The second round of refuelling stops led to the first driver changes. Anthony Davidson got into the no. 7 Peugeot while Stéphane Sarrazin took up the running in no. 8 after the first third of the Imola 6 Hours.
The first driver changes, Davidson for Bourdais, Sarrazin for Montagny, Bernhard for Fässler and Kristensen for McNish between laps 56 and 60 led to the first leadership change. Bourdais overshot his pit and lost precious seconds handing the lead to the no. 8 908.
In the petrol-engined scrap, Neel Jani (no. 12 Rebellion Racing, Lola B10/60–Toyota coupe) leads his team-mate Jean-Christophe Boullion in no.13 despite a quick off.
Mathias Beche took over from his team-mate Jody Firth in the no. 46 TDS Racing l’Oreca 03 – Nissan. He has almost a minute’s lead in the LM P2 category from Olivier Lombard (no. 41 Greaves Motorsport, Zytek Z11SN – Nissan).
In Formula Le Mans, Patrick Simon (no. 95 Pegasus Racing) is still in front from Jens Petersen (no. 93 Genoa Racing n°93) who is fighting his way back to the front.
The two nos n°55 and 56 BMW M3s still fill the first two places in LM GTE Pro with Jörg Müller and Dirk Werner leading Gianmaria Bruni (no. 51 AF Corse, Ferrari F458 Italia), who is going pedal to the metal to close the gap to the two BMW Motorsport cars.
Finally, in LM GTE Am, Raymond Narac (no. 67 IMSA Performance Matmut, Porsche 911 RSR) has only 2 seconds in hand over Gabriele Gardel (no. 50 Larbre Compétition, Corvette C6-ZR1 n°50).
Category leaders:
LM P1 : Stéphane Sarrazin / Franck Montagny (Peugeot Sport Total, Peugeot 908 n°8)
LM P2 : Mathias Bèche / Jody Firth / Pierre Thiriet (TDS Racing, Oreca 03 – Nissan n°46)
FLM : Patrick Simon / Mirco Schultis / Julien Schell (Pegasus Racing n°95)
LM GTE Pro : Jörg Müller / Augusto Farfus (BMW Motorsport, BMW M3 n°55)
LM GTE Am : Raymond Narac / Nicolas Armindo (IMSA Performance Matmut, Porsche 911 RSR n°67)