• 24 Hours Of Le Mans 2009: Stunning Mega-Gallery

    While Americans are reinventing endurance racing in a dadaist manner, Europeans are still doing their thing at Le Mans, 86 years after the first race. And it was Audi vs. Peugeot yet again. Warning: spoilers.

    Audi has won every race at La Sarthe since 1999, the sole exception being the 2003 event—which wasn’t really an exception at all, as the winning Bentley Speed 8 was nothing but Audi’s all-conquering R8 with a roof and a can of British Racing Green paint.

    After retiring the R8, Audi returned in 2006 with the R10, the first modern diesel-engined endurance racecar, powered by a V12 TDI engine, which duly took victory at its first outing at Le Mans.

    In 2007, Peugeot stepped up to the plate with a similar design, the 908 HDi FAP, which came in second on its inaugural race, retained this position for 2008, then roared back for a 1–2 finish this Sunday against Audi’s all-new R15. This marks Peugeot’s third win at their home race, after the Peugeot 905’s back-to-back wins in 1992 and 1993.

    A Porsche RS Spyder entered by Team Essex/Poulsen Motorsport took the LMP2 class. The Corvettes marked their last race before retirement with a fifth class win in GT1, while in GT2 it was all Ferrari, with the top spot going to Risi Competizione’s F430.

    Presented here are the best photos from the race.

     1 800x600 | Full Size
    Click to view image 1
    Click to view image 2
    Click to view image 3
    Click to view image 4
    Click to view image 5
    Click to view image 6
    Click to view image 7
    Click to view image 8
    Click to view image 9
    Click to view image 10
    Click to view image 11
    Click to view image 12
    Click to view image 13
    Click to view image 14
    Click to view image 15
    Click to view image 16


    Send an email to Peter Orosz, the author of this post, at peter@jalopnik.com.

    By Peter Orosz
    Jun 16, 2009 8:30 AM 13,042
    Click to view image next »

    24 Hours Of Le Mans 2009: Stunning Mega-Gallery

    The Corvette Racing C.6R of Jan Magnussen of Denmark, Johnny O'Connell of the United States of America and Antonio Garcia of Spain drives during the 77th running of the Le Mans 24 Hour race at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans on June 15, 2009 in Le Mans, France.

    Photo Credit: Ker Robertson/Getty Images


    link directly to this page:
    http://jalopnik.com/5291149//gallery/gallery/1
    read more: #racingnews, #24hoursoflemans, #200924hoursoflemans, #enduranceracing, #audi, #audir8, #audir10, #audir15, #r8, #r10, #r15, #peugeot, #peugeot908hdifap, #peugeot905, #peugeot908, #lasarthe, #bentley, #speed8, #bentleyspeed8, #v12, #tdi, #audir10tdi, #audir15tdi, #porsche, #porschersspyder, #teamessex, #poulsenmotorsport, #corvette, #corvettec6r, #ferrari, #ferrarif430, #risicompetizione, #lucacorderodimontezemolo, #janmagnussen, #nicolasminassian, #davidbrabham, #alexwurz, #marcgene, #dindocapello, #tertrerouge, #indianapoliscorner, #dunlopchicane, #astonmartinracing, #pedrolamy, #top, #feature, #spoilers