2007 24 Hours of Le Mans

All you want to know about 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans

2007 24 Hours of Le Mans
Previous: 2006 Next: 2008
Index: Races | Winners

The 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 75th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France from 16–17 June 2007. Four classes of cars raced together, with each class having honors for its highest finishers. The faster LMP1 and LMP2 classes were for custom-built Le Mans Prototypes (LMP), and the slower GT1 and GT2 classes were for modified grand tourer (GT) road cars.

The LMP1 class saw the first competition between the new diesel engined Peugeot 908 prototype and the diesel Audi R10 TDI, the 2006 Le Mans winner; the Audi once again achieved an overall victory. There was heavy attrition in the LMP2 class, in which only two competitors finished the race. In the GT1 class, Aston Martin achieved its first win over the Corvette since returning to the event in 2005. The GT2 class was a battle between Ferrari and Porsche, won by Porsche. The race was attended by over 250,000 spectators.[1]

Contents

Track changes

The Circuit de la Sarthe (in black) as it appeared in 2007.

Between the 2006 and 2007 races, the Circuit de la Sarthe was upgraded, most obviously by the reprofiling of the Tertre Rouge corner. The new corner was moved inward, to create a long flowing curve instead of the single point apex it had been previously, shortening the lap distance by 21 meters to a revised 13.629 km.[2] A new pedestrian tunnel – below the Mulsanne Straight, immediately after Tertre Rouge – was also built. The work had been planned to be carried out before the 2006 event, but it was delayed because of budgetary concerns.

Nine new garages were built at the end of the pit lane, replacing the four temporary garages that had been built a few years earlier. The additional garages allowed the ACO to increase the number of entries it could grant from 50 to 55. The paddock behind the garages was also re-organized with more facilities added for spectators, including more shops, new landscaping, and the Audi Tower monument.[2]

The public roads from the Indianapolis corner to the Porsche Curves were re-surfaced. Run-off areas at the Dunlop Chicane, Tertre Rouge, Indianapolis, and Ford Chicanes were also partially asphalted in order to avoid gravel being brought back onto the circuit by cars which had gone off course. This also increased safety by allowing the cars to slow themselves more efficiently using their brakes and tyres on tarmac.

Rule changes

Several months before the event, the ACO announced rule changes for all Le Mans-based series (American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, and Japan Le Mans Challenge), effective in 2007 for all four classes:[3]

  • LMP1s with diesel engines had their fuel tank capacity decreased from 90 litres to 81 litres. LMP1s with petrol engines kept their 90 litre tanks.
  • LMP2, GT1, and GT2 class cars had to be fitted with 5% smaller air restrictors than they had run in 2006, in order to decrease horsepower.
  • GT1 and GT2 classes were allowed to run ethanol and other alternative fuels if approved by the ACO.

The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) initially decided to not abide by the LMP2 restrictor change for the American Le Mans Series, although that decision was reversed following Le Mans. SERO decided not to fully conform to the new ACO regulations in the Japan Le Mans Challenge until 2008.

The ACO also announced rule changes specific to Le Mans:

  • The number of invited entries was increased from 50 to 55, with this number to be increased in subsequent years.
  • All entries had to run Shell fuel in either diesel or petrol form.
  • The temperature inside closed-cockpit cars was not to exceed 32 °C in cars with air conditioning or 10 °C above the ambient air temperature in cars without. The ACO would monitor cockpit temperature, and stop any car in which those limits were exceeded.
  • All cars had to run mufflers in order to produce less than 113 dB of engine noise.
  • Older LMP900 and LMP675 class prototypes were not allowed to be entered. Only newer LMP1 and LMP2 class cars were allowed to compete.

It was also decided that the race would start at 3:00 pm local time, one hour earlier than the normal 4:00 pm, to allow French spectators more time to vote in the 17 July French legislative election.[4]

Entries

Automatic invitations

Teams earned automatic invitations to the event from the ACO for winning certain races and championships in their respective classes. Teams were limited to no more than two entries. If a team had already earned its two entries, additional invitations were extended to the next best-performing competitor. Cars running outside of the ACO's rules were also skipped and the invitation given to the next competitor.

On 13 December 2006, the ACO released its official list[5] of automatic entries from the multiple Le Mans backed series and races. On 22 December, the ACO announced that it would add four more automatic entries, this time chosen from the 2006 FIA GT Championship season's team champions and runners-up in each class, as part of an agreement between the ACO and FIA GT's SRO organisation.[6]

All other teams had to apply to the ACO for an invitation. The ACO then decided on the remainder of the entry list based on each team's recent performances, as well as its originality in chassis and engine design.

List of automatic entries

Team Reason Entered Note
LMP1
Flag of Germany Audi Sport Team Joest 1st in 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans
Flag of France Pescarolo Sport 2nd in 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans
Flag of France Pescarolo Sport 1st in 2006 Le Mans Series championship
Flag of the United Kingdom Creation Autosportif 2nd in 2006 Le Mans Series championship
Flag of Germany Audi Sport North America 1st in 2006 Petit Le Mans
Flag of Germany Audi Sport North America 1st in 2006 American Le Mans Series championship
LMP2
Flag of the United Kingdom Ray Mallock Ltd. (RML) 1st in 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans
Flag of the United States Binnie Motorsports 2nd in 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans
Flag of France Barazi-Epsilon 1st in 2006 Le Mans Series championship
Flag of the United Kingdom Ray Mallock Ltd. (RML) 2nd in 2006 Le Mans Series championship Entry Not Taken
Flag of the United States Penske Racing 1st in 2006 Petit Le Mans Entry Not Taken
Flag of the United States Penske Racing 1st in 2006 American Le Mans Series championship Entry Not Taken
GT1
Flag of the United States Corvette Racing 1st in 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans
Flag of the United Kingdom Aston Martin Racing 2nd in 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans
Flag of France Aston Martin Racing Larbre 1st in 2006 Le Mans Series championship
Flag of the Czech Republic Convers MenX Team 2nd in 2006 Le Mans Series championship
Flag of the United States Corvette Racing 3rd in 2006 Petit Le Mans1
Flag of the United Kingdom Aston Martin Racing 2nd in 2006 American Le Mans Series championship2
Flag of Germany Vitaphone Racing Team 1st in 2006 FIA GT Championship Entry Not Taken
Flag of Italy Aston Martin Racing BMS 2nd in 2006 FIA GT Championship
GT2
Flag of the United Kingdom Team LNT 1st in 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans
Flag of Germany Seikel Motorsport 2nd in 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans
Flag of Italy Autorlando Sport 1st in 2006 Le Mans Series championship
Flag of the United Kingdom Team LNT 2nd in 2006 Le Mans Series championship
Flag of the United States Risi Competizione 2nd in 2006 Petit Le Mans3
Flag of the United States Risi Competizione 1st in 2006 American Le Mans Series championship
Flag of Italy AF Corse 1st in 2006 FIA GT Championship
Flag of the United Kingdom Scuderia Ecosse 2nd in 2006 FIA GT Championship
1. Due to IMSA allowing Aston Martin to run Petit Le Mans below the ACO's minimum weight, their first and second place finishes were not allowed, and automatic entry given to Corvette Racing.
2. Corvette Racing had already won two automatic entries, thus the entry was given to Aston Martin.
3. Petersen/White Lightning was allowed to participate in Petit Le Mans on a technical waiver. Thus their win was not allowed by the ACO, and automatic entry was given to Risi Competizione.

On 19 January 2007, the ACO announced that 24 of the 28 teams had accepted their automatic entries before the deadline.[7] Penske Racing turned down both of its invitations, and Ray Mallock, Ltd. rejected its second entry because of a lack of funding. Vitaphone Racing Team rejected its invitation because its Maserati MC12 did not comply with the ACO's GT1 rules, although the team later attempted to gain entry in another class through application.

Official entry list

On 27 February 2007, the ACO published the official entry list, which included the full 55 entries and 8 reserves.

Although drivers were not listed, Tom Kristensen's injury in the opening round of the 2007 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season made his participation in the race questionable. As the driver with the most wins at Le Mans, he was intended to be part of Audi's factory team. Fellow Audi DTM driver Mattias Ekström was nominated as his possible replacement by Audi.[8] However, on June 11, 2007 Kristensen was cleared by doctors to race, leaving Ekström's services unneeded.[9]

Reserve entries

A total of eight reserve entries were listed by the ACO in its initial published list. Reserves were added to the entry list when a competitor already on the list withdrew. The ACO determined the order in which reserve entries were considered for addition to the entry list.

Two cars officially withdrew from the entry list in April, with their places taken by the following reserve entries:

JMB Racing also withdrew its entry from the reserve list due to its drivers reaching an agreement with AF Corse to run in its entry instead.

Test session

Jacques Villeneuve driving the new Peugeot 908 during the test session.

The official test session for Le Mans was held on 3 June, and was the only practice session that was not part of qualifying timing. A total of eight hours of track time was allowed for teams to find their set-ups and for rookie drivers to get in their required ten laps to learn the circuit.

The sessions were led by Sébastien Bourdais, with his Peugeot 908 setting a lap time of 3:26.707, a second and a half ahead of two trailing Audis. Pescarolo Sport had the fastest gasoline-powered car in fourth. In the LMP2 class, the pair of Barazi-Epsilon entries led with identical times of 3:39.016; ASM Team Racing for Portugal trailed the pair in class.

In GT1, the #63 Corvette recorded the fastest time of the day with a 3:49.207, followed by the #007 Aston Martin and the second factory Corvette. GT2 was dominated by Porsche, with the top three positions being taken by the new 997s. IMSA Performance Matmut led with a 4:01.598, while Autorlando and Flying Lizard followed behind. The Risi Competizione entry was the fastest Ferrari, in fourth place.

Although there were various small incidents, three major accidents led to a red flag for the session. The #13 Courage Compétition entry, driven by Guillaume Moreau, went off at the Porsche Curves during the second hour.[12] The car could not return to the test session due a bent chassis caused by the heavy impact. The second red flag involved the #24 Noël del Bello entry going off the track at the same location in the hands of Vitaly Petrov, becoming briefly airborne after contact with the concrete wall.[13] In the final incident, almost in the last hour of the session, the #10 Arena Motorsports Zytek also went off at the Porsche Curves, and briefly caught fire.[14]

The damage to the Arena Zytek led to the car being withdrawn during scrutineering a week and a half later, just before the actual race. The team decided that it was not able to repair the damage in time for the car to pass scrutineering.[15]

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on 13–14 June, with two two-hour sessions each night; one run at dusk, the other in darkness. New drivers were again required to run a set number of laps to learn the circuit and be allowed to race: three in daylight and three at night. The best overall time from all four sessions determined the starting grid.

Wednesday

The first qualifying session began under the threat of rain, so most of the teams tried to set a good lap time before the conditions deteriorated. The Audis and Peugeots swapped the overall pole position several times, and at the end of the session the #1 Audi was fastest overall with a time of 3.28.301. The #33 Barazi-Epsilon Zytek led LMP2, after an earlier misfiring problem had been repaired. Oreca's Saleens were the fastest two GT1 cars, while Ferrari and Porsche were close to one another in GT2. The session was red flagged about halfway through because of an accident in which the #53 JLOC Lamborghini Murciélago, driven by Marco Apicella, hit the wall at the first Mulsanne chicane.[16] The #25 Ray Mallock Ltd. Lola and #81 LNT Panoz were the only cars not to set a lap time before the session briefly returned to green as rain began. The ACO extended the session by fifteen minutes to compensate for the earlier red flag.

The second session started several minutes late due to the damp conditions from the earlier rain. A red flag briefly came out for the #5 Swiss Spirit Lola a few minutes after the session began due to the car being stopped at the side of the track. Although the track was drying, it was not until the last half hour that teams were able to improve on their first session times. The #2 Audi and #8 Peugeot swapped the pole position multiple times before the session ended with the #8 Peugeot claiming the top position on the final lap of the session with a time of 3:26.344. In GT1 the #008 Larbre Aston Martin took the class lead on the final lap with a 3:50.761. The LMP2 and GT2 classes saw very little improvement; the class leading teams remained the same.

It was later announced by the ACO that JLOC Isao Noritake would be allowed to use another Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT chassis, borrowed from the French DAMS team, but Marco Apicella was not allowed to drive in the race due to the head injuries he sustained in his accident during qualifying, leaving the team with two drivers.[17]

Thursday

The first session on Thursday began in heavy rain. Although some cars attempted to carry out wet weather testing, the conditions forced all the teams back to their garages. Once the rain began to slacken off cars returned to the track, but the rain continued throughout the entire session. No one was able to improve on their qualifying times from the previous day.

The rain continued throughout the second session, so most teams concentrated on their wet weather setups in preparation for a wet race. About halfway through the session the #7 Peugeot in the hands of Marc Gené missed the turn at Arnage and hit a tire barrier. The car was unable to return to the pits and was taken behind the wall by the marshals. This was soon followed by the #73 Luc Alphand Corvette missing the same turn as well, but it continued on without significant damage. The #70 PSI Corvette had a minor accident in the last five minutes of the session, bringing out the only red flag of the day and ending all of qualifying.

Audi led the wet sessions with a 4:01.257 time for the #1 car, followed by the #3 Audi and #8 Peugeot within a second. #33 Barazi-Epsilon again lead the times for the second day in LMP2, while the #54 Oreca Saleen continued to show strong pace with the fastest time in GT1. The #93 Autorlando Sport Porsche was the fastest GT2 class entry in the rain.

Qualifying times

Class leaders and the fastest lap time on each day are in bold. No cars set a faster time on the second day.

The crowd in the paddock a few hours before the start of the race.
Pos Team Class Day 1
[18]
Day 2
[19]
1 Flag of France #8 Team Peugeot Total LMP1 3:26.344 4:01.928
2 Flag of Germany #2 Audi Sport North America LMP1 3:26.916 4:01.257
3 Flag of France #7 Team Peugeot Total LMP1 3:27.724 4:06.205
4 Flag of Germany #1 Audi Sport North America LMP1 3:28.301 4:04.386
5 Flag of Germany #3 Audi Sport Team Joest LMP1 3:29.736 4:01.629
6 Flag of France #16 Pescarolo Sport LMP1 3:33.590 4:11.511
7 Flag of France #13 Courage Compétition LMP1 3:35.171 4:23.905
8 Flag of the United Kingdom #18 Rollcentre Racing LMP1 3:35.559 4:26.442
9 Flag of the Netherlands #14 Racing for Holland LMP1 3:35.660 4:16.675
10 Flag of the United Kingdom #9 Creation Autosportif LMP1 3:36.279 4:18.797
11 Flag of the Czech Republic #15 Charouz Racing System LMP1 3:37.737 4:12.490
12 Flag of France #12 Courage Compétition LMP1 3:38.371 4:36.646
13 Flag of France #17 Pescarolo Sport LMP1 3:38.753 4:11.611
14 Flag of Switzerland #5 Swiss Spirit LMP1 3:42.626 4:21.415
15 Flag of France #33 Barazi-Epsilon LMP2 3:44.158 4:11.296
16 Flag of the United Kingdom #19 Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport LMP1 3:44.721 6:37.797
17 Flag of Portugal #40 Quifel ASM Team LMP2 3:45.838 4:47.127
18 Flag of the United States #31 Binnie Motorsports LMP2 3:48.173 4:48.025
19 Flag of the United Kingdom #21 Team Bruichladdich Radical LMP2 3:48.332 4:37.507
20 Flag of France #32 Barazi-Epsilon LMP2 3:48.935 4:14.508
21 Flag of the United Kingdom #25 Ray Mallock Ltd. LMP2 3:49.217 4:17.297
22 Flag of Spain #35 Saulnier Racing LMP2 3:49.621 4:32.963
23 Flag of France #008 Aston Martin Racing Larbre GT1 3:50.761 4:32.633
24 Flag of France #55 Team Oreca GT1 3:51.240 4:32.860
25 Flag of France #20 Pierre Bruneau LMP2 3:51.342 4:39.787
26 Flag of the United States #64 Corvette Racing GT1 3:52.130 4:35.281
27 Flag of the United Kingdom #009 Aston Martin Racing GT1 3:52.471 4:29.918
28 Flag of Germany #44 Kruse Motorsport LMP2 3:52.552 5:00.117
29 Flag of the United States #63 Corvette Racing GT1 3:52.657 4:36.285
30 Flag of the United Kingdom #59 Team Modena GT1 3:53.727 4:28.580
31 Flag of France #54 Team Oreca GT1 3:54.718 4:26.955
32 Flag of Italy #100 Aston Martin Racing BMS GT1 3:55.141 4:28.906
33 Flag of France #72 Luc Alphand Aventures GT1 3:55.668 4:39.531
34 Flag of the United Kingdom #007 Aston Martin Racing GT1 3:55.714 4:28.604
35 Flag of Belgium #70 PSI Experience GT1 3:56.922 4:30.723
36 Flag of France #24 Noël del Bello Racing LMP2 3:57.566 4:24.793
37 Flag of France #73 Luc Alphand Aventures GT1 3:59.068 4:52.166
38 Flag of France #006 Aston Martin Racing Larbre GT1 4:01.674 4:53.664
39 Flag of the United Kingdom #82 Scuderia Ecosse GT2 4:04.185 4:47.877
40 Flag of France #76 IMSA Performance Matmut GT2 4:04.622 4:38.386
41 Flag of the United States #97 Risi Competizione GT2 4:05.358 4:39.564
42 Flag of the United States #80 Flying Lizard Motorsports GT2 4:05.588 4:41.736
43 Flag of Japan #53 JLOC Isao Noritake GT1 4:06.223 -
44 Flag of Italy #93 Autorlando Sport GT2 4:08.211 4:36.386
45 Flag of the United States #99 Risi Competizione GT2 4:09.065 5:10.785
46 Flag of the Czech Republic #67 Convers MenX Racing GT1 4:09.088 4:39.343
47 Flag of the Netherlands #85 Spyker Squadron GT2 4:10.719 4:48.139
48 Flag of the United Kingdom #81 Team LNT GT2 4:11.025 4:41.334
49 Flag of the Netherlands #86 Spyker Squadron GT2 4:11:598 4:44.373
50 Flag of the United Kingdom #82 Team LNT GT2 4:13.049 4:46.961
52 Flag of Italy #83 G.P.C. Sport GT2 4:15.669 5:04.447
52 Flag of Germany #71 Seikel Motorsport GT2 4:17.750 5:03.369
53 Flag of Italy #78 AF Corse GT2 4:21.714 4:53.812
54 Flag of Japan #29 T2M Motorsport LMP2 4:53.983 4:54.729

Race

Start

A group of Le Mans Prototypes at Mulsanne Corner during the early laps.

The race began at 3:00 pm local time (GMT+1), with the track still damp following a wet morning warm-up. Sébastien Bourdais's Peugeot 908 led the field into the Dunlop Chicane, which he overshot, handing the lead to the #2 Audi R10 TDI.[20] The three Audis took over the lead during the opening hour, before pit stops began.

The rebuilt Lamborghini of JLOC Isao Noritake was the first retirement of the race when the gearbox failed on the Mulsanne during its second lap of the race.[21] Shortly after the first hour of the race had been completed, heavy rain resulted in the safety car being brought out again.

Soon after the field was released, the safety car was once again required after an accident in which Mike Rockenfeller spun his #3 Audi R10 TDI on the exit from Tertre Rouge, hitting the safety barriers on the Mulsannes Straight backwards. While crews fixed the barrier, Rockenfeller attempted to repair his Audi, but he was finally forced to retire.[22] This caution period also saw an early retirement for the #64 Corvette when a part of its drivetrain broke while following the safety car. Oliver Gavin attempted to return to the pits using battery power but was stopped by the marshals, forcing him to abandon the car.[23] The race eventually continued after nearly an hour under caution.

Night

As dusk began to fall on the drying track, the #8 Peugeot suffered from rear wheel hub failures which required two lengthy visits to the garage.

The start/finish complex and pit exit as the sun sets.

This allowed the #1 Audi to take over second place. Jacques Villeneuve's #7 Peugeot also lost time, which dropped it to two laps behind the #2 Audi.[24] The #1 Audi had its own brief moment when the #63 Corvette clipped the Audi's rear end. The Corvette was forced to take evasive action through the Dunlop Chicane's gravel trap, and the Audi required replacement rear bodywork on its next pit stop.[25]

A third safety car period was caused by the Creation Autosportif entry, which ran into the tire barriers at the Porsche Curves and needed to be extracted. The Creation returned to the pits but eventually retired. The Kruse Motorsport entry also suffered problems when it briefly stopped at the pit entrance during the caution period, blocking other cars attempting to make their own pit stops.[26] The Kruse entry eventually succeeded in getting to its garage.

As the night continued and the race neared its halfway point, many cars suffered mechanical failures, putting them out of the race. They included a large number of the LMP2 class cars such as Team ASM and Ray Mallock Ltd., both of which had led the class at one point. In GT1, the two factory Aston Martins led the lone remaining factory Corvette by one lap, while the #97 Risi Competizione Ferrari had a two lap lead in the GT2 class.

Morning

In the early hours, fluids were spilled on the track by the leader in GT2, the Risi Competizione Ferrari. This caused numerous competitors to spin, and required the Ferrari to undergo major front-end repairs, resulting in the car falling several laps behind.

Early dawn at Mulsanne Corner.

The biggest problem of the morning though occurred shortly before the completion of the 17th hour, when the race-leading #2 Audi of Rinaldo Capello lost a left rear wheel at high speed at the Indianapolis corner. Unable to control the car he went straight on into a tire barrier. Although Capello attempted to get the car back to the pits, it was too badly damaged to be drivable. Television footage had recorded the #2 Audi being dropped off its airjacks before the left rear wheel was attached on the prior pit stop, but Audi claimed that this was likely not the cause of the wheel coming off at speed.[27]

With two Audis out, this left the lone #1 Audi to take over the race lead, with the two Peugeots four and six laps behind respectively. Just before to the #2 Audi's accident, the GT1-leading Aston Martin had also come off the track, damaging its front splitter. The necessary repairs led to the car spending eight minutes in the garage, dropping it to fourth in class.[28] The lone factory Corvette gained a place to take over second in class. Scuderia Ecosse's Ferrari briefly took over the GT2 lead after Risi's problems, but it too broke down on the track, handing the lead to the IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche.[29] Binnie Motorsport's entry had a sizable lead in its class, having not suffered the many problems its LMP2 competitors had.

Finish

After having held off for most of the race, the rain began to fall once more during the final three hours. This caused numerous incidents, including the #93 Autorlando Porsche missing a Mulsanne chicane and plowing through a temporary tire barrier. The #7 Peugeot made an unscheduled garage stop and retired one lap after re-entering the race, claiming oil pressure problems.[30]

The rain eventually became heavier, making the conditions treacherous and bringing the safety car back out. This put a temporary stop to the battle between Aston Martin and Corvette for first and second place in the GT1 class. The second place Corvette had been quicker in the wet conditions, but it was not allowed to further close on the Aston Martin during the safety period.[31] After problems for both of the Barazi-Epsilon LMP2s, Binnie Motorsports brought its class leading LMP2 car to the garage to ensure that the car was prepared for the weather and could hold on to the lead until the finish.[32]

The #009 Aston Martin DBR9, winner of the GT1 class.

After over an hour behind the safety car, the field was released to race one last time with only twelve minutes remaining. With no close contests between the competitors, the field continued to run at less than racing pace, in preparation for the finish. The #8 Peugeot of Sébastien Bourdais briefly went into the pits, before returning to the track. To ensure that the Peugeot finished the race, and did not break down before crossing the finishing line behind the winner, Bourdais stopped at the Ford Chicanes on the final lap. Once the #1 Audi had gone past to take the checkered flag, Bourdais restarted the Peugeot and finished as well. The #16 Pescarolo finished the race in third, the highest placed petrol car.

The #009 Aston Martin took the GT1 class win by a single lap over the Corvette, earning Aston Martin its first victory since its overall win in 1959. The #76 IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche was the GT2 winner, with a six lap margin of victory. Only two cars finished in the LMP2 class. The #31 Binnie Motorsports Lola took the victory in spite of finishing 18th overall. Of the 54 starters, only 29 cars finished the race. The GT1 class cars proved themselves to be the most reliable, losing only two competitors over the 24 hours.

Although at the end of the race, both Audi and Peugeot's maximum speeds recorded on the Mulsanne Straight were equally the fastest - 339 km/h, the Audi R10 was far more consistent under the aspect of highest speeds: the R10 constantly did around 338-339 km/h at the fastest part of the circuit, while the Peugeot did 339 km/h just once and only from 334 km/h down on a regular basis. This was quite obvious once the R10 and the 908 met at the fastest points of the track, where the Audis typically passed the Peugeots without hesitation.[citation needed]

Official results

Class winners are marked in bold. Cars finishing the race but not completing 75% of the winner's distance are listed as Not Classified (NC).[33]

Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Tyre Laps
Engine
1 LMP1 1 Flag of Germany Audi Sport North America Flag of Germany Marco Werner
Flag of Italy Emanuele Pirro
Flag of Germany Frank Biela
Audi R10 TDI M 369
Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12
(Diesel)
2 LMP1 8 Flag of France Team Peugeot Total Flag of France Stéphane Sarrazin
Flag of Portugal Pedro Lamy
Flag of France Sébastien Bourdais
Peugeot 908 M 359
Peugeot HDi 5.5L Turbo V12
(Diesel)
3 LMP1 16 Flag of France Pescarolo Sport Flag of France Emmanuel Collard
Flag of France Jean-Christophe Boullion
Flag of France Romain Dumas
Pescarolo 01 M 358
Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5L V10
4 LMP1 18 Flag of the United Kingdom Rollcentre Racing Flag of the United Kingdom Stuart Hall
Flag of Portugal João Barbosa
Flag of the United Kingdom Martin Short
Pescarolo 01 D 347
Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5L V10
5 GT1 009 Flag of the United Kingdom Aston Martin Racing Flag of Australia David Brabham
Flag of the United Kingdom Darren Turner
Flag of Sweden Rickard Rydell
Aston Martin DBR9 M 343
Aston Martin 6.0L V12
6 GT1 63 Flag of the United States Corvette Racing Flag of the United States Johnny O'Connell
Flag of Denmark Jan Magnussen
Flag of Canada Ron Fellows
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R M 342
Chevrolet LS7-R 7.0L V8
7 GT1 008 Flag of France Aston Martin Racing Larbre Flag of France Christophe Bouchut
Flag of Italy Fabrizio Gollin
Flag of Denmark Casper Elgaard
Aston Martin DBR9 M 341
Aston Martin 6.0L V12
8 LMP1 15 Flag of the Czech Republic Charouz Racing System Flag of the Czech Republic Jan Charouz
Flag of Germany Stefan Mücke
Flag of Malaysia Alex Yoong
Lola B07/17 M 338
Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5L V10
9 GT1 007 Flag of the United Kingdom Aston Martin Racing Flag of the United Kingdom Johnny Herbert
Flag of the Netherlands Peter Kox
Flag of the Czech Republic Tomáš Enge
Aston Martin DBR9 M 337
Aston Martin 6.0L V12
10 GT1 54 Flag of France Team Oreca Flag of France Laurent Groppi
Flag of France Nicolas Prost
Flag of France Jean-Philippe Belloc
Saleen S7-R M 337
Ford 7.0L V8
11 GT1 100 Flag of Italy Aston Martin Racing BMS Flag of Italy Fabio Babini
Flag of the United Kingdom Jamie Davies
Flag of Italy Matteo Malucelli
Aston Martin DBR9 P 336
Aston Martin 6.0L V12
12 GT1 72 Flag of France Luc Alphand Aventures Flag of France Luc Alphand
Flag of France Jérôme Policand
Flag of France Patrice Goueslard
Chevrolet Corvette C6.R M 327
Chevrolet LS7-R 7.0L V8
13 LMP1 17 Flag of France Pescarolo Sport Flag of Switzerland Harold Primat
Flag of France Christophe Tinseau
Flag of France Benoît Treluyer
Pescarolo 01 M 325
Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5L V10
14 GT1 67 Flag of the Czech Republic Convers MenX Racing Flag of Russia Alexei Vasiliev
Flag of the Czech Republic Tomáš Kostka
Flag of the Czech Republic Robert Pergl
Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello P 322
Ferrari F133 5.9L V12
15 GT2 76 Flag of France IMSA Performance Matmut Flag of France Raymond Narac
Flag of Austria Richard Lietz
Flag of the United States Patrick Long
Porsche 997 GT3-RSR M 320
Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
16 GT1 55 Flag of France Team Oreca Flag of Monaco Stéphane Ortelli
Flag of France Soheil Ayari
Flag of France Nicolas Lapierre
Saleen S7-R M 318
Ford 7.0L V8
17 GT1 59 Flag of the United Kingdom Team Modena Flag of Spain Antonio García
Flag of the Netherlands Jos Menten
Flag of Brazil Christian Fittipaldi
Aston Martin DBR9 M 318
Aston Martin 6.0L V12
18 LMP2 31 Flag of the United States Binnie Motorsports Flag of the United States William Binnie
Flag of the United Kingdom Allen Timpany
Flag of the United Kingdom Chris Buncombe
Lola B05/42 K 318
Zytek ZG348 3.4L V8
19 GT2 99 Flag of the United States Risi Competizione
Flag of the United States Krohn Racing
Flag of the United States Tracy Krohn
Flag of Sweden Niclas Jönsson