Audi remain course for their seventh Le Mans victory in the last eight years - despite being down to one car.
After Mike Rockenfeller crashed out just 90 minutes into the legendary 24-hour race yesterday, the long-time leaders followed suit today.
Dindo Capello, along with co-drivers Allan McNish and record seven-times winner Tom Kristensen, had been in front for all but the run to the first corner when disaster struck after 16 and a half hours.
Capello's 43rd birthday today will be one he will want to forget as a nut broke on the left-rear wheel of the Audi, a part of the car the team had had problems with in an earlier pit stop.
That sent the tyre hurtling off as the Italian approached the high-speed corner of Indianapolis at 160mph.
Capello's car then spun through 360 degrees before slamming into a tyre wall and into retirement.
That handed the lead to the reigning champions of Emanuele Pirro, Frank Biela and Marco Werner, and with 150 minutes remaining in the endurance classic the trio held a six-lap lead over Peugeot.
Despite closing in on victory, Italian Pirro found little solace in being handed an apparent triumph.
"I always say the main competition here is the circuit," said the 45-year-old.
"You have to have luck. You can lose it many times, but there's little you can do to win it.
"I've won it four times, and the only smile that counts is the last smile."
Capello, meanwhile, was left merely thanking his lucky stars he was uninjured following his crash.
"I was lucky to be in an Audi due to the safety of the car because after such a big accident I am in one piece," said Capello.
"At the moment, that's enough, because if I think of the race I have no words to express my feelings."
The Peugeots, back in competition for the first time in 14 years, were running second and third around the 13.629km circuit via Nicolas Minassian and Sebastien Bourdais.
The GT1 class was still an extremely close affair, with the works Aston Martins of Rickard Rydell and Caspar Elgaard sandwiching the Corvette of Ron Fellows, with less than three laps separating the trio.
In LM P2 only two cars remained, with the British trio of Allen Timpany, Chris Buncombe and Bill Binnie - although the latter now lives in America - 22 laps clear in their Lola-Zytek.
The GT2s were headed by the Porsche 911 of American Patrick Long, with their nearest rival six laps down.
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