Audi Wins The 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours

Audi, Porsche and Toyota battled for the victory at the Le Mans 24 hours endurance race but it was Benoit Treluyer, Marcel Fassler and Andre Lotterer that led home the sister car of Tom Kristensen, Lucas di Grassi and Marc Gene, as Audi won a battle of endurance racing against Toyota and Porsche for overall honours.

Overall, the winners completed 379 laps which was short of the record of 397 set by Audi in 2010. It was the trio’s third victory in the world’s most famous endurance race. Their Audi No. 2 finished three laps ahead of Audi No. 1 driven by Lucas di Grassi, Marc Gene and defending champion Tom Kristensen. Grabbing second was Luca Di Grassi, Marc Gene and Tom Kristensen in the No 1 Audi Sport Team Joest AUDI R18 e-tron quattro. The trio finished three laps down. The No 8 Toyota Racing Toyota TS 040 – Hybrid finished third with Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre, and Sebastian Buemi working the wheel.

For Audi it is the manufacturer’s 13th Le Mans victory in 15 years. Porsche has the most overall victories with 16. Porsche – with former Formula One F1 driver Mark Webber driving – was leading with two hours to go, and then suddenly it slowed and crept back to the pits where they stayed for the remainder of the race. The LM P2 category was won by Oak Racing, they were seventh overall.  Overall, 54 entries started the 2014 Le Mans 24, 15 officially retired with 38 running at the end.

Results – 379 laps:

Pos  Cl     Drivers                       Team/Car                   Time/Gap

1.  P1     Fassler/Lotterer/Treluyer     Audi                  24h01m59.830s

2.  P1     Di Grassi/Gene/Kristensen     Audi                        -3 laps

3.  P1     Davidson/Lapierre/Buemi       Toyota                      -5 laps

4.  P1     Prost/Heidfeld/Beche          Rebellion-Toyota           -19 laps

5.  P2     Dolan/Tincknell/Turvey        Jota Zytek-Nissan          -23 laps

6.  P2     Thiriet/Badey/Gommendy        TDS Ligier-Nissan          -24 laps

7.  P2     Chatin/Panciatici/Webb        Signatech ORECA-Nissan     -24 laps

8.  P2     Rast/Charouz/Capillaire       Loeb ORECA-Nissan          -25 laps

9.  P2     Brundle/Mardenborough/S’skiy  OAK Ligier-Nissan          -25 laps

1. P2     Klien/Hirsch/Brandela         Morand Morgan-Judd         -27 laps
2. P2     Cheng/Tung/Fong               OAK Ligier-HPD             -32 laps
3. P2     Frey/Mailleux/Lancaster       Race Perf ORECA-Judd       -37 laps
4. GTE P  Bruni/Vilander/Fisichella     AF Ferrari                 -40 laps
5. GTE P  Magnussen/Garcia/Taylor       Corvette                   -41 laps
6. GTE P  Holzer/Makowiecki/Lietz       Manthey Porsche            -42 laps
7. P2     Schell/Leutwiler/Roussel      Pegasus Morgan-Nissan      -43 laps
8. GTE A  Poulsen/Hansson/Thiim         Aston Martin               -45 laps
9. GTE P  Gavin/Milner/Westbrook        Corvette                   -46 laps
10. GTE A  Ried/Bachler/Al Qubaisi       Proton Porsche             -47 laps
11. GTE A  Perez-Companc/Cioci/Venturi   AF Ferrari                 -48 laps
12. GTE A  Montecalvo/Roda/Ruberti       8Star Ferrari              -49 laps
13. GTE A  Dempsey/Foster/Long           Dempsey Porsche            -50 laps
14. P2     Kimber-Smith/McMurry/Dyson    Greaves Zytek-Nissan       -50 laps
15. GTE A  Dalla Lana/Lamy/Nygaard       Aston Martin               -50 laps
16. GTE A  Al Faisal/Neiman/Pumpelly     JMW Ferrari                -52 laps
17. GTE A  Nakano/Ehret/Rich             Taisan Ferrari             -52 laps
18. GTE A  Barthez/Pons/Ayari            Sofrev Ferrari             -54 laps
19. GTE A  Krohn/Jonsson/Collins         Krohn Ferrari              -55 laps
20. GTE A  Narac/Armindo/Hallyday        Imsa Porsche               -56 laps
21. GTE A  Mowlem/Patterson/Hamilton     Ram Ferrari                -60 laps
22. GTE P  MacNeil/Bleekemolen           Prospeed Porsche           -60 laps
23. GTE A  Maris/Merlin/Helary           Imsa Porsche               -62 laps
24. GTE P  Turner/Mucke/Senna            Aston Martin               -69 laps
25. GTE P  Pilet/Bergmeister/Tandy       Manthey Porsche            -70 laps
26. P2     Zlobin/Salo/Ladygin           SMP ORECA-Nissan           -76 laps
27. GTE A  Mallegol/Bachelier/Blank      AF Ferrari                 -84 laps

Not classified:

P1     Dumas/Jani/Lieb               Porsche                    348 laps

P1     Bernhard/Webber/Hartley       Porsche                    346 laps

P2     Ragues/Taylor/Ihara           Larbre Morgan-Judd         341 laps

Retirements:

P1     Wurz/Sarrazin/Nakajima        Toyota                     219 laps

GTE A  Bertolini/Shaitar/Basov       SMP Ferrari                196 laps

GTE A  Perrodo/Collard/Palttala      Prospeed Porsche           194 laps

GTE P  Griffin/Parente/Leo           Ram Ferrari                140 laps

P2     Rusinov/Pla/Canal             OAK Morgan-Nissan          120 laps

GTE A  Mann/Case/Giammaria           AF Ferrari                 115 laps

P2     Howson/Bradley/Imperatori     KCMG ORECA-Nissan           87 laps

P1     Kraihamer/Belicchi/Leimer     Rebellion-Toyota            73 laps

P2     Berthon/Gonzalez/Chandhok     Murphy ORECA-Nissan         73 laps

P2     Munemman/Latif/Winslow        Greaves Zytek-Nissan        31 laps

GTE P  Rigon/Kaffer/Beretta          AF Ferrari                  28 laps

P1     Albuquerque/Bonanomi/Jarvis   Audi                        25 laps

GTE A  Wyatt/Rugolo/Bird             AF Ferrari                  22 laps

P2     Ladygin/Minassian/Mediani     SMP ORECA-Nissan             9 laps

C      Ordonez/Reip/Motoyama         Nissan ZEOD                  5 laps