The #1 Audi Sport Team Joest continues to lead the 82nd Le Mans 24 Hours as its sister car the #2 spent more than twenty minutes in the pit lane with a turbo issue. Stand-in driver Marc Gene continues to drive impressively in the #1 as he sits in for Loic Duval.
Marcel Fassler sat in the pit lane for 23 minutes that saw the three lap lead change to a three-lap deficit as the Audi mechanics changed a turbo in the #2. The Audi also lost time to the #20 Porsche of Mark Webber.
The hour began with #72 LM GTE-Am SMP Racing Ferrari of Viktor Shaitar crashed heavily at the Porsche Curves, which saw a slow zone initiated for about 50 minutes as they repaired the barriers. The officials also saw the need to introduce the safety car for a number of laps while a large truck made its way to the scene to assist the repair of the Armco barriers.
The #35 Oak Racing Ligier continues to lead LMP2 and has been handed over to Russian driver Mark Shulzhitskiy, with the #36 Signatech Alpine of Nelson Panciatici running second and the #46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Ligier of Ludovic Badey in third.
#34 Race Performance LMP2 machine was given a 35 second stop-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Michel Frey lost a position to the #12 Rebellion Racing entry of Mathias Beche overall but retained his fourth position in LMP2.
The battle for the lead of LMGTE-Pro continues to rage on, with the #51 AF Corse of Giancarlo Fisichella and the #97 Aston Martin Racing entry of Stefan Mücke closing up once again. The #92 Porsche Team Manthey machine of Marco Holzer holds onto third.
In LMGTE-Am, the #95 Aston Martin Racing machine continues to hold a comfortable lead ahead of the #88 Ferrari and #61 Ferrari. #70 LM GTE-Am Team Taisan Ferrari car had a trip into the Indianapolis run off and had to be pulled out of the gravel trap.
2014 24 Hours of Le Mans class standings after 17 hours
LMP1
1 – #1 Audi Sport Team Joest – di Grassi/Gene/Kristensen
2 – #20 Porsche Team – Bernhard/Webber/Hartley
3 – #2 Audi Sport Team Joest – Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer
LMP2
1 – #35 Oak Racing – Brundle/Mardenborough/Shulzhitskiy
2 – #36 Signatech Alpine – Chatin/Panciatici/Webb
3 – #46 Thiriet by TDS Racing – Thiriet/Badey/Gommendy
LMGTE-Pro
1 – #51 AF Corse – Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella
2 – #97 Aston Martin Racing – Turner/Mücke/Senna
3 – #92 Porsche Team Manthey – Holzer/Makowiecki/Lietz
LMGTE-Am
1 – #95 Aston Martin Racing – Poulsen/Heinemeier Hansson/Thiim
2 – #88 Proton Competition – Ried/Bachler/Al Qubaisi
3 – #61 AF Corse – Perez Companc/Cioci/Venturi
