Russian Age lose Ferrari.

The Russian Age Racing #61 Ferrari 550 Maranello, with the all British driver line-up of Nigel Smith, Tim Sugden and Christian Vann, was retired from the Le Mans 24 Hours in the ninth hour after a bizarre accident caused the engine to overheat.

Vann was at the wheel of the car, coming towards the end of his second stint, when the bonnet flew off on the Mulsanne Straight. This not only hit and damaged the rear wing, but the radiator cowling then came off and pulled the radiators with it. Pipes became disconnected, including those between the radiators and the engine, and with water pouring out the engine quickly overheated.

"I broke it again!" Vann said. "It was at almost exactly the same place on the Mulsanne as my puncture the other day and was almost as scary. The bonnet flew off, water dumped itself all over the place, including on the tyres, and I then had to keep it all together to bring it back to the pits. It's a real shame about what's happened. It's the fourth time I've been here and the first time I've ever retired."

Team Principal Rob Schirle added a few further thoughts about the disappointment for the team.

"We had just got onto the lead page [of the timing classification] and were 14th overall," he said. "On Christian's in lap the bonnet pins all broke simultaneously which set off the chain of events leading to the retirement. We could have had a top six place, which was our aim, as apart from that the car was really strong."