Audi wins again at Le Mans with R18 TDI - spectacular crash [video]

Audi R18 TDI car number 2 makes it to the finish line 13 seconds ahead of the second-place Peugeot 908

Audi has repeated the feat again and won at the 24hr endurance race at Le Mans, France - capturing the title for the 10th time in its history.

Audi Team Joest won the 79th Le Mans (2011) race with drivers Marcel Fässler (Switzerland), André Lotterer (Germany) and Benoît Tréluyer (France) in the Audi R18 TDI Number 2 by a margin of just over 13 seconds over second place Peugeot.

Audi has dominated Le Mans for the past several years with its R-series TDI diesel race cars. But the Peugeot team with their own diesel-powered cars have never been far behind. The Peugeot 908 won in 2009.

The R18 TDI number 2 car was the only Audi Team Joest left in the race after the crashes of both the number 1 and number 3 cars. Luckily, drivers Allan McNish and Mike Rockenfeller came away from their respective crashes unharmed.

Source: Audi

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CReeds

Truly another incredible effort and result once again from Audi! And thankfully the other two outstanding drivers appear to have walked away from their respective crashes unharmed.

June 13, 2011 5:07 am

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Honest1

Boo hoo for Audi..... The brand is bland. Step up and play with the big boys join F1. I use to really like Audi, But they have just become too main stream. Too many models all look the same. (IMHO)

June 13, 2011 5:09 am

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3 replies

peema

And which big boys are those? Red Bull? I hope you havent forgotten that their only two factory teams in F1 at the moment. Ferrari and Mercedes. Ignorance.

June 13, 2011 5:40 am

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dtrump

well done for knowing so little

June 13, 2011 6:14 am

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atlasmason

what an ignorant thing to say. le mans has more to do with endurance than speed. you can have the fastest prototypes but if they can't run for 24 hours then they're basically useless (re: peugeots in last year's race). f1 is like a 100m sprint, while le mans is a 42k marathon.

June 13, 2011 12:05 pm

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Microice

Followed the race on RSS feeds and saw the crash videos... Scary stuff!! Good the drivers are ok and congradulations to Audi on winning when they had their backs against the wall.

June 13, 2011 6:02 am

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Shaktiman

F1 and endurance racing are completely different ballgames.. you can't imagine an F1 car to run full throttle for 24 hrs straight can you.. and anyways, nobody ever called Ferrari and Porsche 'bland' for winning Le Mans many times..

June 13, 2011 6:26 am

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catchmyshadow

the closest race since 69 perhaps? anyway, super dramatic and after peugeot playing some dirty cards (esp. gene), well deserved!

June 13, 2011 6:29 am

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2 replies

Kid_Voltron

dramatic indeed, I'm a Peugeot fan, but Audi deserved to win it in the end. I don't know what dirty tricks you are referring to but every team has strategy....

June 13, 2011 7:28 am

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catchmyshadow

i was referring to some unfair driving of one of their pilots (gene), who was laps behind and although the marshalls waved the blue flags he tried to block the R18 and almost crashed into Lotterer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-LKXFRIDrU

June 13, 2011 8:23 am

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F10V8tt

There is not enough competition in the P1 class, the winner was either going to be Peugot or Audi. The last great race was the 99 lemans, when there were 6 full factory effort teams from major manufactures..

June 13, 2011 7:20 am

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vilivo

Still think the R10 was prettier, but if it works... As for those bringin F1 up- yeah, an F1 car would smoke these... but by the time they get to the 10 hour mark, the F1 won't even be pushable... Will all our uneducated car-fan comrades please stop insisting on comparing apples with lightbulbs- it jus' don' work man!

June 13, 2011 10:48 am

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out4ride

Do you guys think Allan McNish would walk away from this accident in an open cockpit on R10?

June 13, 2011 12:33 pm

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otakki

It goes to show you the power of diesel and its potential.

June 13, 2011 1:21 pm

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EIGHTMAN

Amazing race!!, what a beautiful car the R18 is; and WTF is wrong with Ferrari drivers?!

June 13, 2011 1:39 pm

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LemieT

Wonderful stuff from AudiSport again... I drive a Peugeot and I love this Audi/Peugeot battle in Le Mans. And this F1 vs. Le Mans business, give it a rest, they're two different styles of racing and F1 used to be more exciting with more full factory teams. Considering the field is mainly powered by 4 manufacturers in F1 as opposed to before, the factory wars have really died down a lot.

June 13, 2011 5:09 pm

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DdW

Its a dramatic race event I must say! Felt relieved that both drivers (Audi and Ferrari) were safe and sound. Nevertheless, Audi triumphed despite the setbacks. Their determination is truly commendable!

June 13, 2011 8:26 pm

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June 13, 2011 5:00 am By Alex Ricciuti

Filed Under: Audi, German, Motorsport

Tags: Audi Team Joest , Marcel F?ssler (Switzerland) , Andr? Lotterer (Germany) , Beno?t Tr?luyer (France) , R18 TDI , Audi R18 TDI , Le Mans , Audi Le Mans , R18 TDI Le Mans , Audi R18 TDI Le Mans ,
... more crash , Allan McNish
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