Andre Lotterer continued to dominate as the Le Mans 24 Hours moved in to its third hour.
Audi also held out their formation flying, with first, second and third held by the R18 e-tron quattros of the same numbers.
The main challenger to Audi’s title, Toyota, had a less than perfect third hour, with the #7 of Nicolas Lapierre stopping with a possible electrical issue on the Mulsanne Straight about halfway through the hour. Within a few seconds he was back up and running, but couldn’t reach the pace he was lapping at before. Anthony Davidson crept in to the top three a couple of times during the hour in the #8 Toyota, but only while the Audis completed their pit-stop cycle.
There was dominance in the second Prototype category, too, as Oak Racing consolidated their position at the top of LMP2, with Oliver Pla handing over the lead #24 Morgan-Nissan to Alex Brundle during the hour.
Much of the action came from the GTE categories, with a fascinating inter-team battle in the Pro class between two AF Corse Ferrari 458s of Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni. The #74 Corvette also drew a lot of attention to itself during the third hour, making two mistakes going in to the Dunlop curves as rain began to make the track that little bit more tricky.
The #97 Aston Martin continued to lead the GTE Pro class.
GTE Am was the only class during the third hour to have a proper fight for the lead, with the #67 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche 911 and the #61 AF Corse Ferrari 458 merely seconds apart and eventually swapping track position. As the hour drew to a close, the Porsche suffered a left-rear puncture, resulting in an unscheduled stop and dropped out of the lead.
2013 24 Hours of Le Mans class standings after 3 hours
LMP1
1 – #1 Audi Sport Team Joest – Lotterer/Fassler/Treluyer
2 – #2 Audi Sport Team Joest – Kristensen/Duval/McNish
3 – #3 Audi Sport Team Joest – Gene/di Grassi/Jarvis
LMP2
1 – #24 OAK Racing – Pla/Heinemeier Hansson/Brundle
2 – #35 OAK Racing – Baguette/Gonzalez/Plowman
3 – #33 Level 5 Motorsports – Tucker/Franchitti/Briscoe
GTE Pro
1 – #97 Aston Martin Racing – Dumbreck/Mucke/Turner
2 – #99 Aston Martin Racing – Bell/Makowiecki/Senna
3 – #92 Porsche AG Team Manthey – Lieb/Lietz/Dumas
GTE Am
1 – #61 AF Corse – Gerber/Griffin/Cioci
2 – #55 AF Corse – Perazzini/Case/O’Young
3 – #67 IMSA Performance Matmut – Gibon/Milesi/Henzler
