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LE MANS, France - Audi underlined its domination of the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race with its fifth successive victory, a 1-2 finish, on Sunday.
France's Benoit Treluyer, Swiss driver Marcel Fassler and Andre Lotterer of Germany came home three laps ahead of the second Audi led by Danish driver Tom Kristensen.
In third, five laps behind the winners, was a Toyota driven by a trio headed by Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre. It was the German team's 13th win in total, leaving them just three behind Porsche.
SERIES OF MISFORTUNE
Treluyer, Fassler and Lotterer won the race for the third time, following 2011 and 2012, denying Kristensen, who already holds the record of nine race wins, the chance to reach an unprecedented double figures.
It was quite a turnaround in fortunes for the Audi teams after they suffered a series of misfortunes, among them turbocharger problems.
"We knew we would need a good car for the morning, to be ready to react if necessary," explained Treluyer. "You need luck to win a race like this."
Audi Sport director Wolfgang Ullrich said the team's experience saw them through. "We weren't the favourite," he admitted, "but it wasn't our first time. We know well that Le Mans is 24 hours and that we must find a solution to race without problems, without accidents, and spend the least time in the pits.
"It was our strategy."
Kristensen's luck ran out again after he took the lead early on Sunday morning when Stephane Sarrazin's Toyota was forced to retire after holding a commanding lead for more than 10 hours, with the two Audis in its wake.
The Toyota spluttered to a halt at the side of the track, victim of an electrical fault, in the early hours of Sunday morning.
"We led the race for 14 hours, the car was fantastic," said Sarrazin. "Alex Wurz got off to an incredible start. I continued to build up a lead. We tried to push to take a lap but there was an electrical problem and the start of a fire.
"Le Mans is so long. These are such sophisticated cars and you attack for 24 hours. That's the difficulty of this race - you have to have reliability."
LEAD SHORT-LIVED
That handed first place to Treluyer's Audi with a three-lap advantage over its sister car but two hours later the leading Audi was forced to make a long stop for a turbo change, surrendering six laps in the process, and Kristensen's Audi, the car that had to be rebuilt after a huge accident during Wednesday's practice session, became the race's fourth leader since the start.
The lead was short-lived, however, as the Audi also had to stop for more than a quarter-hour to change a turbo, a fate similar to that which befell Treluyer hours earlier.
Former Formula 1 driver Australian Mark Webber then took the lead in his Porsche 919 hybrid and was ahead with just three hours to go before a transmission problem ended his race.
That left the road clear for the Audis to win the 82nd edition of the world's most famous endurance race watched by 263 000 peope - the most in 20 years.
France's Benoit Treluyer, Swiss driver Marcel Fassler and Andre Lotterer of Germany came home three laps ahead of the second Audi led by Danish driver Tom Kristensen.
In third, five laps behind the winners, was a Toyota driven by a trio headed by Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre. It was the German team's 13th win in total, leaving them just three behind Porsche.
SERIES OF MISFORTUNE
Treluyer, Fassler and Lotterer won the race for the third time, following 2011 and 2012, denying Kristensen, who already holds the record of nine race wins, the chance to reach an unprecedented double figures.
It was quite a turnaround in fortunes for the Audi teams after they suffered a series of misfortunes, among them turbocharger problems.
"We knew we would need a good car for the morning, to be ready to react if necessary," explained Treluyer. "You need luck to win a race like this."
Audi Sport director Wolfgang Ullrich said the team's experience saw them through. "We weren't the favourite," he admitted, "but it wasn't our first time. We know well that Le Mans is 24 hours and that we must find a solution to race without problems, without accidents, and spend the least time in the pits.
"It was our strategy."
Kristensen's luck ran out again after he took the lead early on Sunday morning when Stephane Sarrazin's Toyota was forced to retire after holding a commanding lead for more than 10 hours, with the two Audis in its wake.
The Toyota spluttered to a halt at the side of the track, victim of an electrical fault, in the early hours of Sunday morning.
"We led the race for 14 hours, the car was fantastic," said Sarrazin. "Alex Wurz got off to an incredible start. I continued to build up a lead. We tried to push to take a lap but there was an electrical problem and the start of a fire.
"Le Mans is so long. These are such sophisticated cars and you attack for 24 hours. That's the difficulty of this race - you have to have reliability."
LEAD SHORT-LIVED
That handed first place to Treluyer's Audi with a three-lap advantage over its sister car but two hours later the leading Audi was forced to make a long stop for a turbo change, surrendering six laps in the process, and Kristensen's Audi, the car that had to be rebuilt after a huge accident during Wednesday's practice session, became the race's fourth leader since the start.
The lead was short-lived, however, as the Audi also had to stop for more than a quarter-hour to change a turbo, a fate similar to that which befell Treluyer hours earlier.
Former Formula 1 driver Australian Mark Webber then took the lead in his Porsche 919 hybrid and was ahead with just three hours to go before a transmission problem ended his race.
That left the road clear for the Audis to win the 82nd edition of the world's most famous endurance race watched by 263 000 peope - the most in 20 years.
