Having locked out the front row, the Dyson Lolas were unable to maintain their strong qualifying pace against the Audis, holding them off in first and third until the first round of pit stops when they were jumped.
Nonetheless, they proved reliable enough to cross the line two and four laps behind the Audis, with Chris Dyson and Guy Smith leading Butch Leitzinger and James Weaver.
Although most were expecting once again that the Penske Porsches would destroy its rivals in the LMP2 class, reliability woes would come to haunt the RS Sypder, with the ever dependable Intersport Lola of Liz Halliday and Clint Field duly taking advantage.
Good fortune and patchy reliability for the Penske Porsche pair of Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr meant Halliday and Field went into the race with a one point lead, even if there was little dispute as to who drove the faster car.
It was a lead Intersport were set to lose too when Maassen and Luhr stormed into the lead of the class and third overall following Romain Dumas’ and Timo Bernhard’s retirement with accident damage.
However, with just a few minutes remaining, the Penske Porsche was in the pit lane with a blown engine, leaving them to watch helplessly as Halliday and Field streamed past to take the class win.
"This one's for the team," said Halliday. "They are the ones who keep this Lola going around forever. Slow and steady wins the race has been our motto. We know we can't keep pace with the Porsches but they had some problems today that played into our favor. Great luck today."
However, their win, which also makes Halliday the most coveted female to compete in the series, only gives them a five point championship lead as Maassen and Luhr were still classified in second place.
Corvette Racing duly turned their GT1 pole position into victory, with Olivier Beretta And Oliver Gavin claiming their second win in a row in a faultless display of driving.
