Peugeot's mechanical woes let Audi clean up in Le Mans

Published on Monday 14 June 2010 00:23

AUDI claimed a dramatic podium clean sweep at Le Mans at the end of a 24-hour race in which Peugeot starkly demonstrated that raw pace alone is no guarantee of success at the legendary endurance event.

The number nine Audi R15 TDI of Mike Rockenfeller, Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas enjoyed a faultless run from fifth place on the grid to secure the German manufacturer's ninth win at La Sarthe in 11 years. With German driver Bernhard at the wheel, the number nine Audi crossed the line at the end of 24 gruelling hours having completed 397 laps, in doing so setting a new distance record at the event. Second place went to the number eight Audi of Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer while the number seven car of Scotland's Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Dindo Capello was third.

Home favourites Peugeot had set the pace in practice and qualifying in the past week and had the legs on the Audis in the race but mechanical gremlins struck hard to derail their charge. The number three 908 HDi of Pedro Lamy, Sebastien Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud, which had started from pole, was the first to retire after sustaining suspension damage while running second on Saturday. Then, as darkness fell over the 78th running of this race late on Saturday, the number one car of Marc Gene, Alexander Wurz and Anthony Davidson took to the pits with an alternator problem that took four laps to rectify and dropped the trio to seventh.

That left the all-French trio of Franck Montagny, Stephane Sarrazin and Nicolas Minassian to carry the fight into the small hours in the number two Peugeot before disaster struck early yesterday morning. With 16 hours of the race completed, flames licked out of the back of the 908 to signal the end of its race, leaving Audi to take over at the front for the first time all weekend. Despite its earlier woes, the number one Peugeot remained the class of the field.

But Peugeot's litany of mechanical woe was destined to have one more entry, with Wurz forced to retire the number one car after battling past the number eight Audi of Fassler, Lotterer and Treluyer for second place. A puff of smoke from the back of the Peugeot after nearly 22 hours spelled the end of the French squad's hopes of repeating last year's victory, leaving the Audis to fill the podium. There will nevertheless be a tinge of disappointment down at Audi after the manufacturer's lead car, driven by 2008 victors McNish, Kristensen and Capello, saw its hopes of victory ended when Kristensen span off four hours into the race.

Former Formula 1 world champion Nigel Mansell crashed as his first attempt at the famous track lasted only 18 minutes on Saturday. Mansell, 56, spun in his Ginetta-Zytek and hit the security barrier before the Indianapolis turn. He spent several minutes in his car but was conscious when evacuated in an ambulance, escaping escaped with "a bump on the head," according to organisers.