24h Le Mans Hour 3: puncture and accident

An unscheduled pit stop cost Audi the lead in the 24-hour race at Le Mans. André Lotterer in Audi R18 e-tron quattro #7 had built up a near ten-second lead over the second placed Porsche #17, when he was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop because of a puncture and dropped down to sixth as a result.

Audi R18 e-tron quattro #8 was thrown back due to an accident just before the end of the third hour. Loïc Duval slammed violently into the barriers in the ‘Indianapolis’ section when he swerved to avoid several slower cars, and was touched at the rear by a GTE car.

The Audi Sport Team Joest mechanics repaired the damaged front and rear ends of the Audi R18 e-tron quattro in less than four minutes. Lucas di Grassi was able to continue the race in eighth place one lap behind.

Best placed Audi at 18.00 was start number ‘9’ in second place.

Positions after 3 hours:

1 Porsche #17 2 Audi #9 3 Porsche #18 4 Porsche #19 5 Audi #7 6 Toyota #1 ... 8 Audi #8