Team Bentley after eight hours

Le Mans, 15th June 2003,00.00am... After eight hours of this year's Le Mans 24-hour race, Team Bentley's Speed 8 prototypes have lapped the entire field and are continuing to draw steadily away.

The cars have also continued to run fault-free with drivers being able to drive three consecutive stints on their Michelin slick tyres. Currently the number 7 car of Tom Kristensen, Dindo Capello and Guy Smith leads the number 8 car of Johnny Herbert, Mark Blundell and David Brabham by approximately 40 seconds.

Mark Blundell: "It's such a shame that our car lost so much time relative to our team-mates when the safety car came out, but this is Le Mans and sometimes that's just the way it goes. I was able to recover some of the time in my three stints and we've still a long way to go. In the meantime, it's good to have a lap over the quickest Audi."

Guy Smith: "I enjoyed doing a triple stint in the Bentley, the tyres felt near enough as good on the last lap as the first. I've been careful in the traffic because I know how easy it is to throw away the entire race on one errant backmarker. So far as the heat in the cockpit is concerned, you just don't think about it while you're driving. You only really notice it when you stop."