Audi made history on Sunday when its R10 supercar became the first turbodiesel to win the Le Mans 24 Hour in its maiden attempt at the epic French endurance race.
Audi made history on Sunday when its R10 supercar became the first turbodiesel to win the Le Mans 24 Hour in its maiden attempt at the epic French endurance race.
“It was a unique challenge for Audi to take a diesel to Le Mans,” said Dr. Wolfgang Ulrich, head of Audi motorsport.
The Audis outpaced their competition throughout the event, and the winning R10, piloted by Marco Werner, Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro, finished the classic race ahead of local favourite Pescarolo, driven by Eric Helary, Franck Montagny and WRC champion Sebastien Loeb.
Le Mans veteran Frank Biela said, “We came as a new car, (which made the victory) nicer and sweeter. There was a little difference between this car (and the R8). This car is really built for Le Mans.”
The Pescarolo Judd car in second place was the picture of reliability across the 24 hours, and driver Loeb said, “We did the best job and I am quite pleased with the results seeing we were between the two Audis.”
The second R10 in the top three, driven by Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish, was the victim on a prang early in the race and needed a turbo change before finally settling into third position.
Multiple Le Mans winner Kristensen set the year’s fastest lap, with his 3:13.211 being about four seconds faster than the Pescarolo’s fastest lap.
Aston Martin looked set to clinch the French showdown in its GT1 class, but with less than three hours remaining, the DBR9 (Collard, Comas and Minassian) suffered clutch problems, which handed the victory to arch rival Corvette, driven by Jan Magnussen, Olivier Beretta and Oliver Gavin.
