Autoblog UK

Although they were naturally nerve-wracking for everyone at Team Peugeot, the final three hours of the 2009 Le Mans Hours passed off with a hitch for the French squad, and the two frontrunning Peugeot 908s went on to collect an emphatic one-two finish. The winning machine (N°9, Gené/Wurz/Brabham) finished seven laps clear of the best-placed non-Peugeot runner at the flag (Audi N°1), with the N°8 sister car (Sarrazin/Montagny/Bourdais) following it across the line to claim second spot. The N°7 car (Minassian/Lamy/Klien) completed the distance in sixth spot despite a spate of problems in the early hours of the morning.

As every year, the end of the race was marked by a number of accidents, and the N°5 Porsche's off prompted the safety car to be sent out one last time at 1.46pm. The N°7 and N°9 Peugeots profited from the neutralisation to pit for fuel. The safety car peeled off at 2.20pm and the three Peugeots made one last stop before the chequered flag. Sébastien Bourdais slowed on purpose to enable the three Peugeot 908 HDi FAPs to cross the line in formation. One-Two-Victory for Peugeot!



Eleven starts, eleven times in succession on the winner's podium: Audi continued its impressive series of podium results in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After taking three consecutive victories Audi had to settle for third position on this occasion in probably the world's toughest endurance race.

"Obviously we are a little disappointed about the result", said Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "Peugeot produced a fantastic performance and certainly deserved the victory. We will analyze the problems we had to ensure we come back stronger next year." The race to Le Mans 2010 has just begun.

If there's a more raw and evocative sound than the roar of Chevrolet Corvette C6.R gunning around Le Mans, then it's been well hidden.

The LMP classes have the whoosh of the diesels, the highly-tuned scream of the Aston Martins but it's only in GT1 where there is noise like the Corvettes. And the sad thing is we won't hear or see them again over the 24 Hours with the GT1 class disappearing after 2009.

Their swansong at Le Mans looks likely to end with a flourish though and by the time you read this, they may well have won class honours again. Admittedly, without the Prodrive Aston Martin Racing team on hand to keep them honest, the brute force of the American cars has been without peers in the class and a podium clean sweep has looked more than likely for much of the race.

Ok, so we know fuel is important when it comes to motorsports but could it be the deciding factor in this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans?

When Shell and Audi first cosied up a few years ago, they developed a winning partnership. That was with good old-fashioned petroleum but things changed even more dramatically when the D word was mentioned and Audi arrived at Le Mans in 2006 with their diesel R10 TDI cars.

Since that victory things have developed even further and the Shell V-Power diesel, combined with the Instant Response Technology that's designed to improve engine responsiveness, has given the team an edge over its competitors in terms of better turbo power and lower fuel consumption; essentially the cars are now more efficient.

So how has this translated itself on the circuit? Well, Richard Karlstetter, Shell's Global Technology Manager for Racing Fuels, had understandably been keeping a close eye on the diesel cars in the first few hours of the race and found something that could prove crucial to the race results.

Just after 7.30pm on Saturday evening Nigel Moore drove into the pits after completing his first run in the Le Mans 24 Hours, making history in the process.

The 17-year-old, who is racing for Team LNT in a Ginetta Zytek, became the youngest British driver to compete at Le Mans and marked the latest stage in a remarkably meteoric rise in motorsport.

Three years ago Moore was racing in karts before winning a British Racing Drivers Club scholarship to compete in the Ginetta GT Junior series, which he won. He followed this with the Ginetta G50 Cup in 2008, winning 14 of the 20 races and also broke into the British GT4 Championships. Not bad work for someone born in 1992.

German Ski-Slalom World Champion Maria Riesch numbered among the many celebrities on the AUDI AG guest list. Candy Dulfer & Band and DJ Gandi provided the background music in the Audi Racing Arena. Nick Mason hung around at Le Mans as an Audi UK guest. The motorsport enthusiast and drummer of rock group Pink Floyd will drive an Auto Union race car in three weeks between 3 and 5 July at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. His love of motorsport continues in the family: Holly, the rock musician's daughter, contested the historical legends race at Le Mans on the Sarthe on Saturday. This year she will marry racing driver Marino Franchitti.

Claudia, the wife of Audi factory driver Lucas Luhr, had originally planned to travel to Le Mans. However, a sudden and special "addition to the family" complicated matters: At the request of their children the family has recently grown through the addition of a ten-week old Labrador crossbreed. Even though he is only four years old the couple's son Gianluca proved his reputation as family jester: The puppy was aptly named as "Rocky", the nickname of Lucas Luhr's team mate Mike Rockenfeller.

Allan McNish saw an Audi R10 TDI win immediately before starting the 24-hour race. At Silverstone in the week before Le Mans the Scot saw how junior high-school students representing Dalbeattie High School won the British Championship for radio-controlled model cars.

Partisanship is a strong force at Le Mans and with just one hour gone there has already been plenty of opportunity for the fans to cheer or groan - and the teams as well.

Once Ferrari boss Luca de Montezemolo had waved the flag to get the race started, the Peugeot factory trio led by Franck Montagny got the local and vocal support on their feet - if they weren't already - as they swept past the lead Audi of Allan McNish to establish a French 1-2-3 within the opening two laps.

Audi's problems worsened a lap later when Alexandre Premat hit the barrier after making an error at Indianapolis in the #3 car. Damage was minor though and he returned to the track soon after nursing the car back to the pits.

But it was Peugeot who suffered the greatest embarrassment when Pedro Lamy was struck by the Pescaolo-run Peugeot of Jean-Christophe Boullion during the first round of pitstops. If Premat's error had drawn a load cheer from the crowd, the debacle in the pitlane was met with a disbelieving silence.

Lamy's frustration endured a full long lap though as his rear left tyre began smoking before he reached the Dunlop Bridge and was shredding the bodywork by the time he reached the Mulsanne Straight. The drama has well and truly begun.

When I ask a typical reader what a racing car should look like, he generally lists such features as wide tyres, a gigantic rear spoiler and a pointy nosecone. All of these have disappeared from Formula One. The mighty rear wings have been clipped, the tyres may have lost their ultra-cautious grooves but are still ludicrously narrow and the likes of Renault look as if they get punched in the nose every day.

Yet when I take a walk along the pit lane at the Le Mans 24-hour classic, I see pure thoroughbred racing cars in front of all the garages - you can even excuse the Peugeot prototype with its roof. "After Formula One, LMP1 is the fastest series in motorsport," we are assured by former winner Marco Werner. Retired F1 driver Olivier Panis is well qualified to make the comparison. In an interview with autoblog, he said: "The car is more direct and heavier, but in terms of downforce, it is quite similar to an F1 machine. It's a fun event." And maybe that's the one thing that has been missing from Formula One with all its recent political machinations - the fun element.

Racing drivers have an easy life: every fortnight or so, they jet around the world, mix with the glamorous set and even get to put their foot down in really fast cars. What could be better than that?

Well, there are a couple of drawbacks, especially if you're competing in the Le Mans 24-hour race. "I'm not going to inflict that on myself again," confided three-times winner Marco Werner to autoblog. So what's the problem? "The cars are now so technologically advanced that you can't really compare their performance with a couple of decades back. Nowadays, we have so much downforce and lateral acceleration that the models we drive are only five or six years behind the current F1 machines in their development. Also, we're driving three hour stints, equivalent to two-and-a-half F1 races. We get a short break and then we're back behind the wheel again. Quite honestly, when you get past the age of fifty, you're not inclined to do that to your body any more because, from 40 onwards, you start to get minor ailments - for example, a hernia last year."