• 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.

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

    By Peter Orosz
    Jun 16, 2009 8:30 AM 0
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    24 Hours Of Le Mans 2009: Stunning Mega-Gallery

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