Club Arnage the Le Mans 24 hours LIVE coverage

Live Updates
Saturday 18:00hrs-19:00hrs
By: Stella Maria Thomas and Lynne Waite

After all the early stage dramas, perhaps in the next few hours things will settle down. And perhaps they won't. Despite the Weather forecast that promises it won't rain overnight it's still looking very ominous out there with a strong wind blowing along the main straight and big black clouds lurking on the horizon as well as much closer to hand. Davies (No. 11 Panoz) is sitting in the pits after bringing his three-wheeler Panoz back in while the fourth wheel made it's own way home. The No. 1 Audi is now leading after having to claw back the lead from the No. 7 Bentley, something that caused much excitement in the grandstands here, followed by much disappointment for the flag-flying Bentley fans.
The "alternative" Haiwaiian Tropic "girls" in the main grandstand are still there, along with the pair of chickens (!), though there doesn't seem to be much sign of the Racing for Holland Dome car in their chequered trousers, hats and accessories.
The sky is darkening rapidly now, and there are tales of woe emanating from many quarters. No. 32 have a sign saying "No Radio" on their pit board so it looks like they may be running into communication problems very soon.
No. 21 Ascari has just dived into the pits, looking utterly filthy. The No. 56 car has just come in and dived into the garage straight away. At the moment the Audis are leading (No. 1 from No. 2). The No. 70 Callaway, that started the race from the pitlane, is now leading its class, which is not entirely unconnected with the suicide tactics of some of the others. Karl Wendlinger (No. 16 Playstation Viper) is throwing seat padding out of the car as he doesn't need to be boosted up in the car, unlike Olivier Berretta who is about half Karl's height. This car is in the pits at the moment having some work done on the left-hand side (they seem to be taping it up with Sellotape). The car is running 4th overall and Karl has just stalled too, He's lost time with that too and may lose places as a result.
The Johannson Audi (No. 4) is coming back into the pits for a routine stop as is No. 55.
The Bentleys look incredibly good right now.
The Champion Racing team are changing the settings on the car by replacing a high downforce piece of body with a low downforce body piece. It's a lot quicker although they have still lost a place to the No. 8 Bentley with Eric van de Poele at the wheel.
Meanwhile Wendlinger has lost some places because of his pit stop.
The Audis are expected in soon for their routine stops while Martin Brundle is maltreating the Bentley by locking its wheels and causing smoke.
The Callaway pit lane start has just been described as "We gambled that we could get two recon laps before they closed the pit lane and we guessed wrong …Strategy by stupidity. We're concerned about keeping the car in tact and in one piece."
Jamie Davies (No. 11 Panoz) is still in the pits, after losing 5 laps, and is now having intermediates put on - it's raining at Tertre Rouge now although it isn't here on the main straight. Apparently the Panoz's have a brake problem.
Franck Lagorce has brought the No. 12 Panoz in and the engineers are working on the engine, which may have electrical problems.
No. 64 comes in for a routine stop.
The No. 1 Audi has just come in for a regular stop.
The order has a curious symmetry to it right now, with Audi, Bentley, Audi, Bentley, Audi locking out the first five places.
The No. 67 car is also in for a routine stop.
The No. 60 Saleen is in for slicks and has just left the pits spraying gravel everywhere; you have to wonder why they didn't remove the gravel first. No. 61 car is in the garage being rebuilt still.
No. 19 Speedy car is in too and the No. 20 Ascari is also in. There are quite a few stops taking place now, which is pretty much as we would expect.
No. 72 Taisan car also stops.
Meanwhile, the No. 7 Bentley looks likely to lose a place to the No. 2 Panoz of Aiello who is determined to get 2nd back. It may help that the Audis seem to be able to run for longer between stops. The gap is 24 seconds at the moment and closing. The MGs are currently 13th and 42nd which is going to upset Warren no end.
Incidentally, the Bentley fans in the grandstand seem to have two stuffed sheep on poles which they are waving… apparently in greeting to Derek Bell for reasons best not gone into here…
The rain doesn't seem to have materialised, nor did the earlier shower forecast by Jorg Muller (out at the Mulsanne Straight commentating for RTL for some reason). However, it is looking very black again.
Aiello is now not making any headway against the Bentley of Brundle, which is interesting. Karl Wendlinger is also trying to make ground up after his long stop. He's sitting on the exhaust of the No. 8 Cadillac of Max Angelleli.
No. 9 Dome: They are having a long pitstop and are working on the engine, the tyres and quite a few other things. After quite a long stop it goes back out.
In the Chrysler pits, they are getting wets ready for the whole night. Obviously no one trusts the weather at all.
The 2nd and 3rd cars are separated by 8 seconds now.
The No. 8 Bentley comes in for a stop with van de Poele still in charge.
Davies: Back in the pits for a tyre change, from intermediates to slicks.
No. 18 Courage is in for fuels and tyres.
The No. 11 Panoz finally gets to go back out.
Strange things are happening at the No. 62 pit with a mechanic pushing things through the webbing. They are now shaking their heads about the car. The No. 61 car has the front removed and a new cooling system is being plugged in.
No. 20 car is in the garage to get a driver change done and to plug it into the computer system. People are looking at the back end of it while Toivonen sits and waits to be allowed back out.
The Larbre Porsche (No. 80) is in for a routine stop.
The No. 34 MG has vanished. Anthony Reid: "I just brushed the barriers with the rear wing. We changed the wing. I changed to wets and it stopped raining. So I came in again and we changed to slicks. And then I had a puncture."
No. 79 has spun off at the Dunlop Chicane with Maury-Laribiere at the wheel.
The No. 5 Cadillac is in for Marc Goossens to get in.
The gap between the No. 7 Bentley and the No. 2 Audi is down to three seconds now with Aiello really pushing it. Meanwhile Frank Biela leads by miles. And the No. 7 Bentley looses 2nd to the No. 2 Audi as they come up to lap No. 56 Chrysler of
There are reports of heavy rain at Indianapolis and an Audi muscles its way past a Porsche in a fairly robust manner. Aiello, meanwhile, is getting seriously sideways out there. And the umbrellas go up along the main straight as everyone dives to get out of the rain. The Gulf Audi has just stopped out on the Mulsanne Straight and it is really coming down now. People are diving into the pit lane and chaos will break out again now. No. 63 comes in and the Safety Cars are out again, which is pretty sensible after the last outbreak. The No. 2 Audi comes in and gets it sideways in the pit lane. The lightening is flashing now and anyone with even half a brain is changing to wets.
No. 17 gets back out. The Audi pit is in chaos. The Bentley pit is full and the No. 8 isn't in yet. They are changing tails on the Bentley No. 7 and conditions are utterly horrible. The Panoz, that had changed to slicks not three laps ago, is now back on wets and the No. 2 Audi is on its jacks still with everyone running round in circles. The No. 21 Ascari is still out there for some reason with Zwaart at the wheel. The Domes both go back out too.
The No. 1 Audi has been taken over by Tom Kristensen, while Johnny Herbert, who absolutely didn't want rain, is out in the No. 3
Aiello: "It was crazy, especially the first time - I touched the barrier - there was nothing I could do and with big water on the circuit it was not possible to control the car,. I had some aquaplaning coming into the pits too. I never drive the car in the rain. The problem is you go from slicks, to rains tyres to intermediate tyres. You always have the wrong tyres wherever you are!"
Smith is out now in the No. 7 Bentley and he won't be too keen on this either as the misting problem with the windscreen is likely to be a pain.
Franck Freon (No. 64 Corvette) is out without headlights and no Safety Car anywhere in sight. It's out on its own without anything behind it, which makes no sense either - it seems to be going too fast for the field and they can't catch up, let alone keep up.
Richard Lloyd (Bentley Team Boss): "When you see so much carnage in the first few laps, you have to take the advantage where it comes. As long as we're running through the night and tomorrow, that's fine with me."
There is a lake at Indianapolis now. The No. 21 Ascari comes in from the Safety Car queue and changes tyres. In addition the
The queue of cars has just come round with Karl Wendlinger leading them round, as he's nowhere near the Safety Car. He seems to have a new job.
The No. 33 MG came in and people are peering at its innards. They are also fitting wets to the No. 34, which is still in the garage. They seem to be staying out of the rain.
Hugh Chamberlain: "A lot of feverish activity, that's what's going in. The 34 car has cracked an exhaust. It's a long process to change it. And when Julian Bailey came in he said he thought there might be a funny noise in the back so we're checking that too while the Pace Car is out. We're winning because we're not loosing by so much."
The No. 76 PK Porsche has just returned to the fray along with the No. 21 Ascari.
The sun is starting to come out and it's looking a lot better - the wind is dropping though it is still very wet.

Placings at 19:00:
1, Audi Sport Team Joest (LMP900), Frank Biela (D), Tom Kristensen (DK), Emmanuele Pirro (I)
7, Team Bentley (LMGTP), Martin Brundle (GB), Stephane Ortelli (F), Guy Smith (GB)
2, Audi Sport Team Joest (LMP900), Laurent Aiello (F), Rinaldo Capello (I), Christian Pescatori (I)
8, Team Bentley (LMGTP), Andy Wallace (GB), Eric Van De Poele (B), Butch Leitzinger (USA)
3, Champion Racing (LMP900), Johnny Herbert (GB), Ralf Kelleners (D), Didier Theys (B)
15, Viper Team Oreca (LMP900), Yannick Dalmas (F), Franck Montagny (F), Stephane Sarrazin (F)
17, Pescarolo Sport (LMP900), Sebastien Bourdais (F), Jean-Christophe Boullion (F), Laurent Redon (F)
16, Team Playstation (LMP900), Olivier Beretta (F), Karl Wendlinger (A), Pedro Lamy (P)
14, Viper Team Oreca (LMP900), Ni Amorim (P), Seiji Ara (J), Masahiko Kondo (J)
10, Team Den Bla Avis (LMP900), John Nielsen (DK), Hiroki Katoh (J), Casper Elgaard (DK)
33, MG Sport & Racing Ltd (LMP675), Mark Blundell (GB), Julian Bailey (GB), Kevin McGarrity (GB)
6, DAMS (LMP900), Wayne Taylor (USA), Massimo Angelelli (I), Christophe Tinseau (F)
5, DAMS (LMP900), Eric Bernard (F), Emmanuel Collard (F), Marc Goossens (B)
36, Dick Barbour (LMP675), Didier de Radigues (B), Sascha Maassen (D), Hideshi Matsuda (J)
38, Roc Auto (LMP675), Jordi Gene (E), Pascal Fabre (F), Jean-Denis Deletraz (CH)
21, Team Ascari (LMP900), Scott Maxwell (CAN), Klaas Zwart (NL), Xavier Pompidou (F)
63, Corvette Racing Gary Pratt (LMGTS), Ron Fellows (USA), Scott Pruett (USA), Johnny O'Connell (USA)
64, Corvette Racing Gary Pratt (LMGTS), Andy Pilgrim (USA), Franck Freon (F), Kelly Collins (USA)
62, RML (LMGTS), Bruno Lambert (B), Ian McKellar (GB), Johnny Mowlem (GB)
32, Roock-Knight Hawk Racing (LMP675), Claudia Hürtgen (D), Christopher Gleason (USA), Rick Fairbanks (USA)
20, Team Ascari (LMP900), Werner Lupberger (RSA), Ben Collins (GB), Harri Toivonen (SF)
4, Johansson Motorsport (LMP900), Tom Coronel (NL), Stephan Johansson (S), Patrick Lemarie (F)
77, Freisinger Motorsport (LMGT), Gunnar Jeannette (USA), Romain Dumas (F), Philippe Haezebrouck (F)
74, Warmup Luc Alphand Adventures (LMGT), Luc Alphand (F), Michel Ligonnet (F), Luis Marques (F)
83, Seikel Motorsport (LMGT), Gabrio Rosa (I), Fabio Babini (I), Luca Drudi (I)
70, Aspen Knolls (LMGT), Cort Wagner (USA), Bob Mazzuoccola (USA), Vic Rice (USA)
76, PK Sport Ltd (LMGT), Mike Youles (GB), Stephen Day (GB), Dave Warnock (GB)
75, Perspective Racing (LMGT), Thierry Perrier (F), Michel Neugarten (B), Nigel Smith (GB)
82, Seikel Motorsport (LMGT), Tony Burgess (CAN), Max Cohen-Olivar (MAR), Andrew Bagnall (NZ)
80, Larbre Competition (LMGT), Patrice Goueslard (F), Jean Luc Chereau (F), Sebastien Dumez (F)
60, Saleen (LMGTS), Franz Konrad (D), Oliver Gavin (GB), Terry Borcheller (USA)
11, Panoz Motor Sports (LMP900), Klaus Graf (D), Jamie Davis (GB), Gary Formato (RSA)
72, Team Taisan Advan (LMGT), Hideo Fukuyama (J), Atsushi Yogo (J), Kazuyuki Nishizawa (J)
71, Racing Engineering (LMGT), Robin Donovan (GB), Chris MacAllister (USA), Terry Linger (USA)
55, Paul Belmondo Racing (LMGTS), Vincent Vosse (B), Vanina Ickx (B), Carl Rosenblad (S)
12, Panoz Motor Sports (LMP900), Jan Magnussen (DK), David Brabham (AUS), Franck Lagorce (F)
79, Noel del Bello (LMGT), Sylvain Noel (F), Georges Forgeois (USA), Jean Luc Maury Laribiere (F)
9, Racing For Holland (LMP900), Jan Lammers (NL), Val Hillebrand (NL), Donny Crevels (NL)
18, Pescarolo Sport (LMP900), Didier Cottaz (F), Boris Derichebourg (F), Emmanuel Clerico (F)
30, Welter Gerard (LMP675), Yojiro Terada (J), Jean-Rene De Fournoux (F), Stephane Daoudi (F)
19, SMG (LMP900), Philippe Gache (F), Anthony Beltoise (F), Jerome Policand (F)
56, Paul Belmondo Racing (LMGTS), Anthony Kumpen (B), Gregoire de Galzian (F), Jean-Claude Lagniez (F)
34, MG Sport & Racing Ltd (LMP675), Anthony Reid (GB), Warren Hughes (GB), Johnny Kane (GB)
58, Larbre Competition (LMGTS), Christophe Bouchut (F), Jean-Philippe Belloc (F), Tiago Monteiro (P)
37, Dick Barbour (LMP675), John Graham (CAN), Milka Duno (VEN), David Murry (USA)
61, Konrad Motorsport (LMGTS), Walter Brun (CH), Toni Seiler (CH), Charles Slater (USA)
57, Equipe De France FFSA (LMGTS), Davide Terrien (F), Jonathan Cochet (F), Jean-Philippe Dayraut (F)

Retirements:
35, S+R Rowan Racing Ltd (LMP675), Martin O'Connell (GB), Warren Carway (IRL), Francois Migault (F) - Crash Damage