Audi Wins Le Mans

Benoit Treluyer, Andre Lotterer and Marcel Fassler won the 79th Le Mans 24 Hours in the #2 Audi Sport Team Joest R18, 13.854 seconds ahead of the #9 Peugeot of Simon Pagenaud, Sebastien Bourdais and Pedro Lamy. It was an exciting race as Audi and Peugeot battled throughout, exchanging leads several times during the night and early morning. The race was marred by two serious incidents that took out two of the three font running Audis, both involved slower cars from the GTE-Pro class. Allan McNish crashed out in the…

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Second Audi Involved in Horrific Crash

The #1 Audi R18 of defending Le Man winner Mike ‘Rocky’ Rockefeller  has been involved in a violent shunt with a slower GTE  car at the high speed kink between Mulsanne and  Indianapolis corner. Audi Sport has confirmed that Rockefeller was able to get out of the car himself that he spoke to the team and has been taken to the hospital. Rockefeller was overtaking one the AF Corse Ferrari 458s on the straightaway leading up to Indianapolis when the Ferrari inexplicably started to move into the path of the…

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McNish Survives Massive Crash

Allan McNish survived a massive crash that put the #3 Audi out of this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours in the first hour of racing. McNish was attempting to pass teammate Timo Bernhard for the lead in the esses after the Dunlop Bridge, but as he past Bernhard’s Audi the Luxury Racing #58 Ferrari 458 GTE of Anthony Beltoise, also racing for position, moved over and clipped the Audi sending both cars off course. McNish’s Audi appeared to glide and skipped across gravel trap, becoming airborne and slamming into the…

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Audi On Pole, Clinch Front Row

Frenchman Benoit Tréluyer set pole position for the 24 Hours of Le Mans piloting the #2 Audi Sport Team Joest. It is Audi’s first pole at Le Mans since 2006. Tréluyer benefited from a clear lap to best the #1 Audi Sport Team Joest of Timo Bernhard/Romain Dumas/Mike Rockenfeller. The Team Peugeot Total of Simon Pagenaud/Sebastian Bourdais/Pedro Lamy will start third. The Audis and Peugeots traded fast times but as often the case at Le Mans, traffic hampered flying laps for both teams.   The final session wasn’t without incident…

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Le Mans Notes 06/08/11; Sarrazin Peugeot Set Pace

Just as it appeared Audi had lay claim to the top three positions during provisional qualifying Peugeot Sport Total‘s Stephane Sarrazin peeled off a blistering lap that undercut the German squad by nine-tenths of a second during an incident packed session. The Audi Sport Team Joest R18 TDI’s and Team Peugeot Sport Total 908’s were fastest throughout the session. The 908 of Sebring winners Team Oreca Matmut were seventh in LMP1. The Pescarlo Judd was the fastest of the petrol powered LMP cars, in eighth position, nearly two seconds ahead of…

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