The No. 7 race leading Peugeot in front of an Audi

At the halfway of the 76th 24 Hours of Le Mans, Peugeot and Audi kept up their chase with former F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve leading in the No. 7 Peugeot 908 over Audi’s Dindo Capello, driving the No. 2 Audi R10 TDI that he is sharing with Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen.

The Audis cannot keep up with the Peugeots on speed but they are winning the race in the pits. The No. 2 car made 16 stops in the race’s first half, three less than the leading Peugeot and was behind by less than three minutes.

Audis also were running fourth and fifth.

Risi Competizione continued to lead in GT2 with its Ferrari F430 GT clicking off lap after lap in darkness at La Sarthe. Gianmaria Bruni was in the midst of his second stint with a lap in hand over Rob Bell in the Virgo Motorsport Ferrari.

The Risi entry led the American Le Mans Series contingent through 12 hours of the world’s most famous race. The defending Series GT2 champion has had dismal luck in the first half of the season but a victory at Le Mans would do a lot to erase those memories.

“It was getting a bit hard in the last stint, when it was completely dark but otherwise the car is going very well and is very well balanced,” said Jaime Melo, who with Bruni and Mika Salo had advanced  The Michelin tires have been very consistent for the triple stint and so far, so good. In the traffic, it’s quite hard to get through – especially the slower prototypes – but everything is going okay. I hope we can finish the race in the same position as now."

Tight fights for the lead in all classes were the norm. In GT1, the battle between Aston Martin Racing and Corvette Racing was living up to expectations…again. David Brabham, who drives for Patr¢n Highcroft Racing and Acura in the American Le Mans Series, led in the No. 009 works Aston Martin DBR9 by just 30 seconds over class pole-winner Jan Magnussen in the factory Corvette C6.R that he shares with Johnny O’Connell and Ron Fellows.

The second Aston Martin was third with Karl Wendlinger at the wheel and also on the lead lap. Corvette Racing’s other entry was a lap down with Olivier Beretta at the wheel, the team having to replace the alternator early in the evening.

12 Hour Standings

Pos	#	Class	Drivers	Team	Car	Laps	Behind
1.	7	LM P1	M.Gene, N.Minassian, J.Villeneuve	Team Peugeot Total	Peugeot 908	197	0.000
2.	2	LM P1	R.Capello, A.McNish, T.Kristensen	Audi Sport North America	Audi R10	196	1 Lap
3.	9	LM P1	F.Montagny, R.Zonta, C.Klein	Peugeot Sport Total	Peugeot 908	196	2:23.508
4.	3	LM P1	L.Luhr, A.Premat, M.Rockenfeller	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R10	195	2 Laps
5.	1	LM P1	F.Biela, E.Pirro, M.Werner	Audi Sport North America	Audi R10	194	3 Laps
6.	17	LM P1	H.Primat, C.Tinseau, B.Treluyer	Pescarolo Sport	Pescarolo Judd	189	8 Laps
7.	8	LM P1	P.Lamy, S.Sarrazin, A.Wurz	Team Peugeot Total	Peugeot 908	188	9 Laps
8.	5	LM P1	S.Ayari, L.Duval, L.Groppi	Team Oreca Matmut	Courage-Oreca LC70 Judd	188	44.985
9.	16	LM P1	J.C.Boullion, E.Collard, R.Dumas	Pescarolo Sport	Pescarolo Judd	188	2:30.372
10.	34	LM P2	P.van Merksteijn, J.Verstappen, J.Bleeke	Van Merksteijn Motorsport	Porsche RS Spyder	186	11 Laps
11.	31	LM P2	J.Nielsen, C.Elgaard, S.Maassen	Team Essex	Porsche RS Spyder	185	12 Laps
12.	18	LM P1	V.Ickx, S.Gregoire, J.Barbosa	Rollcentre Racing	Pescarolo Judd	183	14 Laps
13.	35	LM P2	P.Ragues, M.Lahaye, C.Cheng	Saulnier Racing	Pescarolo Judd	177	20 Laps
14.	10	LM P1	S.Mucke, J.Charouz, T.Enge	Charouz Racing System	Lola B08/80 Aston Martin	177	22.446
15.	00	LM GT1	D.Brabham, D.Turner, A.Garcia	Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin DBR9	177	1:02.723
16.	63	LM GT1	J.O'Connell, J.Magnussen, R.Fellows	Corvette Racing	Corvette C6.R	177	1:36.625
17.	40	LM P2	M.Amaral, O.Pla, G.Smith	Quifel-ASM Team	Lola B05/40 AER	177	2:47.727
18.	00	LM GT1	H.-H.Frentzen, A.Piccini, K.Wendlinger	Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin DBR9	176	21 Laps
19.	64	LM GT1	O.Beretta, O.Gavin, M.Papis	Corvette Racing	Corvette C6.R	175	22 Laps
20.	4	LM P1	M.Faggionato, J.Nicolet, R.Hein	Saulnier Racing	Pescarolo Judd	174	23 Laps
21.	33	LM P2	X.Pompidou, A.Belicchi, S.Zacchia	SpeedY Racing Team Sebah	Lola B08/80Judd	173	24 Laps
22.	72	LM GT1	L.Alphand, J.Policand, G.Moreau	Luc Alphand Aventures	Corvette C6.R	173	10:47.278
23.	59	LM GT1	J.Menten, C.Fittipaldi, T.Borcheller	Team Modena	Aston Martin DBR9	171	26 Laps
24.	11	LM P1	D.Ito, Y.Tachikawa, T.Kataoka	Dome Racing Team	Dome S102 Judd	169	28 Laps
25.	73	LM GT1	P.Goueslard, J.Blanchemain, L.Pasquali	Luc Alphand Aventures	Corvette C6.R	169	43.246
26.	82	LM GT2	M.Salo, J.Melo, G.Bruni	Risi Competizione	Ferrari F430 GTC	168	29 Laps
27.	96	LM GT2	T.Mullen, R.Bell, T.Sugden	Virgo Motorsport	Ferrari F430 GTC	166	31 Laps
28.	97	LM GT2	F.Babini, P.Ruberti, M.Malucelli	BMS Scuderia Italia	Ferrari F430 GTC	166	2:31.176
29.	99	LM GT2	B.Aucott, S.Dauodi, A.Ferte	JMB Racing	Ferrari F430 GTC	165	32 Laps
30.	90	LM GT2	L.-E.Nielsen, P.Ehret, P.Kaffer	Farnbacher Racing	Ferrari F430 GTC	164	33 Laps
31.	45	LM P2	W.Hughes, J.Kane, J.Foster	Embassy Racing	Embassy WF01 Zytek	162	35 Laps
32.	32	LM P2	J.Barazi, M.Vergers, S.Moseley	Barazi Epsilon	Zytek 07S/2	161	36 Laps
33.	14	LM P1	S.Hall, J.Mowlem, M.Goossens	Creation Autosportif	Creation CA07 AIM	160	37 Laps
34.	26	LM P2	B.Devlin, M.Rostan, G.Jeannette	Team Bruichladdich Radical	Radical SR9 AER	159	38 Laps
35.	50	LM GT1	C.Bouchut, P.Bornhauser, D.Hallyday	Larbre Competition	Saleen S7R	155	42 Laps
36.	77	LM GT2	A.Davison, W.Henzler, H.Felbermayr	Team Felbermayr-Proton	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	152	45 Laps
37.	23	LM P1	M.Lewis, B.Willman, C.McMurry	Autocon	Creation CA07 Judd	152	1:14.899
38.	6	LM P1	S.Pagenaud, O.Panis, M.Fassler	Team Oreca Matmut	Courage-Oreca LC70 Judd	147	50 Laps
39.	44	LM P2	J.de Pourtales, H.Noda, J.-F.Yvon	Kruse Schiller Motorsport	Lola B05/40 Mazda	147	59:54.949
40.	20	LM P1	A.Burgueno, M.A.De Castro, A.Valles	Epsilon Euskadi	Epsilon Euskadi EE01 Judd	130	67 Laps
41.	80	LM GT2	J.Bergmeister, J.van Overbeek, S.Neiman	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	130	59:34.280
42.	22	LM P1	T.Suzuki, M.Kageyama, H.Kurosawa	Tokai University-YGK Power	Courage-Oreca YGK	127	70 Laps
43.	55	LM GT1	P.Kox, R.Rusinov, M.Hezemans	Interprogressbank Spartak	Lamborghini Murcielago	113	84 Laps
44.	24	LM P1	Y.Terada, K.Takahashi, H.Katoh	Terramos	Courage Mugen	109	88 Laps
45.	25	LM P2	T.Erdos, M.Newton, A.Wallace	RML	Lola B05/40 MG	100	97 Laps
46.	21	LM P1	J.-M.Gounon, S.Nakano, S.Johansson	Epsilon Euskadi	Epsilon Euskadi EE01 Judd	83	114 Laps