Audi overcame two crashes and held off a charging Peugeot to win the 24 Hours
of Le Mans on Sunday, giving the German carmaker its 10th title at the renowned
endurance race.
Andre Lotterer, Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer drove
the Audi No. 2 to victory, moving Audi moved into sole possession of second
place for most victories at Le Mans behind Porsche with 16 titles. Ferrari is
third with nine.
Audi No. 2 completed 355 laps in 24 hours, leading the
Peugeot No. 9 driven by Simon Pagenaud, Pedro Lamy and Sebastien Bourdais by
13.854 seconds.
The final 30 minutes were a fitting end to what has been a spectacular race,
with the #2 Audi proving equal to everything Peugeot could throw at it - and
even coming close to lap record pace in the final 20 minutes. With both
cars needing to pit one final time, Pagenaud in the Peugeot upped his pace and
regularly dipped under the 3m30s bracket, only to see Lotterer in the Audi
respond by going even faster.
Nicolas Minassian ensured Peugeot took the bottom two steps of the
podium, finishing third in the #8, while Marc Gene finished fourth in the sister
#7 car.
Nicolas Lapierre finished fifth in the #10 Matmut Peugeot, ahead
of Neel Jani in the sole surviving petrol LMP1 car, the #12 Rebellion Lola.
Audi No. 2 was under heavy pressure from three Peugeots throughout Sunday as
Audi's chances of defending its title came to rest on just one car after two
crashed out Saturday.
Defending champion Mike Rockenfeller was in second
place in the eighth hour when he tried to pass the slower Ferrari No. 71 driven
by Robert Kauffman. Rockenfeller's Audi No. 1 was bumped by the Ferrari and slid
off the track in darkness to smash into a guardrail, forcing the deployment of
the safety car for the second time in the race. The German driver was able to
get out of the cockpit on his own before the wrecked car caught fire. He picked
up cuts and grazes in the incident but was otherwise unhurt.
Audi also
lost a car in a spectacular crash when Allan McNish's Audi No. 3 collided with a
Ferrari barely 50 minutes after the start. McNish, in second place, was
attempting to overtake the slower Ferrari No. 58 driven by Anthony Beltoise -
who was trailing by two laps - when the cars came together resulting in the Audi
smashing into a tire wall and breaking into pieces.
Olivier Lombard took an emphatic victory in LMP2 for the #41 Greaves
Motorsport Zytek-Nissan, which finished with a lead of more than seven laps.
Soheil Ayari in the #26 Signatech Nissan took the flag in second in LMP2,
less than one lap clear of the #33 Level 5 Motorsports Lola-HPD in third.
Antonio Garcia continued to stretch the lead of the #73 Corvette at the head
of the GTE Pro field, finishing more than one lap clear of the #51 AF Corse
Ferrari. Third went to the #56 BMW M3 GT.
The #50 Larbre Competition
Corvette meanwhile took victory by just over one lap in the GTE Am class.
Final Positions
Pos Car Team Class Gap
1. #2 Audi Audi Sport Team Joest (LMP1)
2. #9 Peugeot Team Peugeot Total (LMP1) + 13.854
3. #8 Peugeot Peugeot Sport Total (LMP1) + 2 Laps
4. #7 Peugeot Peugeot Sport Total (LMP1) + 4 Laps
5. #10 Peugeot Team Oreca-Matmut (LMP1) + 16 Laps
6. #12 Lola Rebellion Racing (LMP1) + 17 Laps
7. #22 Lola Kronos Racing (LMP1) + 27 Laps
8. #41 Zytek Greaves Motorsport (LMP2) + 29 Laps
9. #26 Oreca Signatech Nissan (LMP2) + 35 Laps
10. #33 Lola Level 5 Motorsports (LMP2) + 36 Laps
11. #73 Corvette Corvette Racing (GTEP) + 41 Laps
12. #36 HPD RML (LMP2) + 41 Laps
13. #51 Ferrari AF Corse (GTEP) + 41 Laps
14. #49 OAK OAK Racing (LMP2) + 42 Laps
15. #56 BMW BMW Motorsport (GTEP) + 42 Laps
16. #77 Porsche Team Felbermayr-Proton (GTEP) + 43 Laps
17. #76 Porsche IMSA Performance Matmut (GTEP) + 44 Laps
18. #80 Porsche Flying Lizard Motorsports(GTEP) + 45 Laps
19. #40 Oreca Race Performance (LMP2) + 51 Laps
20. #50 Corvette Larbre Competition (GTEA) + 53 Laps
21. #70 Porsche Larbre Competition (GTEA) + 54 Laps
22. #65 Lotus Lotus Jetalliance (GTEP) + 60 Laps
23. #75 Porsche Prospeed Competition (GTEP) + 62 Laps
24. #66 Ferrari JMW Motorsport (GTEP) + 65 Laps
25. #35 OAK OAK Racing (LMP2) + 67 Laps
26. #68 Ford Robertson Racing (GTEA) + 70 Laps
27. #83 Ferrari JMB Racing (GTEA) + 83 Laps
28. #44 Norma Extr (LMP2) + 108 Laps
29. #16 Pescarolo Pescarolo Team (LMP1) Retired
30. #55 BMW BMW Motorsport (GTEP) Retired
31. #74 Corvette Corvette Racing (GTEP) Retired
32. #81 Porsche Flying Lizard Motorsports(GTEA) Retired
33. #48 Oreca Team Oreca-Matmut (LMP2) Retired
34. #63 Porsche Proton Competition (GTEA) Retired
35. #13 Lola Rebellion Racing (LMP1) Retired
36. #61 Ferrari AF Corse (GTEA) Retired
37. #59 Ferrari Luxury Racing (GTEP) Retired
38. #71 Ferrari AF Corse (GTEP) Retired
39. #88 Porsche Team Felbermayr-Proton (GTEP) Retired
40. #42 HPD Strakka Racing (LMP2) Retired
41. #60 Aston Gulf AMR Middle East (GTEA) Retired
42. #39 Lola PeCom Racing (LMP2) Retired
43. #89 Ferrari Hankook Team Farnbacher (GTEP) Retired
44. #58 Ferrari Luxury Racing (GTEP) Retired
45. #64 Lotus Lotus Jetalliance (GTEP) Retired
46. #57 Ferrari Krohn Racing (GTEA) Retired
47. #24 OAK OAK Racing (LMP1) Retired
48. #1 Audi Audi Sport Team Joest (LMP1) Retired
49. #5 Oreca Hope Racing (LMP1) Retired
50. #62 Ferrari CRS Racing (GTEA) Retired
51. #15 OAK OAK Racing (LMP1) Retired
52. #79 Aston Jota (GTEP) Retired
53. #20 Zytek Quifel-ASM Team (LMP1) Retired
54. #3 Audi Audi Sport North America (LMP1) Retired
55. #007 AMR-One Aston Martin Racing (LMP1) Retired
56. #009 AMR-One Aston Martin Racing (LMP1) Retired
