LE MANS 20 HOURS ON
by Nicholas Frankl
TACH European Bureau
Porsche look like clearing up the top three places after 20 hours of this exhausting event.
Reuter/Jones/Wurz in the Joest TWR WSC Porsche engined car are leading by a lap over the Stuck/Boutsen/Wolleck Porsche GT1, which itself is some 7 laps in front of the 2nd TWR WSC. With only 26 cars remaining, separated by 10 laps between first place and
last, out of the original 48. This race has already taken a considerable toll on both man and machine.
Various mistakes have been made, cars in sand traps etc, infact Andretti who was lying in 8th spot just went sand castle making and ended in the barrier. Some serious raking by the marshals and 15 minutes later and he was back in the pits -head hu
ng very low. The Bellm Gulf car is in the pits with a bust gearbox, they're changing it at the moment and will drop down from 4th to probably 9/10th. Tomas Bscher in the West car has just made contact with the other Gulf McLaren and spun into the gravel.
Throughout the night various cars have ended up on their brake calipers after failing off stands or being dropped, as the pressure and time took its toll.
The Chrysler Viper are out and in. The Justin Bell car suffering from the use of only 9 out of 10 cylinders, and brake failure. The other 3 still running, with no48 Cobb/Dismore/Hendricks leading the way in 12th place. As for the Ferraris, things c
ould be better-they are all out, F40s, 333SP, the lot!
With the top 10 made up of either Porsche or BMW engined cars, I suspect that we'll be celebrating some kind of Beer fest this afternoon as the clock strikes three o'clock and the race finally finishes. HURRAH!
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