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H12: McNish fights to hold second

Alex Wurz is defending the #9 Peugeot 908’s commanding lead as the Le Mans 24 Hours passes half distance.

Wurz will remain in the car for the next two stints and is having to work hard to maintain his one-lap advantage from a very determined Allan McNish and Stephane Sarrazin.

The hour opened with another salvo in the battle for second position. The #1 Audi pitted for a tyre change, re-emerging within striking distance of Sarrazin in the #8 Peugeot. Sarrazin rapidly closed the gap until he was right on the R15’s tail lights before diving into the pits himself.

McNish’s nocturnal stint is out of the same drawer as his race-winning drive in 2008. By the end of the stint he and Sarrazin were nose to tail again but he had done enough to keep the Peugeot at bay.

A further lap adrift, Simon Pagenaud is lapping at an equivalent pace in the Pescarolo Peugeot. Jan Charouz is the leading petrol-powered entry, holding fifth in the #007 Aston Martin LMP1.

Charles Zwolsman continues to impress with a mature drive in the #14 Kolles Audi R10, closing up on Charouz, but team-mate Christian Bakkerud has dropped to 10th in the #15 car.

Team Essex remains in the LMP2 lead. Caspar Elgaard is three laps ahead of second-placed Seija Ara, who in turn enjoys a two-lap comfort zone over the #33 Speedy Racing Sebah Lola of Benjamin Leuenberger.

In GT1, the works Chevrolet Corvettes are running 1-2 with a gap that is consistently around 2m10s, three laps ahead of the Luc Alphand Corvette.

Pierre Kaffer leads GT2 for Risi Competizione in the #82 Ferrari F430 GT, a lap ahead of Andrew Kirkaldy’s #92 JW Motorsport Ferrari.

The IMSA Performance Porsche is holding down third place despite having to go into the garage for additional work when Raymond Narac came in to hand over to Patrick Long.

Near the end of the hour, the #12 Signature Plus ORECA-Judd tagged a GT2 Ferrari and put them both in the gravel just before the Dunlop Bridge, but the marshals were able to clear them without bringing out the safety car.

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