[Ed.: If you've Tivo'ed the 24 Heures Du Mans and you're planning on watching, just quit reading right here and go down to another post or something.] The diesel duel between Audi and Peugeot is finally over and it seemed the outcome was never in doubt. Despite Audi's loss of two cars, they still managed to snag victory from the jaws of defeat for a fourth straight LMP1 victory. The LMP1 fun for the Brucetastic German automaker started with rain and a quasi-thrilling crash of Mike Rockenfeller (he lost a tire smacking into a barrier) driving the Audi Sport Team Joest R10. The "fun" for Audi continued when the left-rear wheel of Rinaldo Capello's #2 Audi detached from the car, sending him spinning across the track into a tire wall on the inside of the circuit. The fun ended with the same outcome we've seen for the past four years -- another Audi victory -- this time yet again at the hands of Frank Biela and Marco Werner of Germany and Emanuele Pirro of Italy. The threesome drove the diesel-powered Audi Sport North America #1 car to the win. Peugeot's furious diesel-powered attack against Audi ended with a less-than-stellar 10-lap difference between the only finishing Audi and the only finishing Frenchie. The only real eventfulness coming out of Le Mans this year came in the GT1 class, as the Corvette C6.R team led by Johnny "Top Is Down On The Black Corvette" O'Connell lost by a lap to the Aston Martin DBR9. What a race that was -- or at least probably was -- we slept through much of it. But Wikipedia's got the full scoop and we've got a glorious gallery below. Enjoy. – Ray Wert
galleryPost('24HoursLeMans', 16, '24 Hours Of Le Mans Est Finis');
2007 24 Hours of Le Mans [Wikipedia]
Related:
Dan Neil Live Blogging Le Mans; Le Mans: Start Your Engines; Parisian Prototype: Peugeot 908 HDi Nabs First LeMans Win; Audi, Watch Your Back: Peugeot LeMans HDi V12 Diesel in Shakedown Testing; all our Le Mans coverage [internal]
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