Werner takes over lead

Germany's Marco Werner led the Le Mans 24 Hours race yesterday with Audi remaining on course to become the first manufacturer to win with a diesel-powered car.

Danish driver Tom Kristensen's chances of a seventh win in a row and record eighth overall at the La Sarthe circuit suffered a severe setback, however, on an evening of mixed fortunes for the German car company.

Werner, who won the sportscar classic at the wheel of a petrol-engined Audi last year, took over the lead 44 laps into the race after Italy's Rinaldo Capello suffered a problem in the sister R10 TDI car.

Capello, who had set the pole-winning time, had made his first pit-stop with a lead of several seconds but was forced to return to the pits one lap later after a deflector screen worked loose.

Werner took advantage to open up a lead of more than one minute before Capello handed over to Kristensen. The Dane had to drive back to the garage early in his stint with a fuel filter problem.

Audi had dominated the race until then with the greater fuel economy of the diesel engines giving them an advantage over the Pescarolo Sport cars which were expected to provide the main challenge.

Britain's Allan McNish had handed over to Capello at his second pit-stop with a 32-second lead.