H+6: the Audi R15 very well placed

Audi should, if the reliability of the Audi R15 Plus is confirmed, win its first race of the year, on its first attempt. The duel between the new R15 and the Peugeot Oreca was ultimately quickly forgotten. If the gap between the two cars was on average ten seconds during the first hour of the race, the pneumatic jack problem encountered by Oreca reduced the Var team's hopes of victory to nothing. Left almost ten laps behind, the 908 of the hard-hitting Sarrazin trio? Stone ? Panis' sole aim was to reach the finish line.

After five hours of climbing, the 908 Oreca climbed to sixth place. Patiently, Nicolas Lapierre then Olivier Panis went through the GT2s, the LMP2s, before returning to the last LMP1 of the leading group, the Ginetta Zytek of Nigel Mansell and his sons. Less than two hours from the finish, the five leading cars are well established in positions they have occupied for several hours.

In the lead, the Audi R15 is solid, having passed 200 laps after six hours of racing. Dindo Capello took over from Allan McNish by showing a sparkling face of this R15 Plus. Three laps further, the Lola Aston Martin Racing is second, unassailable, keeping a lap ahead of the #13 Lola Rebellion Racing of Andrea Bellicchi and Jean-Christophe Boullion. The Oreca 01-AIM, the ??petrol?? car? of the Var team, better placed than the 908, is fourth with a comfortable lead over the Aston Martin of the Signature team, of the Ragues ? Mailleux? Ickx. But the No. 008 Aston is still watching its rear-view mirror, with Oreca's Peugeot 908 HDi FAP driving at breakneck speed to try to get into the top 5, gaining five seconds per lap.

In LMP2, the reliability of Oak Racing's Pescarolo-Judds bore fruit. The French team sees its cars occupy the first two places in the LMP2 ranking, one lap ahead of the Lola HPD Coupé of RML and the HPD ARX-01c of Strakka Racing.

In GT2, if nothing is decided yet, the advantage always goes to Porsche, since the 997 GT3 RSR n°77 of the Felbelmayr Proton team leads the debates, with around thirty seconds ahead of the Ferrari F430 n°95 from the AF Corse team, the car driven in particular by Giancarlo Fisichella and Jean Alesi.