Before over 260,000 hardcore fans the Audi team of Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Dindo Capello scored a dramatic, thrilling victory in the LMP1 classification in the 76th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In their #2 Audi R10 TDi, the highly skilled endurance trio was able to stand atop the Le Mans victory podium on behalf of Audi for the eighth time in nine years. Led by Tom Kristensen — who enjoyed his eighth victory in one of the world’s elite automobile races — McNish and Capello collectively put up a brave fight to beat back a significant, viciously fought challenge put up by a trio Peugeot 908 HDis. The lead antagonist in Audi’s quest to win in France came from the #7 Peugeot 908 of Nic Minassian, Marc Gene and former Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve. After 381 laps and 24 hours of racing, the Audi defeated the Peugeot by less than a lap. The race between the two cars raged through the night, the R10 excelling in the wet, rainy conditions allowed the Audi team to pull away to a three-minute advantage, however Jacques Villeneuve, Marc Gene, and then Nicolas Minassian hung tough and slowly but surely pulled back up on the Audi. It all came down to the last hour when Minassian was strapped into the car and sent out on slick tires. And even though he was closing at a rapid rate, he was risking it all and the chase was somewhat desperate, Minassian almost on the rages edge and almost coming off the high-speed circuit on a number of occasions. Thus, when all was said and done and the clock had struck the 24-hour mark, it was Kristensen drove the #2 Audi R10 across the finish line and into the record books.

The Van Merksteijn team and its Porsche won the LMP2 class victory at Le Mans, seven laps ahead of Team Essex and the team’s drivers, Sascha Maassen, Casper Elgaard and John Nielsen.

Mika Salo, Jaime Melo and Gianmaria Bruni of the Risi Competizione outfit handily won the GT2 category in their Ferrari F430. The F430 was in the lead by the second hour and never really looked back from that point forward.

Patron Highcroft Racing drivers David Brabham, Darren Turner and Antonio Garcia drove the No. 009 Aston Martin to victory in the GT1 class, defeating the Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R of Ron Fellows, Jan Magnussen and Johnny O’Connell by a single lap. Third in the GT1 class was another factory Corvette, this one piloted by Oliver Beretta and Max Papis.