Audi Outlasts Peugeot to Win Le Mans

(L-R) Audi #9's drivers Mike Rockenfeller, Romain Dumas, and Timo Bernhard celebrate with head of Audi Sport Director Wolfang Ullrich (2ndL)after winning the 78th 24 Hours of Le Mans. (Fred Tanneau/AFP/Getty Images)

In the old fable, the tortoise won the race against the hare. At Le Mans, France on June 12 and 13, Audi and Peugeot acted out the modern version.

The Peugeots were faster by far, but the Audis were more durable, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world’s ultimate endurance race. Through 24 hours of racing, the Peugeots dropped out one after another until finally none were left.

The Audis not only lasted; the Audis finished 1–2–3, taking their ninth Le Mans win in eleven years and avenging Peugeot’s 1–2–6 finish at Le Mans the year before.  

Mike Rockenfeller, co-driver of the winning #9 Audi, joined the very rare company of drivers who have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona the same year.

“It’s unbelievable,” he told SPEED-TV. “What can I say? I didn’t expect it, like this year in Daytona, where I didn’t expect to win.

“I think we did a really good job, a clean job, and of course we were lucky that our main competitor had so many problems. They were so strong, and even so, we never gave up, we stuck to our plan.

an absolute distance record at 3,362.1 miles; the winners traveled farther in 24 hours than any car in the past 78 years.

“Finally after the struggles I had here at Le Mans, I won Le Mans.”

Rockenfeller said he never lost hope, even though he knew the Peugeots were much faster than the Audis.

“I had seen how it worked in 2008 when Tom, Allan, and Dindo [Audi drivers Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish, and Dindo Capello] won with a car which was basically slower. We had the same target and the same challenge, and we made it again.”

Eight-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, who co-drove the third–place Audi, said, “It’s absolutely splendid. Of course, you can say we are a little but lucky but we were prepared to go racing, with the set-up from Thursday night, and we have been doing that speed and that pace for the 24 hours.

“It’s Le Mans, and for any driver, it’s the driver’s dream to win this, because it is the ultimate test for man and machine.”

A Nightmare for Peugeot

Peugeot started out owning the first four spots on the grid. By the end of the race, Peugeot didn’t even have a car on the lead lap. As Simon Pagenaud, driving the #3 Peugeot, told SPEED, “It was a dream; now it is a nightmare.”

It was not an easy win for Audi. With three hours to go, it seemed the flying #1 Peugeot of Alexander Wurz, Marc Gene, and Anthony Davidson would catch the #9 Audi of Mike Rockenfeller, Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas with just a few laps to go, leading to a last-lap shootout which either team could win.

Instead, with just over two hours left in the race, the #1 Peugeot coughed, spewed a cloud of blue smoke, and emitted a sound like marbles in a blender.

Even then Peugeot didn’t surrender. Loic Duval in the #4 Oreca Peugeot pushed hard to catch the Audi of Dindo Capello, to at least take the last step on the podium. And with just over an hour to go, the #4 Peugeot shot a huge plume of flame and expired.

When he saw his last car spit flame and expire, Oreca Race Director Hugues De Chaunac told SPEED-TV, “It is too unfortunate for Peugeot. I know how they have worked. To lose four cars—I cannot believe it. At midnight two Peugoets are leading. At 2 o’clock, you have no Peugeots. I can’t believe it.”

The drivers had pushed the car so hard it expired. But really, they had no choice. Had they eased off, they would have lost anyway.

By contrast, the Audis performed flawlessly. They performed as Audis used to, making up for last year’s somewhat sloppy display. By and large the drivers drove sensibly, and the cars never faltered mechanically. The Audis might not have been as fast as the Peugeots, but the Audis weren’t too fast. In the end, the Peugeots tried to go too fast and paid a heavy price.

“A perfect team job” said Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, Director of Audi Motorsport. “A victory is always sweet. The bad thing is, there is always a loser,” expressing his com-passion for the disappointed Peugeot teams.

Le Mans proved too tough for many cars this year. More cars had retired by mid-morning than retired in the whole of last year’s race.

Attrition

More than half of the fifty-six car field failed to finish, including the Risi Competizione Ferrari which won Le Mans the last two years, and the usually bulletproof Corvette Racing ZR1s. The Highcroft ARX-01c also broke down late in the race, an extremely rare occurrence.

The high attrition rate gave a lot of teams which might otherwise have been back in the field, a chance to compete for class wins.

The Strakka team captured the LMP2 trophy with its on speed and reliability; they didn’t need Highcroft to fail, to win the class.

“A fantastic team effort from everyone involved, said Strakka driver Danny Watts. “To bounce back from what happened at Spa a couple months ago and to come here and win, is just fantastic.”

“My seventh time, only the second time I’ve finished,” said his teammate Jonny Kane. “Second last year and one better this time. Strakka have put together an amazing car .Not one single problem. The guys worked so hard to get us here. I ‘m just glad we delivered for them.”

The GT1 winner, the ten-year-old Larbre Saleen S7R, certainly benefitted by the retirement of the three-car Matech Ford GT team.

And in GT2, the Team Felbermayr Proton Porsche was fast and reliable, but would never have topped the GT2 podium if the Corvettes and Risi Ferrari had not broken down.

“It was an unreal race,” said Felbermayr driver Mark Lieb. “There were so many incidents and accident. In the beginning we weren’t there—we had no speed—but then in the night we were there. We could follow the Corvettes and Ferraris The cart was fantastic to drive in the night.”

Perhaps part of the cause for the high rate of attrition was the pace; this was the fastest 24 Hours of Le Mans in history. The race set an absolute distance record at 3,362.1 miles; the winners traveled farther in 24 hours than any car in the past 78 years.

78th 24 Hours of Le Mans
	#	Team	Class	Gap	status
1	9	Audi Sport North America-Audi R15 TDI	LMP1	397 L	running
2	8	Audi Sport Team Joest-Audi R15 TDI	LMP1	+ 1 L	running
3	7	Audi Sport Team Joest-Audi R15 TDI	LMP1	+ 3 L	running
4	6	AIM Team Oreca Matmut-Oreca 01 - AIM	LMP1	+ 29 L	running
5	42	Strakka Racing-HPD ARX.01	LMP2	+ 31 L	running
6	007	Aston Martin Racing-Lola Aston Martin	LMP1	+ 32 L	running
7	35	OAK Racing-Pescarolo - Judd	LMP2	+ 37 L	running
8	25	RML-Lola HPD Coupe	LMP2	+ 40 L	running
9	24	OAK Racing-Pescarolo - Judd	LMP2	+ 57 L	running
10	41	Team Bruichladdich-Ginetta - Zytek 09S	LMP2	+1'39.616	running
11	77	Team Felbermayr Proton-Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	LMGT2	+ 60 L	running
12	89	Hankook Team Farnbacher-Ferrari F430 GT	LMGT2	+ 61 L	running
13	50	Larbre Competition-Saleen S7R	LMGT1	+ 67 L	running
14	97	BMS Scuderia Italia SPA-Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	LMGT2	+ 70 L	running
15	72	Luc Alphand Aventures-Corvette C6.R	LMGT1	+ 71 L	running
16	95	AF Corse SRL-Ferrari F430 GT	LMGT2	+ 74 L	running
17	76	IMSA Performance Matmut-Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	LMGT2	+ 76 L	running
18	28	Race Performance AG-Radical SR9 - Judd	LMP2	+1'31.736	running
19	78	BMW Motorsport-BMW M3	LMGT2	+ 78 L	running
20	40	Quifel - ASM Team-Ginetta - Zytek 09S	LMP2	+ 80 L	running
21	75	Prospeed Competition-Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	LMGT2	+ 81 L	running
22	52	Young Driver AMR-Aston Martin DBR9	LMGT1	+ 86 L	running
23	37	Gerard Welter-WR Zytek	LMP2	+ 89 L	running
24	88	Team Felbermayr Proton-Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	LMGT2	+ 94 L	running
25	26	Highcroft Racing-HPD ARX.01	LMP2	+ 102 L	running
26	39	KSM-Lola Judd	LMP2	+ 106 L	running
27	85	Spyker Squadron-Spyker C8 Laviolette	LMGT2	+ 118 L	running
28	11	Drayson Racing-Lola Judd Coupe	LMP1	+ 144 L	running
DNF	1	Team Peugeot Total-Peugeot 908 HDi - FAP	LMP1		retired
DNF	2	Team Peugeot Total-Peugeot 908 HDi - FAP	LMP1		retired
DNF	3	Peugeot Sport Total-Peugeot 908 HDi - FAP	LMP1		retired
DNF	4	Team Oreca Matmut-Peugeot 908 HDi - FAP	LMP1		retired
DNF	5	Beechdean Mansell-Ginetta - Zytek 09S	LMP1		retired
DNF	12	Rebellion Racing-Lola Rebellion Coupe	LMP1		retired
DNF	13	Rebellion Racing-Lola Rebellion Coupe	LMP1		retired
DNF	14	Kolles-Audi R10 TDI	LMP1		retired
DNF	15	Kolles-Audi R10 TDI	LMP1		retired
DNF	19	Michael Lewis/Autocon-Lola AER	LMP1		retired
DNF	29	Racing Box Srl-Lola Judd Coupe	LMP2		retired
DNF	38	Pegasus Racing-Norma Judd	LMP2		retired
DNF	008	Signature Plus-Lola Aston Martin	LMP1		retired
DNF	009	Aston Martin Racing-Lola Aston Martin	LMP1		retired
DNF	60	Matech Competition-Ford GT Matech	LMGT1		retired
DNF	61	Matech Competition-Ford GT Matech	LMGT1		retired
DNF	63	Corvette Racing-Corvette C6 ZR1	LMGT2		retired
DNF	64	Corvette Racing-Corvette C6 ZR1	LMGT2		retired
DNF	69	JLOC-Lamborghini Murcielago	LMGT1		retired
DNF	70	Marc VDS Racing-Ford GT Matech	LMGT1		retired
DNF	73	Luc Alphand Aventures-Corvette C6.R	LMGT1		retired
DNF	79	BMW Motorsport-BMW M3	LMGT2		retired
DNF	80	Flying Lizard Motorsports-Porsche 997 GT3 RSR	LMGT2		retired
DNF	81	Jaguar RSR-Jaguar XKR GT2	LMGT2		retired
DNF	82	Risi Competizione-Ferrari F430 GT	LMGT2		retired
DNF	83	Risi Competizione-Ferrari F430 GT	LMGT2		retired
DNF	92	JMW Motorsport-Aston Martin Vantage	LMGT2		retired
DNF	96	AF Corse SRL-Ferrari F430 GT	LMGT2		retired