Club Arnage the Le Mans 24 hours LIVE coverage

Live Updates
Saturday 19:00hrs-20:00hrs
By: Stella-Maria Thomas and Lynne Waite

The No. 7 Bentley, as feared by Guy Smith, has badly misted windows on the sides at least. Eric Van de Poele goes back out in the No. 8 Bentley again.
The Noel del Bello car is having its rear tracking reset just now and the No. 33 MG has just gone out.
The Safety Car pulls off at 19:06 while Davies comes in and turns off the engjne. The No. 11 car is pushed into the garage. Jamie is shaking his head. The No, 12 car is in too, and also in the garage. It seems that the gearboxes are giving trouble.
Ni Amorim (No. 14) has just had a spin at the Dunlop Chicane having spun earlier. The No.7 Bentley has just been passed by a Porsche in the wet - Guy Smith sensibly let him go. Both MGs are still in having their exhaust manifolds changed. It won't be quick but they will be out again soon and the mood is good in the garage.
The Panozes are suffering from electronic problems, possibly because of all the water that has fallen on them recently. The Cadillac team are apparently quite calm too and the No. 6 car is in having lost a left front wheel somewhere on the circuit. There is an Ascari in the barriers at the Mulsanne but it gets going again and comes back round. And the Cadillacs are also suffering from electrical problems too. Toivonen is trying to bring the No. 20 Ascari back after what was about a 720 degree spin, presumably if he can work out which way round he's facing when he stops. The No. 2 and No. 2 Audis are now in 2nd and 3rd while the Bentley goes 3rd. Warren Hughes gets to go out in the No. 34 MG and the rain is coming back again here. It's very, very dark now and there are suggestions that the Bentleys are also shipping water.
The No. 12 Panoz goes back out but stalls before it can leave the pit lane and is rolled back in again.
It is now raining as heavily as ever.
Gravel is being swept out of the pits at Dick Barbour.
The Ascari is in having deflectors fitted to the front.
Mike Youles (No. 76 PK Sport): "We're pretty happy. It was a real nightmare for the team managers. We were just cruising down the Mulsanne Straight and you could see all the water ahead of you. We had oil flags out the corner before. At Arnage there was a lot of gravel being cleared up and then there were five cars across the track. It was pretty horrendous."
The No. 21 Ascari has just gone out.
19:24. There is now a total cloudburst again and the Safety Car is out. Maybe this time it'll go slow enough to let the others catch up with it.
No. 36 Dick Barbour car comes in. It's 3rd in class, behind the other Dick Barbour car.
Kevin McGarrity is out in the No. 33 MG now - probably still looking for the leprechauns which he now says he ran over.
The temperature in the pit lane is now a miserable 13 degrees and dropping. The promise of no snow showers is beginning to look a little unlikely now.
There are marshals out on the track somewhere too and they seem to be waving the cars over to one side. No one seems to know why though it may just be a lake!
No. 5 Cadillac comes in for a stop, with Marc Goossens at the wheel.
The No. 10 Dome is stopped out on the straight, with Elgaard at the wheel (and a Club Arnage sticker on the back wing). It had been running in 8th and it gets going again.
Ascari No. 20 is in again because it keeps steaming up and there's a mechanic in the car trying to sponge it dry!
Smith is taking it very carefully in the No. 7 Bentley at present, which seems sensible under the circumstances. It's highly likely he can't see where he's going right now.
The No. 83 car comes in for a stop too.
The No. 19 Speedy car with Jerome Policand at the wheel is in for a stop too.
The rain is easing a bit again thought it's still not nice.
The No. 10 is now back in the pits for a check over and fuel but is then pushed into the garage for some work. They are working even as it is pushed in.
The No. 20 Ascari goes back out with Toivonen still in charge.
When Aiello came in and lost it in the pit lane, he hit the Johansson pit area and may have damaged some equipment. The No. 4 car is also slipping down the order after having stopped out on the straight with Lemarie at the wheel.
The Panozes are still being worked on and the yellows are about to go away. The Safety Car lights are off and the race is about to go live again.
Audi: "The Champion crew were waiting to do a drier change and then Aiello came flying through and took our airline, two of our people and half of another guy…!"
No. 33 comes back in, possibly to bail out and then goes straight out again with McGarrity at the wheel. As he went out of the pit lane, those pesky leprechauns moved the exit kerb and he ran over the ACO's flowerbeds and the kerb too.
No. 30 car comes in too, as does the No. 74 Luc Alphand car.
It is now 19:45 and the Safety Car is pulling off but the rain is still coming down and may be getting worse again.
Panoz are carrying out a battery change in No. 12 and putting new spark plugs in the No. 11.
No. 63 is in and having work done. Johnny O'Connell gets out and Scott Pruett gets in. Maybe they are trying to share the soaking equally. It's a very long pit stop but that's not surprising.
Dick Barbour says he can't remember the weather being this bad at Le Mans.
There are reports of overtaking under yellows at Indianapolis when the yellows stayed out there even after they had been removed elsewhere. Look for protests and penalties soon.
Conditions are now improving but whether it will actually dry or not is hard to know. Tom Kristensen may have been another who really didn't want rain but he's making rapid progress now. He managed to have a huge moment as a result.
The No. 18 Pescarolo car comes in for a routine stop. The No. 36 Dick Barbour car comes in for a stop too and is in for a long time - there's nothing especially routine about this stop.
The No. 21 Ascari is back in the pit lane now and has been extinguished by someone for some reason. Finally he gets to go back out. The Bentley boys are expecting someone in and it may be Guy Smith. The car is badly misted up now so he won't be having a very easy time.
The Matsuda car is now slipping out of the LMP675 lead and various things are being gaffer taped to the car in the pit lane.
The No. 8 Bentley is coming in for a stop and it is steamed up too. Van de Poele is significantly faster than Smith but then he's Belgian so he's used to rain (I live in Brussels, I know!), and he's been here before. Leitzinger is waiting to go out but has been waved away. There is much activity and the car is slipping down the order.
Kristensen is still twitching horribly and the No. 34 MG is the fastest car on the circuit at the moment in the hands of Warren Hughes even though it is down in 48th or thereabouts. And the rain is now coming back again in horrible amounts at Indianapolis.

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

Retirements:
57, Equipe De France FFSA (LMGTS), Davide Terrien (F), Jonathan Cochet (F), Jean-Philippe Dayraut (F) - Crash damage
35, S+R Rowan Racing Ltd (LMP675), Martin O'Connell (GB), Warren Carway (IRL), Francois Migault (F) - Crash Damage