2011 LE MANS 24 HOURS

This year’s fantastic Le Mans 24 Hours provided the 250,000 spectators with a bit of everything, including a nail-biting finish which kept the suspense going all the way to the flag. In the end, the N°2 Audi /Michelin (Fassler/Lotterer/Tréluyer) used its slender speed advantage to beat the best-placed Peugeot/Michelin of Bourdais/Pagenaud/Lamy. Michelin runners were also first past the post in the ‘LMP1 petrol’, ‘LM GTE Pro’ and ‘LM GTE Am’ classes.

Just 13.854 seconds! That was the winning margin between the top-two finishers of the 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours after 355 laps, equivalent to 4,838km! The top prize ended up going to the N°2 Audi R18 TDi which not only bagged the German make’s second straight win, but also became the first car to achieve a ‘grand slam’ finish (win, pole position, fastest race lap) for only the second time in Le Mans history.

An assertive, if cautious final quintuple stint from Germany’s André Lotterer clinched the outcome to finish clear of four chasing Peugeots. Indeed, the French firm took the prize for reliability, since every one of the factory and privateer machines reached the finish, while Audi lost two cars through spectacular crashes before midnight Saturday.

Although Peugeot failed to win outright, the fuel-efficient N°7 and N°9 908s walked away with a one-two finish in the MICHELIN GREEN X Challenge standings.

It looked for some time as though the resuscitated Pescarolo Team would split the 908s at the flag, but the N°16 Pescarolo-Judd cruelly crashed out in drizzle with less than an eighth of the race remaining. That handed victory in the ‘petrol prototype’ sub-class to the N°12 Rebellion Lola-Toyota/Michelin of Prost/Jani/Bleekemolen.

The LMP2 ranks were sadly decimated as the race progressed, but a consistently well-paced display from the N°41 Zytek-Nissan (Ojjeh/Kimber-Smith/Lombard) earned the trophy in this category.

Chevrolet will be relieved to have secured its seventh GT win at Le Mans with the N°73 Corvette/Michelin (Beretta/Milner/Garcia). The N°74 sister car dominated for much of the 24-hour race but was eliminated by a crash on Sunday morning. The silver medal ended up in the hands of Fisichella/Bruni/Vilander (N°51 Ferrari), while the N°56 BMW and the N°77 Porsche made it four different makes in the final top-four.

The LM GTE Pro trophy was won by the Larbre Compétition-run N°50 Chevrolet/Michelin of Bornhauser/Canal/Gardel.

Review the race on lemanslive.com

Final Classification:

1/ Audi Sport Team Joest (Audi R18 TDI #2 / Michelin - LM P1) | 355 laps
2/ Team Peugeot Total (Peugeot 908 #9 / Michelin - LM P1) | +13.854
3/ Peugeot Sport Total (Peugeot 908 #8 / Michelin - LM P1) | +2 Laps
4/ Peugeot Sport Total (Peugeot 908 #7 / Michelin - LM P1) | +4 Laps (MICHELIN GREEN X Challenge winner)
5/ Team Oreca Matmut (Peugeot 908 HDI-FAP #10 / Michelin - LM P1) | +16 Laps
6/ Rebellion Racing (Lola B 10/60 Coupe-Toyota #12 / Michelin - LM P1) | +17 Laps
7/ Kronos Racing (Lola Aston Martin #22 / Michelin - LM P1) | +27 Laps
8/ Greaves Motorsport (Zytek Nissan #41 - LM P2) | +29 Laps
9/ Signatech Nissan (Oreca 03-Nissan #26 - LM P2) | +35 Laps
10/ Level 5 Motorsports (Lola Coupe-Honda Performance Development #33 / Michelin - LM P2) | +36 Laps
11/ Corvette Racing (Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 #73 / Michelin - GTE pro) | +41 Laps
12/ RML (Honda Performance Development Arx 01 D #36 - LM P2) | +41 Laps
13/ AF Corse Srl (Ferrari 458 Italia #51 / Michelin - GTE pro) | +41 Laps
14/ Oak Racing (Oak Pescarolo-BMW #49 - LM P2) | +42 Laps
15/ BMW Motorsport (BMW M3 GT #56 - GTE pro) | +42 Laps
16/ Team Felbermayr-Proton (Porsche 911 RSR (997) #77 / Michelin - GTE pro) | +43 Laps
17/ Imsa Performance Matmut (Porsche 911 RSR (997) #76 / Michelin - GTE pro) | +44 Laps
18/ Flying Lizard Motorsports (Porsche 911 RSR (997) #80 / Michelin - GTE pro) | +45 Laps
19/ Race Performance (Oreca 03-Judd BMW #40 - LM P2) | +51 Laps
20/ Larbre Competition (Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 #50 / Michelin - GTE am) | +53 Laps
21/ Larbre Competition (Porsche 911 RSR (997) #70 / Michelin - GTE am) | +54 Laps
22/ Lotus Jetalliance (Lotus Evora #65 / Michelin - GTE pro) | +60 Laps
23/ Prospeed Competition (Porsche 911 RSR (997) #75 / Michelin - GTE pro) | +62 Laps
24/ JMW Motorsport (Ferrari 458 Italia #66 - GTE pro) | +65 Laps
25/ Oak Racing (Oak Pescarolo-Judd BMW #35 - LM P2) | +67 Laps
26/ Robertson Racing LLC (Ford GT-Doran #68 / Michelin - GTE am) | +70 Laps
27/ JMB Racing (Ferrari F430 #83 - GTE am) | +83 Laps

Retired:

28/ Extreme Limite AM Paris (Norma M200P-Judd BMW #44 - LM P2) | +108 Laps
29/ Pescarolo Team (Pescarolo Judd #16 / Michelin - LM P1) | +50 Laps
30/ BMW Motorsport (BMW M3 GT #55 - GTE pro) | +79 Laps
31/ Corvette Racing (Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 #74 / Michelin - GTE pro) | +144 Laps
32/ Flying Lizard Motorsports (Porsche 911 RSR (997) #81 / Michelin - GTE am) | +144 Laps
33/ Team Oreca Matmut (Oreca 03-Nissan #48 / Michelin - LM P2) | +155 Laps
34/ Proton Competition (Porsche 911 RSR (997) #63 / Michelin - GTE am) | +156 Laps
35/ Rebellion Racing (Lola B 10/60 Coupe-Toyota #13 / Michelin - LM P1) | +165 Laps
36/ AF Corse SRL (Ferrari F430 #61 / Michelin - GTE am) | +167 Laps
37/ Luxury Racing (Ferrari 458 Italia #59 / Michelin - GTE pro) | +172 Laps
38/ AF Corse (Ferrari 458 Italia #71 / Michelin - GTE pro) | +177 Laps
39/ Team Felbermayr-Proton (Porsche 911 RSR (997) #88 / Michelin - GTE pro) | +186 Laps
40/ Strakka Racing (Honda Performance Development Arx 01 D #42 / Michelin - LM P2) | +211 Laps
41/ Gulf AMR Middle East (Aston Martin Vantage #60 - GTE am) | +214 Laps
42/ Pecom Racing (Lola B11/40-Judd Bmw #39 / Michelin - LM P2) | +216 Laps
43/ Hankook-Team Farnbacher (Ferrari 458 Italia #89 - GTE pro) | +218 Laps
44/ Luxury Racing (Ferrari 458 Italia #58 / Michelin - GTE pro) | +219 Laps
45/ Lotus Jetalliance (Lotus Evora #64 / Michelin - GTE pro) | +229 Laps
46/ Krohn Racing (Ferrari F430 #57 - GTE am) | +232 Laps
47/ Oak Racing (Oak Pescarolo-Judd #24 - LM P1) | +236 Laps
48/ Audi Sport Team Joest (Audi R18 TDI #1 / Michelin - LM P1) | +239 Laps
49/ Hope Racing (Oreca Swiss Hy Tech-Hybrid #5 / Michelin - LM P1) | +240 Laps
50/ CRS Racing (Ferrari F430 #62 / Michelin - GTE am) | +271 Laps
51/ Oak Racing (Oak Pescarolo-Judd #15 - LM P1) | +275 Laps
52/ Jota (Aston Martin Vantage #79 - GTE pro) | +281 Laps
53/ Quifel-Asm Team (Zytek 09 SC #20 - LM P1) | +307 Laps
54/ Audi Sport North America (Audi R18 TDI #3 / Michelin - LM P1) | +341 Laps
55/ Aston Martin Racing (Aston Martin AMR-One #007 / Michelin - LM P1) | +351 Laps
56/ Aston Martin Racing (Aston Martin AMR-One #009 / Michelin - LM P1) | +353 Laps