Le Mans 24 hours

21.45 - 03.30

Tomlinson drove a good, consistent stint. Darkness fell during his driving session, which makes driving more difficult as visibility is reduced and glare from headlights makes concentrating harder and all the more important.

Kimber-Smith took over just over an hour later to do a double-stint in the Panoz; only coming into the pits for a change of tyres and a top-up of fuel.

At 11.15, the top two cars remain unchanged, but the #87 Ferrari is now in third and Kimber-Smith in fourth. Behind him are #93, #90, #80… The Panoz, running laptimes of 4.14 and 4.15’s.

Dean follows to do a double-stint, but drama at just gone 1am. Approaching his scheduled pit stop for fuel, reports come over the pit radio that he has a puncture. As the wheels are changed and the yorkshireman back out on track, there is no evidence as such, so a rear suspension failure is suspected.

Dean returns to the pits and is wheeled into the garage – the Team LNT mechanics springing into action. The rear left track rod is damaged. While this is being repaired, the front brake discs and pads are replaced. Purely because they would need to be at some point – so why not now…

Nine and a half minutes later, Dean is going back town the pitlane, suspension fixed.

Rejoining in 6th place, the car appears to be back to it’s fine form running consistent 4.18’s – 6 seconds faster than 5th place #90 and only 13 seconds behind. Dean soon catches and passes the Porsche as the Porsche then dives into the pitlane for its scheduled stop.

At 1.45am the GT2 class is as follows: 1st #83, 2nd #86, 3rd #87, 4th #93, 5th #81, 6th #90, 7th #89….

Dean pushes hard to make up time – now lapping in 1.16’s – 4-5 seconds faster than the two cars ahead of him but about 1.5 laps down.

We must bear in mind that to be 1.5 laps down may sound a lot, but to succeed at the 24 hour Le Mans is all about consistency and reliability without making big mistakes. Half way through the race isn’t until 5am!

Kimber-Smith returns to the car for a further double-stint, continuing the Panoz form of 4.16 on his out lap, albeit in 5th place behind the #90 Porsche as they exchange places with the Panoz once again.

Richard Dean: “I’m disappointed that we had the rear track rod problem because we lost 2 and a half laps but the lads did a great job in getting me back out there as quickly as they did. Basically I had to run wide at the chicane & ended up bouncing along the kerb.”

2.45 and there is no change in order between the top four cars. Only the Team LNT Panoz and White Lightning Racing Porsche keep exchanging 5th and 6th places through pit stops.

A safety car is deployed at 3.15 – the reason why is not clear! There is no evidence of an incident on screen, nor any information over the radio… Kimber-Smith comes in for fuel and tyres while the field is running slower lap times under the safety car.