Le Mans, June 15: The two Bentley sports cars driven by Rinaldo Capello and Johnny Herbert led the Le Mans 24 hours race as it began at 1400 gmt. The number 7 and 8 Bentleys led from the flag as the classic sports car race began at Le Mans on Saturday (June 14). Behind them came the Audi Sport Japan car driven by Denmark's Jan Magnussen and the Audi Sport UK car with Germany's Frank Biela aboard. Forty-nine cars took the start, ranging from prototypes to modified TVRs and Corvettes. They will try to race for 24 hours with stops for fuel, repairs and driver changes. Three drivers are nominated for each car, but they do not all have to take part. As the rules state no driver is allowed to drive more than 14 hours in total, it is possible for just two active drivers to complete the race. After two and a half hours the Capello Bentley was still in the lead but the Audi Sport Japan car was in second place just under one minute and thirty seconds behind. The second Bentley was in third with the Champion racing Audi, driven by Stefan Johansson, in fourth.


The Audi Sport UK car driven by Mika Salo and Germany's Frank Biela dropped out early after ill-advisedly trying to run extra laps on a low fuel load. It ran out of fuel and stopped out on the track.


Leading positions in the Le Mans 24-Hour endurance race : 1. Rinaldo Capello (Italy) - Bentley 38 laps Guy Smith (Britain) Tom Kristensen (Denmark) 2. Jan Magnussen (Denmark) - Audi Sport Japan 1:29.317 behind Seiji Ara (Japan) Marco Werner (Germany) 3. Johnny Herbert (Britain) - Bentley Mark Blundell (Britain) David Brabham (Australia) 4. J.J.Lehto (Finland) - Champions Racing Emmanuelle Pirro (Italy) Stefan Johansson (Sweden) 5. Jan Lammers (Netherlands) - Racing for Holland John Bosch (Netherlands) Andy Wallace (Britain) 6. Jean-Christophe Bouillon (France) - Pescarolo Sport Frank Lagorce (France)


Bureau Report