Audi upsets Peugeot with sweeping victory at 24 Hours of Le Mans

LMP1 podium: class and overall winners Mike Rockenfeller, Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard celebrate with Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, second place Andre Lotterer, Marcel Faessler and Benoit Treluyer, third place Tom Kristensen, Rinaldo Capello and Allan McNish -

Team Audi Sport's three R15 TDI finish first, second and third

A stunning upset at the 24-hours Le Mans race this weekend resulted in Audi monopolizing the podium and claiming the top three spots in the race.

For Peugeot, the results could not have been worse - none of its cars finished the race. The heavily-favored Team Peugeot had claimed pole position, along with the second and third starting positions with its three 908 Hdi FAP racers. A fourth 908 from Team Oreca held the number four spot. All four cars broke down during the race and had to be retired.

Overall victory went to the three Audi Sport R15 TDIs - with drivers Romain Dumas, Timo Bernhard and Mike Rockenfeller driving the winning car by completing 397 laps around the Circuit de la Sarthe track at Le Mans.

The Pegeot 908 Hdi FAP sports a V12 diesel that makes it quicker around the track than the V10 diesel-powered R15 TDI. But Le Mans is an endurance race and reliability proved to be the most decisive factor this weekend.

Peugeot takes pole at 78th Le Mans 24 Hours
(15 comments)
BMW M3 GT2 Art Car will Contest 24 Hours of Le Mans
(5 comments)

Add a Comment

Comments (12)

newest first oldest first

Subscribe to comments

PawL

Congrats! Hope to see Audi in F1 in 2011.

June 14, 2010 8:01 am

report abuse | reply

Lenco

Congrats to Audi! It was a great Race! But I'm also sorry for Peugot! They did a good job! But at the end Audi proved to have the better cars!

June 14, 2010 8:17 am

report abuse | reply

MTC

I feel so bad for Peugeot, they got 3 cars with an exploded turbo and another one with suspension that torn right out of the carbon tub Audi won it due to their reliability

June 14, 2010 9:09 am

report abuse | reply

Kepex

Whoops.. Talk about the French reliability.. :P

June 14, 2010 10:25 am

report abuse | reply

McNamara68

Audi vs. Peugeot, my god Le Mans has fallen off. Jaguar, MB, Ferrari, and Prosche all need works teams in the P1 class.

June 14, 2010 10:49 am

report abuse | reply

DearS

Like I said, lol, Audi picked a different set of advantages. I think Audi has better cooling for the engine, but that also makes the car less aerodynamic and so slower. It paid off though.

June 14, 2010 1:09 pm

report abuse | reply

Mikeado

It was tortoise vs. hare more than anything else. Peugeot ran off and broke down, whilst the calm and solid Audis (which for some reason had a cleft lip this year) went on to victory. I think it's a shame that the Aston Martins fell out near the end - they were set to win what the Eurosport commentators dubbed "The Petrol Class" with car 009, but the engine set fire in the last hour, then 007 got a puncture and dropped back behind the Oreca car. I think they need to close the gap next year between petrol and diesel, as a two-chariot race is frankly boring to follow. The rules regarding engines should be the same regardless of fuel. I don't think the fuel economy is actually that different, it's the extra torque. It will also be interesting to see how the replacement for GT1 will work. Roll on 2011!

June 14, 2010 1:50 pm

report abuse | reply

1 reply

PawL

the fuel economy is what it's all about the diesel, yes it has extra torque...but the fuel economy is the main advantage.

June 14, 2010 4:24 pm

report abuse | reply

sczott

Those of us who get the RSS feed would have appreciated a spoiler alert. My weekend was split watching the first half of the race and the World Cup, and I avoided finding out who won the race, even though I subscribe to several other website RSS feeds - didn't need the race results in the title of the email from WCF. Kthxbai.

June 14, 2010 2:36 pm

report abuse | reply

Garais87

Congrats Audi you are the best, i was fallow LeMans all 24h, i hope to go watch LeMans for real in next year. Audi said that this is the last year for disel, thay also said that next year thay will come to LeMan with something new! I hope some of E-tron stuff, probabley call R25

June 14, 2010 5:58 pm

report abuse | reply

p2c

The Lion will come next year and win again !!! ( Peugeot fan inside :) )

June 14, 2010 11:50 pm

report abuse | reply

Kid_Voltron

I'm also a very disappointed, Peugeot is my team ...it's more of what strategy they employed than the cars that failed really...they seemed to have overpushed the cars...congrats to Audi, looking forward to see what they are bringing next year... hopefully Peugeot will also bring some of that Hymotion...

June 14, 2010 11:50 pm

report abuse | reply

Share, rate & save

June 14, 2010 7:17 am By Alex Ricciuti

Filed Under: Audi, European, German, Motorsport

Tags: 24 hours of Le Mans , Le Mans , 78th Le Mans 24 Hours , 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours , 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans , Audi R15 TDI , Audi R15 , R15 , Peugeot 908 HDi FAP , Peugeot 908 ,
... more 908
... less