2 R10 being driven by Rinaldo Capello lost its left rear wheel on the entrance to a turn, causing the R10 to spin. The car impacted with the tire barrier very hard. Capello was out of the car and appears shaken but un-hurt, however it looks like the R10 is going to be unable to make it back to the pits for repairs, and ends its day a little over 7 hours short of victory.

Just a little under 8 hours to go until the winner of the 75th running of the 24 Heures Du Mans will be crowned. The German train of the Audi R10 continues to dominate running 1st and 2nd, with the Peugeot Total Team running 3rd and 4th.
I have Cafe in me now, and am feeling my second wind coming. As tired as I am, I can only imagine how exhausted the drivers, mechanics, and various supporting crews are. It was also pretty interesting to see in the middle of the night the crowd trickle out of the bleachers. Currently the smallest crowd I have seen since Wednesday.

The question is: will Peugeot (as seen this morning, above) turn up the heat in the last 8 hours of the race, to put pressure on Audi; The Audi Sport team has been in this position before, but in racing, anything can happen. It was also funny to walk through the press room stationed above the team garages through out the night and early morning. Counting the number of press people who had fallen working at their computers, or crawled under the desks like I did for a few hours, to grab some precious shut eye.

Current results as of 7:30 are:

1 2 Audi Sport North America LMP1 McNISH A
2 1 Audi Sport North America LMP1 BIELA F
3 7 Team Peugeot Total LMP1 MINASSIAN N
4 8 Team Peugeot Total LMP1 BOURDAIS S
5 16 Pescarolo Sport LMP1 COLLARD E
6 18 Rollcentre Racing LMP1 SHORT M
7 9 Aston Martin Racing LMGT1 TURNER D
8 7 Aston Martin Racing LMGT1 HERBERT J
9 63 Corvette Racing LMGT1 O’CONNELL J
10 8 AMR Larbre Comp. LMGT1 ELGAARD C
11 54 Team Oreca LMGT1 BELLOC J-P
12 100 AMR BMS LMGT1 MALUCELLI M
13 31 Binnie Motorsports LMP2 TIMPANY A
14 15 Charouz Racing LMP1 MUCKE S
15 72 Alphand Aventures LMGT1 GOUESLARD P
16 35 Saulnier Racing LMP2 JOUANNY B
17 67 Convers Menx Team LMGT1 PERGL R
18 87 Scuderia Ecosse LMGT2 KIRKALDY A
19 76 Imsa Performance LMGT2 LONG P
20 93 Autorlando Sport LMGT2 SIMONSEN A
21 97 Risi Competizione LMGT2 MELO J
22 73 Alphand Aventures LMGT1 ANDRE D
23 32 Barazi Epsilon LMP2 BARAZI J
24 14 Racing For Holland LMP1 LAMMERS J
25 99 Risi Competizione LMGT2 BRAUN C
26 12 Courage Competition LMP1 FREI A
27 55 Team Oreca LMGT1 ORTELLI S
28 25 RML LMP2 NEWTON M
29 59 Team Modena LMGT1 GARCIA A
30 17 Pescarolo Sport LMP1 TINSEAU C
31 33 Barazi Epsilon LMP2 KUROZAWA H
32 78 AF Corse LMGT2 MACARI J
33 6 AMR Larbre Comp. LMGT1 BORNHAUSER P
34 82 Team LNT LMGT2 TOMLINSON L
35 19 Chamberlain Synergy LMP1 EVANS G
36 24 Noel Del Bello LMP2 HALLIDAY L
37 83 GPC Sport LMGT2 ROSENBLAD C.
38 70 PSI Experience LMGT1 PETER Ph
39 20 Pierre Bruneau LMP2 ROSTAN M
D.N.F. 3 Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 LUHR L
D.N.F. 5 Swiss Spirit LMP1 DELETRAZ J-D
D.N.F. 9 Creation Autosportif Ltd LMP1 CAMPBELL-WALTER J
D.N.F. 13 Courage Competition LMP1 GOUNON J-M
D.N.F. 21 Bruichladdich Radical LMP2 GREAVES T
D.N.F. 29 T2M Motorsport LMP2 LONGECHAL R
D.N.F. 40 Quifel ASM Team LMP2 AMARAL M
D.N.F. 44 Kruse Motorsport LMP2 BURGESS T
D.N.F. 53 JLOC Isao Noritake LMGT1
D.N.F. 64 Corvette Racing LMGT1 BERETTA O
D.N.F. 71 Seikel Motorsport LMGT2 COLLIN P
D.N.F. 80 Flying Lizard Motorsport LMGT2 van OVERBEEK J
D.N.F. 81 Team LNT LMGT2 KIMBER-SMITH T
D.N.F. 85 Spyker Squadron LMGT2 BELICCHI A
D.N.F. 86 Spyker Squadron LMGT2 JANIS J