Except for Louveau's Delage, all the leading cars were now running under duress: aside from Chinetti's clutch, Gérard's Delage was streaming oil-smoke, the Fraser-Nash had lost its clutch and having fuel-feed issues and Maréchal's Aston Martin was losing its brakes. The last was the most serious and, ultimately, tragic: at 1pm the Aston Martin's brakes failed completely coming into the Maison Blanche curves. In a violent crash, the car rolled, the engine was torn away and the roof crushed. Pierre Maréchal was immediately taken to hospital in a critical condition but died the next day from spinal injuries.