They did it again! Auto Union has once again dominated LMP1 and overall at the 24 Heures du Mans. It also showed that with the lone Audi factory team left showed those damn Peugeots that TDI power still rules the roast at the big Circuit de la Sarthe course.
Despite losing the #3 and the defending race winning #1 to huge crashes before halfway (3am CET, 8pm USCDT), the #2 held off a hard charging group of Peugeots and held on for LMP1 and overall win, continuing the four rings' dominance for more than a decade.
Andre Lotterer brought home the car, with Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer as the co-drivers. Remember, up to three drivers per team, to meet ACO's standards for all ACO events period (LeMans and ALMS events).
The Greaves Motorsport #41 Zytek Nissan won LMP2, with Tom Kimber Smith, Olivier Lombard and Karim Ojjeh as the drivers.
Like Audi, Corvette had the same thing working out since losing the #74 within the final quarter of the race. However the #73 with Olivier Beretta, Tom Milner and Antonio Garcia went to victory lane in the brand new GTE "Pro" category.
The new GTE "Am" category was swept by the Jack Leconte two car effort. Both Larbre cars won that class, with the #50 Corvette piloted by Gabriel Gardele, Patrick Bornhauser, and Julien Canal winning the class and the #70 Ferrari piloted by Christophe Berret, Pascal Gibon and Jean Philippe Belloc finishing 2nd. The biggest story of that class is American LeMans effort Robertson Racing finishing 3rd with New Orleans native David Murry as well as David and Andrea Robertson as the driver. The Robertsons, who are owners of the #68 Ford GT Doran (#40 in ALMS), celebrated their wedding anniversary and what was really nice was that Andrea took the checkers in that car. Well done and congrats.
What a fun, yet thrilling hours of the race that I've enjoyed through the voices from Radio LeMans, Speed TV and Eurosport. I know ACO has camera people that sends those pictures to all the broadcasters, and I wish that Speed can carry the entire 24 hours next year or relegate some hours to FX. That's just a suggestion.
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