End of an era at Le Mans: the decisive moments of LMP1
After more than a quarter of a century as the premier class of Le Mans and endurance racing, LMP1 has taken its final bow. Gary Watkins looks back at the significant moments in the history of the division
Porsche, Toyota and Audi created the finest of the breed with their hybrid LMP1 chargers, all of which triumphed at Le Mans. But now a new era beckons
Jean-Francois Monier/AFP via Getty Images
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
Audi driver Tom Kristensen reckoned Peugeot had “given us a bit of a smacking” at the 2008 Sebring 12 Hours. Another victory a couple of months later at Spa confirmed the French manufacturer as the clear favourite for the Le Mans 24 Hours in the battle of the turbodiesels.
The Peugeot 908 HDi had again proved its supremacy over the ageing Audi R10 TDI at the Le Mans Test Day two weeks ahead of the race. The best of them, with Stéphane Sarrazin at the wheel, was more than four seconds up on the fastest of the German machines over the two sessions held in mixed conditions.
