Audi in control at Le Mans

Champions Audi held on firmly to a one-two lead at the Le Mans 24-hour sportscar classic as night fell yesterday.

Audi, the first to win with a diesel-fuelled prototype last year, had two R10 cars in front after their third crashed out of a race made particularly tricky by changing weather conditions.

The Audi number two, with record seven-times winner Tom Kristensen of Denmark among its drivers, captured the lead in the first corner and was still in it six hours into the race.

The Audi number one, relying on the three drivers who won last year, was in the wake of the leading car with a Peugeot 908 in third position.

At the wheel of that Peugeot was 1997 Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve, who made his Le Mans debut by taking his first stint shortly before dark.

Canadian Villeneuve is bidding to join the late Graham Hill as the only other man to have achieved motor racing's triple crown of the Formula One title, the Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans.

Peugeot, returning to Le Mans for the first time since their historic one-two-three in 1993, are following Audi by also relying on the diesel technology.

They were experiencing reliability problems, however.

The other 908 was among the front-runners when Frenchman Stephane Sarrazin had to stop because white smoke was billowing from the rear of his car. He restarted in eighth position but soon had to stop again and fell out of the top 10.

That same Peugeot had started in pole position but dropped back to third after going off the slippery track at the first chicane.

Audi's third car was driven by German Mike Rockenfeller when it hit a guard rail coming out of the Hunaudieres straight, 90 minutes into the event.

The car was so damaged that it could not restart and the race had to continue under yellow flags with no overtaking to allow the rail to be repaired.

A safety car had been introduced already after just over an hour of racing, because of heavy rain, to allow competitors to change tyres.

The Audis opted for slick ones and the gamble paid off, the sun soon coming out and drying up the track.

Rain then returned but the skies had cleared when the night started to fall on the 13.269-km circuit with Audi roaring closer to a fourth successive triumph.