CIRCUIT DE LA SARTHE, France — With 12 hours to go, the Peugeot is still leading and it is still fast — but there is still 12 hours to go and the Audi hopeful are seeing a pattern in the lap sheets — the No. 2 Audi is creeping up on the Peugeot. During the mid hours of the first 12 hours the No. 7 Peugeot steadily opened a lead on the Capello, Kristensen, McNish driven Audi.
To whit: At the seventh hour, the distance between the two cars was 56 seconds. At the eighth hours it had increased to just over two minutes. It stayed at just over two minutes at the 10th hour. At the 11th hour is was nearly a lap at 3:23.
When the results came in at the 12th hour the Audi had shaved almost 30 seconds off the lead — giving a little hope to the Audi faithful.
In addition there is the chance that Mother Nature might toss a joker into race with a rain storm in the early hours of Sunday. Last year the rain nearly put several teams out of the race and the track went to caution for about two hours.
The Peugeot has survived several mistakes by its drivers including a 360 degree spin by one of the Peugeots and another landing in a gravel pit. The shunts did not cause any significant damage to either Peugeot.
In the LM P2 class the two Porsche Sypders continue to go at it “tooth and nail” with the Van Merksteijn Team holding slightly more than a one minute lead at the 12 hour mark.
In the LM GT1 division the No. 63 Corvette, the pole-setter, has made its move into the lead over last year’s winner the No. 009 Aston Martin, which had taken the lead earlier. The Aston Martin is about a lap down to the Vette.
In GT2 the Risi Competizione team leads a bevy of four other Ferarris with the nearest Porsche 17 laps behind.