By: Stella Maria Thomas
The Japanese flag wavers have quite clearly flagged. They are still there but most of them seem to be asleep, wrapped in their banners. At the halfway mark the Safety Cars are still out after Thierry Boutsen in the No. 2 Toyota crashed out at the Dunlop Curve and had to be extracted, complaining of lower back pain. The Safety Cars will stay out until the tyre wall can be repaired. The No. 17 BMW is still leading the race with its sister car in 2nd, 3 laps behind. The No. 8 Audi is now 3rd after a fairly eventful first half and the remaining Toyota (No. 3) is in 4th.
There has been a powersteering failure on one of the Dave Price run cars. One of the Safety Cars has just pulled into the pit lane, possibly because it may be about to run out of fuel. Aparently the reason for the delay was a desire to clear away as much of the oil as possible that is currently decorating the track.
No. 10 in for a pitstop. Andy Wallace will take over from Perry McCarthy. No. 81, the lead Porsche, is in again and being pushed into a garage to be worked on. 53 in for a stop. Perry McCarthy (No. 10): "We're making some progress now. I'm fairly happy with the car. There's a couple of little things we've done with the gearbox - Blast! I meant to tell Andy [Wallace] something... he's not answering his radio right now." Butch Leitzinger (No. 12): "It's going great. I think we can climb up the leader board again soon." No. 3 Toyota in. Karl Wendlinger (No. 51): "So far everything is fine. Everything is running to plan."
Nos. 4, 12, 55 and 64 are in. Allan McNish (No. 4): "The first thing is that Thierry is OK. Secondary is the fact that the car is out of the race. It's a shame because we were running in 2nd... That's Le Mans for you." Lights have just gone out on the Safety Car at 04:25, one hour and thirteen minutes after it started. David Brabham (No. 12): "I was rather bored out there. I was trying to get someone else in the car." No. 18 may be trailing smoke or it may just be kicking up cement dust from the oil. No. 51 and No. 52 have changed order, the No. 52 Viper going ahead to lead the GTS class. The numerical order that they were occupying was getting a little odd. However, it wasn't long before the No. 51 car with Olivier Beretta at the wheel, was back ahead and pulling away rapidly.
The No. 21 Nissan, driven by Marc Goossens, was lapping rapidly again after a brake pad replacement session.
No. 65 in again for a pitstop.
No. 50 in for a stop too.
No. 8 Audi in too for a routine refuelling stop.
The first of the Vipers is about to move into the top 10, as they haver just edged onto the same lap as the No. 2 Toyota, which is of course out of the race now.
No. 10 in and signalling to his crew by flashing his headlights off and on.
No. 64 is back in again.
No. 56 and No. 17 in for routine stops.
Positions at 05:00
17, 15, 3, 8, 18, 7, 21, 12, 13, 51, 52, 2, 53, 14, 55, 18, 56, 50, 64, 54, 63, 26, 61, 11, 84, 10, 19, 80, 87, 62, 67, 57, 66, 22, 65, 1, 21, 6, 5, 24, 29, 32, 9, 31, 60
It's very dark out there still although dawn cannot now be far away and the grandstands are about as empty as they will ever get. The garages are full of sleeping engineers and mechanics and the press office contains a number of completely unconcious photographers. No. 7 in. Driver change is being carried out too, with Alboreto ready to go out now but Aiello stayed in. The BMWs (Nos. 17 and 15) continue to lead the field and the No. 3 Toyota is still 4 laps adrift of the leader. No. 15 BMW is in for a routine fuel stop. No. 53 is in too.
No. 12 and 11 are now in as well. It's getting very busy in the pitlane just now, as 52 also pulls in with a left front puncture. No. 3 makes a regular stop too, thus losing its 3rd place to the No. 8 Audi. And then, right on schedule, the third and highest placed Oreca Viper, No. 51 came in for a stop. The No. 61 Porsche Freisinger (Palmberger, Kaufman, Ligonnet) has dropped out of the race after ripping off most of one side of the car in a fairly major shunt.Laurent Aiello has been driving the No. 7 Audi for the last three hours and seems very reluctant to get out and let anyone else have a go. This is despite the fact that Michele Alboreto is suited up and ready to go as soon as hs teammate comes in. No. 21 is in for a routine stop with Fredrik Ekblom still at the wheel. The time is now coming up to 5:20 and the sky is slowly lightening up. The temperature is down to 11 degrees now, so nowhere near as cold as was threatened. Even so, it's proving enough for the LM GTs to get their lap times down.
No. 11 has only just left the pits again after a nose replacement. This was quite a long stop again suggesting that something has been damaged. Pirro just set a very fast time in Audi No. 8 and like Aiello he has been out there for a full two hours. No. 26 in again.
Latest news on Boutsen is that he is walking about, feeling very stiff but he's fit and well under the circumstances. No. 8 is in, Pirro hands over to Biela. Aiello (No. 7) is expected soon to handover to Michele Alboreto. No. 62 car is in now for a pitstop. No. 26 has just missed the chicane, just to add to the Dutch contingents misery. Nos. 18 and 50 in for pitstops. No. 10 is back again too. There has just been a small fire in the BMW garage, seemingly from some debris left behind, rather than anything essential. No. 17 in for a driver change, Lehto taking over from Muller after refuelling and changing tyres before returning to the lead. No. 7 has finally come in for a driver change after 3 hours and 40 minutes from Aiello, who was getting dangerously close to the 4 hour limit which no driver may exceed in any stint. He managed to move into 5th place before the stop too. No. 12 in for a driver change and refuelling; Bernard is taking over the Panoz now.
No. 56 and 15 are in, 15 for a driver change. Pierluigi Martini is taking over this car again. Stalled as he tried to leave the pits. No. 14 is back out with Pescarolo on board again. The Vipers are starting their pitstops too with No. 53, which means that 52 and 51 aren't far behind.
Positions at 06:00
17, 15, 3, 8, 18, 7, 21, 12, 13, 51, 52, 53, 14, 55, 81, 56, 50, 64, 54, 2, 26, 63, 11, 10, 84, 80, 61, 62, 19, 27, 57, 67, 66, 22, 65, 1, 25, 6, 5, 24, 29, 32, 9, 31, 60.