msrpk.com blog

"Dueling Diesels"

This is not about Shaq and a clone; it's about the Peugeot diesel 908 HDI and the Audi diesel R15. At the 200 lap mark, well past the six hour point, a Peugeot driven by Franck Montagny leads the Audi diesel driven by Allan McNish. Third belongs to the Audi driven by Mike Rockenfeller. The best of the rest is led by the polesitting car of Gil de Ferran, the Acura ARX 02a. When Scott Dixon gets in the car, he can run faster times than the diesels on some laps. But the advantage gained on the start is hard to nibble on, especially when the diesels are running new track record times in race trim.

They call it endurance racing for a reason. Mechanical gremlins do pop up at inopportune times.

And if you are watching this on SPEED, you see some gray skies. The track is cooling. Radar suggests that any rain will pass to the north of this historic facility. Michelin and the other tire builders have sets of rain tires available. And the cars did practice in some rain on Thursday.

We will Tweet each hour starting at 5:30 pm local (ET), and do the wrap up blog post after the race finishes.