OAK Racing's #24 before nightfall (Photo Credit: Jeam Michel Le Meur/DPPI)
OAK Racing's hopes of winning the ultra-competitive LMP2 class ended in the tenth hour of Le Mans.
The #24 car driven by Jacques Nicolet, Matthieu Lahaye and Olivier Pla, had been leading its class by as much as two and a half minutes. However, whilst lying seventh in the standings overall, a sudden loss of oil pressure forced the car into the pits at 12:30am.
Despite frantic and lengthy efforts to fix the problem, it was ultimately in vain and the decision to retire the car came at 1:45am.
Nevertheless, the team can take some comfort from the fact that the car was running strongly up until when the problem occurred, which was related to the oil pump.
The team's sole remaining car, the #35 car driven by David Heinemeier Hansson, Bas Leinders and Maxime Martin, remains in the race. It too had led for a time earlier in the day before three punctures in short succession dropped it down the order. It currently lies seventh in class, fourteenth overall.
