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Scot McNish continues dominance of Audi at Le Mans 24

15/06/2008

Scotland's Allan McNish has led Audi to their fifth straight victory in the Le Mans 24-hour sportscar race.

The ex-Formula One driver with team-mates Rinaldo Capello of Italy and Denmark's Tom Kristensen beat off the challenge of the star-studded Peugeot No.7 team after 381 laps.

Peugeot secured the top three places on yesterday's starting grid, but the Audi No.2 team coped better with the treacherous racing conditions.

1997 Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve, Marc Gene and Nicolas Minassian finished four minutes 31.094 seconds behind for Peugeot No.7.

The Peugeot No.9 team of Franck Montagny, Christian Klien and Ricardo Zonta finished third overall, two laps off the pace.

McNish, 38, praised his team's victory against the odds.

"I'm very, very pleased and extremely proud. We did it with our backs against the wall, but we did it," McNish said.

Meanwhile Villeneuve, who led the race for a few laps, admitted his Peugeot was difficult to control.

"You get the power down coming out of corners and it snaps around, which makes it harder to overtake the slower cars," the Canadian said.

Peugeot made a blistering start with its three cars leading in the first two hours.

But their hopes of victory were destroyed when the Peugeot No.8 had to stop for 20 minutes in the pits due to a gearbox problem while the Peugeot No.9's headlights gave out.

Audi No.2's Capello took the lead at the start of the fourth hour while Minassian's Peugeot No.7 was refuelling, but Minassian overtook the Italian on the inside in the fifth hour on lap 71 to regain the lead.

The Peugeot No.9 was leading when the rain started in the 14th hour, giving the Audis a golden chance to close the gap.

And Kristensen, who now has a record eight victories in Le Mans, overtook Villeneuve in the 15th hour on lap 234 when the Peugeot No.7 was refuelling.

The Audi No.2 survived a scare in the 22nd hour after the diesel-powered car collided with a Zytek 07S, but carried on to clinch victory in the historic race.