Mario Suffers Crash Early In Rain-Soaked Le Mans Race

Mario Andretti escaped injury when his car slammed into a wall during the wet 24 hour of Le Mans, but the American lost ground Saturday in his bid to add the endurance race to his list of victories.

Denmark’s Johnny Nielsen and Germany’s Thomas Bscher and Jochen Mass were driving a McLaren BMW F1 GTR in the top spot. Ater 8 hours they covered 95 laps or 1292 kilometers (803 miles) on the 13.6-kilometer (8.45-mile) circuit. They led since the second hour of the race.

The Courage-Porsche C34 in which Andretti was sharing the driving with Frenchmen Bob Wollek and Eric Helary was in the top three until the mishap four hours into the race.

Andretti skidded while coming up behind a car, spun and hit a wall. He was second at the time, just over a minute off the lead. He made it back to the pits and gave the driving over to Helary.