Chrysler Team ORECA was forced to retire its highest-placed Chrysler LMP at 0230 after a breakage in the valve train caused terminal damage to the engine. Stephane Sarrazin was driving the car in third position overall and was preparing for a routine stop.

"I had a bad feeling on my in lap so I radioed to my engineer and they decided to check out the car," said Sarrazin. "Until that point it was running really well although we were not pushing, hoping to make it to the end."

The two other Chrysler LMPs are still running in the top ten positions overall. Ni Amorim, Seiji Ara and Masahiko Kondo are running in eighth position, while Pedro Lamy, Karl Wendlinger and Olivier Beretta are tenth. Both cars had broken starter motors which lost them time.