2012 Le Mans 24 Hours – Race Facts by the Hour

• Both Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars head the field
• Audi R18 ultra #3 with puncture
• Rear suspension of Audi R18 ultra #4 checked

 

The 80th edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours saw both Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars of Audi Sport Team Joest dominating the race in the first hour. Both Audi R18 ultra cars lost valuable seconds in the pits.

With slight drizzle at the start, André Lotterer started from pole position and took the lead in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1. Only during refuelling, he was not listed on the top. After one hour, car number "1" had an advantage of 23 seconds over the Audi R18 e-tron quattro #2 driven by Allan McNish.

Both Audi R18 ultra cars had unscheduled pit stops in the first hour: One lap after his car's first refuelling, Loïc Duval had to come back to the pits again owing to a rear left puncture. Hence, the R18 ultra #3 dropped from second to fifth position. Mike Rockenfeller pitted early in the R18 ultra #4 after nine laps for a check of the rear suspension. After one hour, car number "4" was fourth one lap down.


Positions after 1 hour

 

1 Audi #1

2 Audi #2

3 Toyota #7

4 Toyota #8

5 Audi #3

6 Lola-Toyota -1 lap

7 Lola-Toyota -1 lap

8 Oak Pescarolo-Judd -1 lap

9 HPD-Honda #22 -1 lap

10 Audi #4 -1 lap

 

 

Time Fact

14:52 Begin of the formation lap, #1 Lotterer, #3 Duval, #2 McNish, #4 Rockenfeller

14:52 Weather: overcast, 17 degrees, track 19 degrees

15:00 Start: #1 P1, #3 P2, #2 P4, #4 P6

15:00 Lap 1: #2 McNish passes #8 Sarrazin

15:03 Positions after lap 1: #1 P1, #3 P2, #2 P3, #4 P6

15:17 Fastest race lap so far for #1 Lotterer (3m 26.302s)

15:20 Lap 6: Lapping of slower cars begins

15:32 #4 pit stop from P5, Diesel, tires, 2 minutes lost, check of rear suspension, back on track in P22

15:35 #1 pit stop from P1, diesel

15:35 #2 pit stop from P2, diesel

15:39 #3 pit stop from P1, diesel

15:43 #3 pit stop from P3, diesel, tires (rear left puncture), back on track in P5

15:59 #4 Rockenfeller back in the Top Ten

16:00 #1 P1 +23.7, #2 P2 -23.7, #3 P5 -1m 28.1s, #4 P10 -1L