Audi 1–2–3 in Le Mans 24 Hours

Audi swept the podium in the 80th Le Mans 24, with the new hybrids taking the top two spots.
Audi 1–2–3 in Le Mans 24 Hours
Pedro Lamy, Patrick Bornhauser, and Julien Canal won GTE-Am in the #50 Larbre Corvette. (James Fish/The Epoch Times)
6/17/2012
Updated:
6/18/2012
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/TwoWinAudiWEB.jpg"><img class="wp-image-253270" title="TwoWinAudiWEB" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/TwoWinAudiWEB-676x450.jpg" alt="Audi's R18 e-tron quattro hybrids finished 1–2 in the 80th Le Mans 24 Hours race. (Audi Motorsport)" width="750" height="500"/></a>
Audi's R18 e-tron quattro hybrids finished 1–2 in the 80th Le Mans 24 Hours race. (Audi Motorsport)

Audi’s dreams came almost perfectly into reality in the 80th Le Mans 24 Hours race. Ideally the German factory team would have finished 1–2–3–4; they managed 1–2–3, a huge achievement after 24 hours of flat-out racing.

Lotterer, Benôit Tréluyer, and Marcel Fässler drove an almost flawless race, with just a bit of car-to-car contact and no mechanical failures in more than 3000 miles of competition. The #1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro hybrid’s flywheel-charged electric part-time all-wheel-drive system worked without a hitch, and the rest of the car was as reliable as ever.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/121212FourAudisKinedup.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-253301" title="WEC - 24h Le Mans 2012" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/121212FourAudisKinedup.jpg" alt="The four Audis line up to cross the finish line in formation. (Audi Motorsport)" width="450" height="300"/></a>
The four Audis line up to cross the finish line in formation. (Audi Motorsport)

Lotterer, Tréluyer, and Fässler were the defending champions; they won the 79th Le Mans 24 as well. A new generation of Le Mans heroes has started to solidify its legends.

“This was a race of the kind you can arguably experience only at Le Mans,” said Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich in a press release. “You should never rejoice too early at Le Mans, which was obvious again especially on Sunday noon.

“The whole world was already talking about a one-two-three-four victory and all of a sudden two of our cars had accidents almost simultaneously. That the squad repeatedly managed to repair the cars so quickly after the slips clearly speaks for Audi Sport Team Joest that can simply be banked on at Le Mans.

“On the whole, I can only take my hat off to the entire squad of Audi Sport that worked extremely hard for a year to make this triumph possible.”

“It was a very big challenge to develop a hybrid car in such a short time that is quick and able to hold up for 24 hours, he continued. ”This is a great day for Audi Sport, for Audi and for the e-tron quattro.”

The #2 R18 e-tron driven by Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Dindo Capello finished second, held back by a small driver error late in the race. The car worked perfectly; a tiny slip-up by Allan McNish cost the team the win, which certainly must sting, but the trio still drove an excellent race.

The tried and true #4 Audi R18 Ultra turbodiesel driven by Oliver Jarvis, Marco Bonanomi, and Mike Rockenfeller finished third, four laps behind the leaders.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/TotototyoWEB.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-253381" title="TotototyoWEB" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/TotototyoWEB.jpg" alt="Toyota's TS030 Hybrids ran up front and even led briefly before succumbing to collisions. (Toyota GmbH)" width="450" height="217"/></a>
Toyota's TS030 Hybrids ran up front and even led briefly before succumbing to collisions. (Toyota GmbH)

Toyota, Audi’s principal rival, saw both its TS030 Hybrids eliminated by accidents in the first quarter of the race. Anthony Davidson was rammed by a GTE-Am Ferrari five hours into the race. The cars flew and flipped before crashing down hard enough to break two of Davidson’s vertebrae. Davidson will be back behind the wheel in a few months, but his day was done.

Kaz Nakajima, impatient after waiting for the hour-long caution period caused by the Davidson wreck, tried to force his way through traffic and slammed into the Nissan DeltaWing, totally the Nissan and doing enough damage to the Toyota that it was in and out of the garage until it retired five hours later.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/DWingWEBBed.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-253376" title="DWingWEBBed" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/DWingWEBBed.jpg" alt="The unique Nissan DeltaWing ran well until it was run over by a Toyota. (Highcroft Racing)" width="450" height="182"/></a>
The unique Nissan DeltaWing ran well until it was run over by a Toyota. (Highcroft Racing)

The experimental DeltaWing ran decently, if not spectacularly, for the first six hours, though it lost 26 laps to a gearshift problem. The car’s drivers were waiting until morning to really unleash the car; sadly, no one got a chance to see how quickly the odd tricycle-like vehicle might have lapped.

P2 went to the American Starworks team in their HPD ARX-03b-Honda, finishing seventh overall, 25 laps behind the leaders.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/WEBBEDstrworks2.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-253266" title="WEBBEDstrworks" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/WEBBEDstrworks2.jpg" alt=" Enzo Potolicchio, Ryan Dalziel, and Tom Kimber-Smith in the #44 Starworks HPD-Honda, earned the P2 title. (James Fish/The Epoch Times)" width="450" height="134"/></a>
 Enzo Potolicchio, Ryan Dalziel, and Tom Kimber-Smith in the #44 Starworks HPD-Honda, earned the P2 title. (James Fish/The Epoch Times)

The driving team of Enzo Potolicchio, Ryan Dalziel, and Thomas Kimber-Smith and the Starworks crew delivered the perfect endurance race: no bobbles, no errors, no pit errors, steady quick laps, and of course, good luck, to have no mechanical failures and not get caught in others’ accidents. Some say luck favors the prepared, and the Starworks team was obviously completely ready to go all the way.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Webbed51Ferrari1.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-253264" title="Webbed51Ferrari" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Webbed51Ferrari1.jpg" alt="Giancarlo Fisichella, who wrecked the car, and co-drivers Gianni Bruni and Toni Vilander, drove the rebuilt #51 AF Corse Ferrari to a class win. (James Fish/The Epoch Times)" width="450" height="164"/></a>
Giancarlo Fisichella, who wrecked the car, and co-drivers Gianni Bruni and Toni Vilander, drove the rebuilt #51 AF Corse Ferrari to a class win. (James Fish/The Epoch Times)

GTE-Pro went to the #51 AF Corse Ferrari—not the one which the team brought to the track at the start of the week, though. After Giancarlo Fissichella destroyed the car on Wednesday, the team rebuilt it from a bare chassis, finishing late Friday evening. The drivers were figuring out how the new car worked during the race; and even with that handicap, they managed to run as fast and use less fuel that the competition. More important, the drivers avoided a replay of the Wednesday incident; they never pout a wheel wrong, and cruised to victory two laps ahead of the nearest rival. Fittingly, Fissichela drove the final stint.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/WEBBEdLarbre502.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-253273" title="WEBBEdLarbre50" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/WEBBEdLarbre502.jpg" alt="Pedro Lamy, Patrick Bornhauser, and Julien Canal won GTE-Am in the #50 Larbre Corvette. (James Fish/The Epoch Times)" width="450" height="179"/></a>
Pedro Lamy, Patrick Bornhauser, and Julien Canal won GTE-Am in the #50 Larbre Corvette. (James Fish/The Epoch Times)

GTE-Am came down to the final few minutes, as Pedro Lamy in the #50 Larbre Corvette turned in a series of blazing laps to catch Anthony Pons in the #67 IMSA Matmut Porsche RSR. After both cars pitted together 30 minutes from the finish, Lamy ate up huge chunks of time with every lap, erasing a 16-second gap in thirteen minutes catching the IMSA car five laps from the end..

The drama didn’t end there. Pedro Lamy was almost over his maximum driving time; he had to make a last-lap pit-stop to switch seats with Julian canal or risk being disqualified.  The IMSA Porsche couldn’t take advantage of this break, though; the car was stricken with a flat left rear tire three minutes from the end of the race.

Both cars had to hustle into the pits —the Porsche much more slowly—and hustle back out to get back on the track before the race ended. Both made it and were scored as running at the finish, but it was close.

Of the original 56 entrants, 35 were running at the finish, but two of these—The #74 Corvette Racing C6 ZR1 and the #17 Dome-Judd—were not classified as they didn’t complete the mandatory 70 percent of the winner’s distance.

Next: The Full Results

80th Le Mans 24 Hours

 

#

class

car

team

laps

gap

1

1

P1

Audi R18 e-tron quattro

Audi Sport Team Joest

378

 

2

2

P1

Audi R18 e-tron quattro

Audi Sport Team Joest

377

1 lap

3

4

P1

Audi R18 Ultra

Audi Sport North America

375

3 laps

4

12

P1

Lola B12/60 Coupe-Toyota

Rebellion Racing

367

11 laps

5

3

P1

Audi R18 Ultra

Audi Sport Team Joest

366

12 laps

6

22

P1

HPD ARX 03a-Honda

JRM

357

21 laps

7

44

P2

HPD ARX 03b-Honda

Starworks Motorsport

354

24 laps

8

46

P2

Oreca 03-Nissan

Thiriet by TDS Racing

353

25 laps

9

49

P2

Oreca 03-Nissan

Pecom Racing

352

26 laps

10

26

P2

Oreca 03-Nissan

Signatech Nissan

351

27 laps

11

13

P1

Lola B12/60 Coupe-Toyota

Rebellion Racing

350

28 laps

12

41

P2

Zytek Z11SN-Nissan

Greaves Motorsport

348

30 laps

13

25

P2

Oreca 03-Nissan

ADR-Delta

346

32 laps

14

35

P2

Morgan-Nissan

Oak Racing

341

37 laps

15

42

P2

Zytek Z11SN-Nissan

Greaves Motorsport

340

38 laps

16

23

P2

Oreca 03-Nissan

Signatech Nissan

340

2:47.469

17

51

GTE Pro

Ferrari 458 Italia

AF Corse

336

42 laps

18

59

GTE Pro

Ferrari 458 Italia

Luxury Racing

333

45 laps

19

97

GTE Pro

aston martin vantage v8

Aston Martin Racing

332

46 laps

20

50

GTE Am

Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1

Larbre Competition

329

49 laps

21

67

GTE AM

Porsche 911 RSR (997)

IMSA Performance Matmut

328

50 laps

22

71

GTE Pro

Ferrari 458 Italia

AF Corse

326

52 laps

23

73

GTE Pro

Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1

Corvette Racing

326

3:10.910

24

45

P2

Oreca 03-Nissan

Boutsen Ginion Racing

325

53 laps

25

57

GTE Am

Ferrari 458 Italia

Krohn Racing

323

55 laps

26

40

P2

Oreca 03-Judd

Race Performance

320

58 laps

27

79

GTE Am

Porsche 911 RSR (997)

Flying Lizard Motorsports

313

65 laps

28

70

GTE Am

Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1

Larbre Competition

309

69 laps

29

43

P2

Norma MP 2000-Judd

Extreme Limite Aric

308

70 laps

30

21

P1

HPD ARX 03a-Honda

Strakka Racing

303

75 laps

31

61

GTE Am

Ferrari 458 Italia

AF Corse-Waltrip

294

84 laps

32

83

GTE Am

Ferrari 458 Italia

JMB Racing

292

86 laps

33

55

GTE Am

Porsche 911 RSR (997)

JWA-Avila

290

88 laps

34

74

GTE Pro

Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1

Corvette Racing

215

163 laps

35

17

P1

Dome Judd

Pescarolo Team

203

175 laps

36

38

P2

Zytek Z11SN-Nissan

Jota

271

107 laps

37

33

P2

HPD ARX 03b-Honda

Level 5 Motorsports

240

138 laps

38

30

P2

Lola Judd

Status Grand Prix

239

139 laps

39

88

GTE Am

Porsche 911 RSR (997)

Team Felbermayr-Proton

222

156 laps

40

15

P1

Oak Pescarolo-Judd

Oak Racing

219

159 laps

41

66

GTE Pro

Ferrari 458 Italia

JMW Racing

204

174 laps

42

48

P2

Oreca 03-Nissan

Murphy Prototypes

196

182 laps

43

77

GTE Pro

Porsche 911 RSR (997)

Team Felbermayr-Proton

184

194 laps

44

75

GTE Am

Porsche 911 RSR (997)

Prospeed Competition

180

198 laps

45

31

P2

Lola B12/80 Coupe-Lotus

Lotus

155

223 laps

46

58

GTE Am

Ferrari 458 Italia

Luxury Racing

146

232 laps

47

24

P2

Morgan-Judd

Oak Racing

139

239 laps

48

7

P1

Toyota TS030 Hybrid

Toyota Racing

134

244 laps

49

80

GTE Pro

Porsche 911 RSR (997)

Flying Lizard Motorsports

114

264 laps

50

28

P2

Lola B12/80 Coupe-Nissan

Gulf Racing Middle East

92

286 laps

51

8

P1

Toyota TS030 Hybrid

Toyota Racing

82

296 laps

52

0

New Tech

Delta Wing Nissan

Highcroft Racing

75

303 laps

53

81

GTE Am

Ferrari 458 Italia

AF Corse

70

308 laps

54

99

GTE Am

Aston Martin Vantage V8

Aston Martin Racing

31

347 laps

55

16

P1

Pescarolo 03-Judd

Pescarolo Team

20

358 laps

56

29

P2

Lola B12/80 Coupe-Nissan

Gulf Racing Middle East

17

361 laps