Peugeot dominate Audi and finish 1st & 2nd at the Le Mans 24 Hours

2009 - 24 Hours Le Mans Podium

LE MANS, France : June 14, 2009 - David Brabham, Alex Wurz and Marc Gene headed a one-two for the French manufacturer at the end of a race that Audi barely threatened to win. The new R15 TDI was neither on the ultimate pace nor reliable, which left the best of the German cars a distant third.

The Winner : David Brabham, Alex Wurz and Marc Gene headed - Peugeot Sport Total - Peugeot 908 Hdi-FAP

Brabham, Wurz and Gene weren't the quickest of the three factory Peugeot crews, but they did have the cleanest run. The No. 8 Peugeot 908 HDi driven by Sebastien Bourdais, Franck Montagny and Stephane Sarrazin had the legs of the winning LMP1 turbodiesel, but two delays, one to change the left rear suspension and the other to repair minor body damage, ensured they were behind when Peugeot invoked team orders and ordered its leading crews to stop racing each other.

Multiple American Le Mans Series race winner Brabham said: "We had a plan, and we stuck to it. We wanted to stay out of the garage, and that's what we did. Ultimately that won us the race. This is a dream come true. A few years ago I never thought I'd get this chance."

Montagny explained that he and his teammates were happy to accept team orders.

"It was the right call, and that shows how the team has changed from last year," he said. "We are more secure and take the right decisions, even if it was frustrating for us."

Audi was in all sorts of problems from the beginning of the race. The drivers of all three R15s were unable to take the fight to the Peugeots, although a change of front aerodynamic setup and a move to Michelin's soft-compound tires briefly brought the No. 1 Audi driven by Allan McNish, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello into contention during the night.

An overheating problem caused by sand clogging the intercooler precipitated a series of unscheduled stops that ended their chance of victory. Another stop to fix a suspension problem and an electronic glitch ultimately left them six laps behind the winners.

Problems for the lead Audi briefly gave the best of the Aston Martin Racing coupes the scent of a podium finish. Tomas Enge, Stefan Mucke and Jan Charouz had a faultless run through the race to claim unofficial gasoline-powered honors by three laps from the best of the ORECA prototypes driven by Olivier Panis, Nicolas Lapierre and Soheil Ayari.

Sixth place went to the pole-winning Peugeot driven by Stephane Sarrazin, Nicolas Minassian and Pedro Lamy. It recovered from an early pitlane clash with the semi-factory Pescarolo Peugeot 908 that left it seven laps down with little more than an hour gone.

The Porsche RS Spyder dominated the LMP2 division. The Danish-entered Team Essex example and the Japanese Goh car ran one-two in class until the penultimate hour, when former Le Mans winner Seiji Ara crashed heavily on oil in the Goh car, leaving Emmanuel Collard, Casper Elgaard and Kristian Poulsen to claim a 14-lap victory.

Corvette Racing bowed out of the GT1 class with a predictable win. Johnny O’Connell, Jan Magnussen and Anthony Garcia claimed a final Le Mans triumph for the GT1 Corvette after the sister car driven by Olivier Beretta, Oliver Gavin and Marcel Fassler retired with gearbox failure.

Twice the winning car fortuitously gained more than a minute under the safety car early in the race, but each time the other Corvette closed the gap to set what should have been a thrilling fight to the finish.

Ferrari swept the board in GT2, claiming the top four positions on a disastrous day for Porsche. The Risi Competizione Ferrari 430 GT driven by Jaime Melo, Pierre Kaffer and Mika Salo continued its phenomenal record in big endurance races, adding a second Le Mans win to a resume that includes last year's Petit Le Mans and this year's 12 Hours of Sebring.

The best of the Porsches, the works-backed Felbermayr-Proton 911 GT3-RSR driven by Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Wolf Henzler, retired from the lead early on when the reserve fuel pump failed, stranding the car on the circuit.

Images : 2009 Le Mans 24 Hrs. Race LMP1 Class Hi-light

[Source : Autoweek, Peugeot-Sport, Audi, Aston Martin]