Casse running in formation. Then came the Fasto of Brosselin and Chantrel's Schneider rounding out the top-ten. Clement had lapped the whole field after only twelve laps (the Bentley team had calculated it would take thirteen laps) and made his first pit-stop and driver-change at 7pm with that comfortable lead. The other two Bentleys made theirs a quarter-hour later after themselves putting the fourth-placed Ariès a lap behind. Unlike the well-drilled Bentley team, Laly took six minutes to put his hood down and away. De Marmier's Salmson could not be restarted after the first pit-stops and was later disqualified for being push-started. It had been a routine race until about 9.40pm, in the late twilight. The White House crash Pierre Tabourin's Th. Schneider had been delayed early in the race. Pushing to make up time, he was put off-line by an overtaking car and spun at the tricky Maison Blanche ("White House") curves approaching the pit straight. The car hit the barriers and ended up broadside in the middle of the road, out of sight of the following drivers in the growing darkness. The S-sequence of curves was narrow and fast with the view of the exit obscured by the distinctive white farmhouse that gave the section its name. The first to arrive was the leader, Callingham, at high speed. Trying to avoid the car he slid off to the right into the roadside ditch at over 70 mph (110 kp/h), hitting with such force that the driver was thrown out into the middle of the road. George Duller arrived next, and seeing the danger, jumped over his steering wheel out of the car just before the impact. It slammed into Callingham's car, which rolled and left his on top of it. Subsequently, the other Schneider, one of the small Ariès and a SARA also suffered damage in the pile-up. Duller had staggered off dazed to warn other drivers, before realising he was on the other side of the roadside hedge and couldn't be seen. When Sammy Davis arrived on the scene he was alerted that all was not as it should be. Even tens of metres back up the road its surface was strewn with gravel and debris. and so entered the corner slower than would normally have been the case. Although already decelerating, he came around the corner to find the road completely blocked and insufficient time to