Audi continued to streak away in the sixth hour of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with the trio continuing to run in number order.
A good portion of the hour was spent under safety car, originally coming out for debris on the entrance to the Mulsanne Straight, caused by a right-rear puncture for the Alpine Nissan just ten minutes in to the session.
As the race settled down, many cars opted to come in to the pits to top up on fuel and fit some fresh rubber. After around ten minutes under the safety car, racing resumed as the safety car pulled in to the pit lane very late, cutting across the grass and almost in to the path of a Corvette.
With tyre temperatures dropping due to the slower speeds, there were spins all over the place after the safety car, most notably for the LMP2 leading #24 OAK Racing machine piloted by David Heinemeier Hansson, nearly collecting Loic Duval‘s Audi in the process.
A spin for the #54 Ferrari at the Dunlop Curves and a very large piece of bodywork in the centre of the Mulsanne Straight meant the Safety Car was redeployed after just four minutes of green flag racing.
After only five minutes for the second safety car period, and a more sensible restart, racing resumed. However, just three minutes later a slow moving #81 Ferrari 458 of 8 Star Motorsports was seen, having punctured a right-rear tyre. No safety car was deployed and the Ferrari crawled its way back to the pits, ripping the bodywork apart as it dragged itself round the circuit.
A thrilling battle for second in GTE Pro continued after the safety car periods, with Bruno Senna making it past Richard Lietz‘ Porsche 911 to make it an Aston Martin 1-2, with Peter Dumbreck leading the way.
AF Corse continued to lead the GTE Am class ahead of a trio of Porsche 911s, led by Proton Competition and IMSA Performance Matmut.
2013 24 Hours of Le Mans class standings after 6 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 – #26 G-Drive Racing/Delta ADR – Rusinov/Martin/Conway
2 – #35 OAK Racing – Baguette/Gonzalez/Plowman
3 – #38 Jota Sport – Dolan/Turvey/Luhr
GTE Pro
1 – #99 Aston Martin Racing – Bell/Makowiecki/Senna
2 – #97 Aston Martin Racing – Dumbreck/Mucke/Turner
3 – #92 Porsche AG Team Manthey – Lieb/Lietz/Dumas
GTE Am
1 – #55 AF Corse – Perazzini/Case/O’Young
2 – #88 Proton Competition – Ried/Roda/Ruberti
3 – #76 IMSA Performance Matmut – Narac/Bourret/Vernay
