not permitted to be replaced during the course of a race. Just before 11pm another alternator problem took out the Buzzetta/Patrick team car too (from 4th) and Porsche's hopes of outright victory were gone. Yet JWA could not be complacent, as they were also down to one competitive Ford with two-thirds of the race still to run. Early in the second hour the second Howmet turbine had been in the pits for three hours fixing its rear suspension. Consequently, at 11pm it was disqualified for having not covered sufficient distance. The leading Howmet was also hobbled, running at 70% power, due to faulty fuel-control. Around midnight Dick Thompson hit oil at the Indianapolis corner, lost control and rolled the car. The Howmets never raced again. The rain returned about 2.30am, got heavier and stayed for the rest of the night. Servoz-Gavin bought the Matra in with the windscreen-wiper faulty again. The Matra crew could not access the motor and were considering retiring until Henri Pescarolo angrily jumped in and took off in the rain, still with the faulty wiper. At the 3am halfway point, the Ford (177 laps) had a comfortable 4-lap lead over the surprising next pair: the new Matra was scrapping with the 2-litre Alfa Romeo of Giunti/Galli. Meanwhile, Stommelen's delayed Porsche 908 was back on song and closing in fourth (170 laps). Fifth, on the same lap, was the Swiss Porsche 907 of Squadra Tartaruga with the Bianchi/Depailler Alpine (169 laps - back after falling to 15th to fix their exhaust) leading the Alfas of Facetti/Dini and Casoni/Biscaldi. The Cortanze/Vinatier Alpine had moved up to 9th ahead of the three Ferrari 275s of David Piper, NART and Scuderia Filipinetti. There were still 30 cars classified as runners. The first two Alfas still led the Index of Performance, narrowly ahead of the Andruet/Nicolas Alpine and the Swiss Porsche. Soon after 5am Sylvain Garant aquaplaned and lost control of the big Corvette at the end of the pit straight in the rain. It slammed into the track-walls on both the left and right sides, strewing metal, wood and earth across the track. The injured Garant was taken to hospital. At 4.30am, the 3rd-place Alfa Romeo was delayed in the pits which gave Matra the chance to also pit, losing 3 laps and finally fix the wiper-motor. Just before dawn the Guichet/Jabouille Alpine, that had been fighting back from the