- Seventh success for Audi in endurance classic
- Audi TDI Power prevails again
- Extremely difficult conditions at the jubilee race
Under extremely difficult conditions, AUDI continued the impressive winning streak at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Frank Biela (Germany), Emanuele Pirro (Italy) and Marco Werner (Germany) repeated their previous year’s triumph and ensured the seventh overall Audi victory in the French endurance classic. For the second time in a row, the Audi R10 TDI prevailed. The revolutionary diesel sports car from Ingolstadt is thus still unbeaten at Le Mans.
Audi also impressively demonstrated “Vorsprung durch Technik” at the 75th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Audi R10 TDI was the fastest and most reliable vehicle in the starting field. From the first to the last lap, one of the three Ingolstadt diesel sports cars was at the head of the field.
More than 260,000 spectators witnessed one of the most exciting 24-hour races in Le Mans historye impressive performance of Dindo Capello, Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish also ended prematurely: after leading the race confidently for more than 16 hours, the left rear wheel broke loose on Sunday morning on their Audi R10 TDI.
Thus, the hopes of Audi rested in the last five and a half hours of the race alone on the shoulders of Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner and the Audi R10 TDI with the number 1 torrential rains in the closing stages of extremely difficult conditions caused by the However, experienced Audi drivers were mastered with flying colors. With ten laps ahead of second-placed Peugeot, Marco Werner crossed the finish line in 24 hours as a sovereign winner.
With the seventh Le Mans triumph Audi advanced to third place in the 75th edition of the French long-distance classic in the eternal best list of the race. Only Porsche and Ferrari have won at Le Mans more often than Audi.
“That was certainly the most difficult race we ever drove at Le Mans,” explained Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG after the finish line. “The higher is this victory to evaluate. Once again we showed on the racetrack that we have the best technology, the best riders and the best team. Everyone at Audi can be proud of this success.”
Changeable weather conditions in the initial phase fell victim to the Audi R10 TDI with the starting number 3, as in the third round came off the rain-wet track and bounced backwards against the track boundary.
