The No. 15 BMW is still leading from the (slow!) No. 3 Toyota. The No. 8 Audi is in 3rd and the privately entered BMW, No. 18 is now 4th. The No. 7 Audi is 5th and 6th place is the Courage No. 14 with Henri Pescarolo as part of the driving team.
The No. 52 Viper is now 2nd in its class and has just come in for a driver change.
Theys has just got out of the No. 8 Audi.
No. 50 Viper in for a pitstop.
Martini is now in the No. 15 car and the gap is 3:37.194 and Winkelhock believes that the tyres they have will last till the end. They seem to be taking one hell of a chance, trying to run 1 hour and 40 on the same set of tyres, given how close the Toyota is. With the tremendously muggy and overcast weather conditions its highly likely that the fastest lap set by Allan McNish on Saturday night will stand, which will leave Lehto with the second fastest time.
The No. 11 Panoz, now running just outside the top 10, is in for a pitstop.
The No. 51 Viper is in for a driver change and fuel but is not bothering with new tyres. Engine wouldn't fire properly and a mechanic failed to do the nut up properly. Katayama is driving this car now.
No. 3 Toyota is now expected in, though it's a lap short of what they can do. In and takes on fuel and tyres (new on the left and used on the right).
No. 56 Viper in.
No. 15 is lapping slower than it has.
Dalmas's lead, with 1.5 hours to go, is a little over 27 seconds.
The LM GTS lead is again held by No. 51 with No. 52 in second. They are followed by No. 56, No. 50 and No. 55.
The No. 81 Porsche is now 13th overall and leading its class.
No. 7 Audi is in from 4th place. Aiello is still in it and the car is obviously in some trouble again; the mechanics appear to be trying to fix something electronic and are resetting the dash.
The current gap is 1:54.9 between the leading BMW and the No. 3 Toyota.
No. 18 BMW is now up to 4th.
No. 12 Panoz is in again.
No. 8 Audi with Pirro at the wheel is just going back out on brand new tyres. No. 21 has just gone off, missing the pit entrance and will now have to complete another lap - this could become embarrassing.
14:47 Katayama has just set the new fastest lap of the race with just over an hour to go. The time was 3:35.032, which leaves Schuhmacher's record safe but is pretty impressive for someone who has probably been awake for a day and a half.
Andy Wallace (No. 10): "I was about to leave when I heard Audis were 3rd and 5th so I cameback."
Interviewer: "You're a bit of an anorak aren't you?"
Andy Wallace (No. 10 Audi): "Yes, I am an anorak actually... We were recycling gearboxes. We're a very green team..."
No. 21 Nissan is still in trouble, being pushed back into the garage again! This keeps happening, but it has 4 laps in hand so if the repair work isn't too complicated then the team could keep their place.
Toyota No. 3 is being held up by a a slower car and is failing to gain as much time as is necessary to allow them to win.
Fred Ekblom is about to get into the No. 21 Courage, which is of course the local team, and go back out so whatever they've been doing was over quickly.
Piero Martini just came through bouncing off the kerbs. I doubt the wisdom of this under the circumstances that claimed the sister car 3 hours ago.
No. 18 is in for a routine stop.
Gap is 1:47 with 1 hour left to go.
Audi No. 7 is now ahead of the No. 18 BMW.
Results at 15:00 (23 hours)
15, 3, 8, 7, 8, 13, 21, 12, 4, 51, 11, 52, 81, 56, 50, 55, 54, 64, 80, 62, 84, 57, 65, 26,/B> 15:00 hours onwards.
The sky is dark and cloudy but this race may well stay dry now. With only one hour left to run it has been an emotional roller coaster of the most extreme variety and the changes have been dramatic. The pit wall is now almost empty as the field has been reduced by 50% and people are battening down anything they can before the end of the race to avoid the problems of the invading crowds taking your pit equipment for souvenirs.
No. 15 in for fuel, but no new tyres and no driver change. Martini remains in place and will do 12 full laps before his next stop.
No. 3 Toyota is stuck behind the No. 18 BMW and is having trouble getting past. Its involved in its own battle (and probably isn't keen to let the Toyota through).
No. 11 Panoz in for a stop.
No. 3 Toyota left rear tyre has blown (15:06) on the way into Arnage. It is now coming in very slowly, but it is probably too soon to try and run through from this stop. There doesn't appear to be much damage though so they might be able to get it through. They are in the pits and the 52 Viper is coming in. It will park just in front of them and the BMW has just gone through to force the Toyota to lose a lap.
The crowd are cheering the No. 15 car on its way.
Meanwhile the Toyota crew have got the bodywork off and are now tiewrapping it back. Having just seen a rerun of the tyre blowout, how Katayama held it out of the Armco is anyone's guess. And the BMW is about to come round again, while they try to reattach the bodywork. Right rear pin won't secure properly but he goes back out to try and catch up. This may turn out to be the decisive moment of the race.
No. 81 has been in and goes out.
Audi No. 7 has a rear right hand puncture, possibly when it ran over the Toyota's bodywork at exactly the same place. There are now bits of Audi t there too. Audi No. 7 is now in. As the Audi UK guys said, "It's not been a sh*t weekend. It's been a sh*t 6 months..."
BMW are expecting No. 15 in and it duly arrives at 15:18. They fit new tyres while the No. 51 Viper returns again.
No. 21 is now running in 8th and is in the pits again.
No. 18 car is in again too.
No. 15 BMW is still leading with half an hour to go and the Toyota is now 1 place behind.
No. 8 Joest Team Audi is in for refuelling and new tyres. There is no driver change however and it is quickly back out again.
There is a lot of debris now on the left hand side of the track where the No. 7 Audi and the No. 3 Toyota both ran into trouble.
Justin Bell (No. 52): "All I wanted the other car to have a small 9-lap problem..."
Derek Bell: "You want to get yourself a big car for next year..."
The final 15 minutes is underway now and Pierluigi Martini, in the No. 15 BMW, still holds the lead over the lone No. 3 Toyota by about 1 lap. The Audis (No. 7 and No. 8) have had an awfully troubled time with gearboxes breaking down at every opportunity. For good measure the No. 18 BMW, having conclusively blocked the Toyota when it tried to get through, is in 5th place. And so, under cloudy skies, the No. 15 Schnitzer-run BMW makes its way through to take the flag at 16:03 on Sunday 13th June 1999 to a riotous welcome from the crowds in the grandstands watched by an incredibly nervous Charly Lamm. In addition, like Henri Pescarolo, whose No. 14 car finishes 9th, Dalmas has won four times at Le Mans. Katayama arrived almost four minutes later to a great cheer too from the packed grandstands.
Jo Winkelhock (winning driver): "I have no words really because we didn't expect to win this race!"
Gerhard Berger: "BMW did an unbelievable job here."
Charly Lamm: "It's a dream, a very tough one... I'm very pleased."
Martini has gone off to do an extra lap to celebrate and is burning rubber everywhere. It's to be hoped he has enough fuel left... He is supposed to stop in the pit lane. Dalmas is trying to get in the car with him as well which doesn't quite work but you can understand why he wants to try it.
Panoz have been awarded the prize for the most helpful team at the meeting.
Final Results at 24 hours
15, 3, 8, 7, 18, 13, 12, 21, 14, 51 (LM GTS winner), 11, 52, 81 (LM GT winner), 56, 50, 55, 54, 64, 80, 62, 84, 57, 65And as a final note, here is a slightly twisted version of a song made popular again by Mercedes and then by BMW in their adverts and it certainly fits this weekend. This is courtesy of a friend of ours, so RCI, thanks:
"Oh Lord DON'T you buy me a Mercedes-Benz,
My friends all drive Porsches that last 'till the end..."
Try it. You'll find it fits the tune.