At this year's Le Mans 24 hours, eight proved a lucky number both for Audi, which placed first overall for the eighth time in the last nine years, and for Danish Tom Kristensen, one of the drivers of the winning car for the eighth time since 1997, making him the most successful driver in Le Mans history.
The 24 Heures du Mans is one of the world's largest sporting events, watched by over 250,000 spectators, and probably the most famous car race of all. First held in 1923 and 75 times since then, with a break only for World War II, it is generally considered the toughest test of cars and drivers in motor racing. It is held in June on a 13.629 km circuit at Le Mans, France, starting in the afternoon on Saturday and ending on Sunday 24 hours later. Each car is driven by three drivers.
The cars compete in four classes racing together and this has important implications for the set-up of the faster cars, which must be as forgiving as possible to facilitate continual deviations from their racing line to overtake slower competitors with minimum loss of time.
Cars in two classes, the LMP1 and the smaller, less powerful LMP2 (Le Mans Prototype) are sophisticated thoroughbreds purpose-built to the organising body's specifications, differing mainly in engine size and minimum weight. The faster LMP1s develop 600-700 bhp and their performance is close to that of Formula 1 cars.
Classes GT1 and GT2 must be based on a road car, with different modifications allowed for each class. The faster GT1 cars produce nearly 600 bhp but must have a minimum weight of 1,125 kg compared with 900kg for the LMP1s. The GT2 cars are less powerful versions of the GT1s, developing 450-500 bhp with a top speed around 290 km/h.
Audi won at Le Mans in 2000 and every year since except 2003. In 2006 Audi's R10 TDI made motoring history, the first diesel-engined car to win a major motor race, and it won again in 2007 when the challenge from Peugeot's new diesel-powered 908 HDi-FAP fell short of expectations. This year, Peugeot came to Le Mans with renewed optimism, boosted when their three cars dominated practice, lapping up to five seconds faster than the Audis and placing 1-2-3 on the starting grid.
Peugeot chose a predominantly fair-weather set-up for their cars that initially paid off handsomely, and their cars No. 7, 8 (pole position) and 9 were lapping about four seconds faster than Audis No. 1, 2 and 3 (No. 1 driven by Biela/Pirro/Werner, winners in 2006 and 2007). Twelve hours into the race, Peugeot 7 (Gene/Minassian/ Villeneuve) led by nearly a lap from Audi 2 (Capello/Kristensen/McNish).
Then the rain started, the Peugeots began to lose ground and in the 13th hour Audi 2 overtook Peugeot 7 to lead by four seconds. A hard-fought struggle ensued but Audi 2 eventually increased its lead to four minutes 31 seconds at the finish, completing 381 laps.
Though after a race-long battle Peugeot obtained honourable second, third and fifth places, with Audi first, fourth and sixth, Peugeot were understandably disappointed at not taking first place, because Audi's win went against the odds. The Peugeots were clearly faster, but in the race their speed advantage was neutralised by several factors.
Freak weather conditions, which towards the end of the race had the track partly under heavy rain and partly completely dry, made tyre choice a nightmare. Inspired driving by Tom Kristensen, with the correct tyres during pouring rain, reduced Peugeot 7's lead from nearly a lap to nothing. Also Audi 2 had an incident-free race, despite a scare two hours before the finish when Kristensen collided with a Zytek but his car was unharmed.
What finally ensured Audi's win was that, unlike the Peugeots and the other Audis, No. 2 ran without faults, pitting only for routine refuelling and wheel changes without losing time for repairs - rare at Le Mans. The final result clearly demonstrates what Le Mans is about: endurance as well as speed.
The Audi and Peugeot works teams are a cut above the rest but there were many LMPs competing hotly behind them, such as Pescarolo, (7th overall), Courage Oreca (8th), Lola, Dome, Creation, Epsilon and Zytek.
The LMP2 class was won by a Porsche RS Spyder driven by all-Dutch team Van Merksteijn/Verstappen/Bleekemolen which placed 10th overall, 27 laps behind the winner. Another Porsche RS Spyder placed second.
In the GT1 class, Aston Martin DBR9 No. 009 driven by Brabham/ Garcia/Turner came first (13th overall, 37 laps behind) winning a prolonged battle with two Corvettes C6.R that placed 14th and 15th overall. In the GT2 class, the Ferrari F430 GTC swept the board, taking the first four places. First (19th overall, 55 laps behind) was the Italo-American team Risi Competizione's F430 GTC driven by Bruni/Melo/Salo. Fifth was a Porsche 997 GT3 RSR.
Factbox
• 55 cars started, of which 20 retired.
• The winning Audi completed 381 laps: 5,193 km at an average speed of 216.3 km/h.
• The fastest lap was driven by Stephane Sarrazin in Peugeot No. 8 at 246.11 km/h.
• The Audi R10 TDI is at full throttle 75 per cent of each lap, during which it exceeds 300 km/h four times.