Audi continued to lead as the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans entered in to its ninth hour under another safety car period for the recovery of the #25 LMP2 car.
In terms of the leaders little has changed in this hour with the exception of the two Toyota’s who have switched places following pitstops and are now a lap down on the leading Audi. Lucas Di Grassi continues to chase to make up time and unlap himself as he is currently a lap behind Nakajima. the #13 Rebellion has the upper hand over the sister #12 car with the Strakka car nearly 2 minutes behind.
Marcel Fassler is currently making up for lost time and is up to 16th place as the team run in damage limitation mode, 15th place is achievable in the next hour but then its a further uphill struggle with 10 laps to make up to the next car.
In LMP2, OAK racing have held position with the #35 running 8 laps down on the race leader while the sister #24 car is a further lap down. The #42 Greaves Motorsport car continues to hold third place. Alexandre Imperatori suffered another spin in the #47 KCMG car while the #33 HPD suffered a small fire.
The GTE Pro class Aston Martin Racing team now hold 1-2 with the #99 car continuing its class domination, #97 managed to pass the #92 Porsche while Richard Lietz spun through the aptly named Porsche Curves.
Porsche rule the roost in GTE Am as position for the top 3 cars remain the same as the previous hour with the exception of Patrick Dempsey now leading the class following pitstops. The Krohn Ferrari had a nightmare hour with two spins including one which would leave the green Ferrari stranded, resulting in another safety car period to recover the car.
2013 24 Hours of Le Mans class standings after 9 hours
LMP1
1 – #2 Audi Sport Team Joest – Duval/Kristensen/McNish
2 – #7 Toyota Racing – Lapierre/Nakajima/Wurz
3 – #8 Toyota Racing – Buemi/Davidson/Sarrazin
LMP2
1 – #35 OAK Racing – Baguette/Gonzalez/Plowman
2 – #24 OAK Racing – Brundle/Heinemeier Hansson/Pla
3 – #42 Greaves Motorsport – Mardenborogh/Krumm/Ordonez
LMGTE Pro
1 – #99 – Aston Martin Racing – Bell/Makowiecki/Senna
2 – #97 – Aston Martin Racing – Dumbreck/Mucke/Turner
3 – #92 – Porsche AG Team Manthey – Dumas/Lieb/Lietz
LMGTE Am
1 – #88 – Proton Competition – Reid/Roda/Ruberti
2 – #77 – Dempsey Del Piero-Proton – Dempsey/Foster/Long
3 – #55 – AF Corse Ferrari – Perazzini/O’Young/Case
