Le Mans 2001

2001 June 14 Thursday: Rinaldo Capello in Audi #2 gained pole position for Saturday's race, from Tom Kristensen in Audi #1. American Champion Racing Audi #3 was third fastest.

start

2001 June 16, 4pm: Shortly after the rolling start of the Le Mans 24-hour race with Laurent Aiello (#2) Infineon Audi R8 in front of Frank Biela in the (#1) car.

rain

There was heavy rain during the early stages of the race. A Bentley Exp8 led in the first hour. Right: A Champion Racing Audi R8 in the wet; it retired about 10.30pm with a clutch problem.

rain

June 17, 4am: After twelve hours, Audi R8s were one and two with the #8 Bentley in third place.

8am: That was still the order with eight hours to go. Frank Biela, Tom Kristensen and Emanuele Pirro in #1 led Laurent Aiello, Rinaldo Capello and Christian Pescatori in #2 (right, in the pits) by three laps. 28 cars, out of 48 starters, remained in the race.

10am: Top six of 24 running, Audi #1, Audi #2, Bentley #8, Chrysler 5999A #16 (Olivier Beretta, Karl Wendlinger, Pedro Lamy), Courage Peugeot 3200T #17 (Sebastien Bourdais, Jean-Christophe Boullion, Laurent Redon), Corvette C5R 6991A #63 (Ron Fellows, Scott Pruett, Johnny O'Connell).

rain

4pm: 1st Frank Biela, Tom Kristensen, Emanuele Pirro, Audi #1 321 laps, 2nd Laurent Aiello, Rinaldo Capello, Christian Pescatori, Audi #2 (-1 lap), 3rd Andy Wallace, Butch Leitzinger, Eric van de Poele, Bentley #8 (-15 laps), 4th Beretta, Wendlinger, Lamy, Chrysler (-23 laps), 5th Deletraz, Fabre, Gene, Reynard-VW (-37 laps), 6th Rosa, Babini, Drudi, Porsche (-38 laps),

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