The new millennium marked the start of a definite era: an Audi era. Its open-topped R8s had made their Le Mans debut in 1999 after decades of Audi achieving its glory on the rally stages and in the touring car arena. It was clearly time for a change of image, and Audi wasn’t hanging around, as it took the first win of the decade. This went to Tom Kristensen, Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro. It proved a great formula, as this trio then won again in 2001 and 2002. Success in this great enduro is down to far more than outright speed and the story of Kristensen’s golden decade is how his crew constantly rose above Audi’s other excellent crews. Coincidence certainly wasn’t part of this equation as he proved that his focus was laser sharp and his ability to attack through triple stints invaluable by winning seven times in the 2000s.

In 2003, though, sportscar racing historians were treated to a once-great marque striking back. Bentley had made its return in 2001, found speed in 2002 and then been offered a near open goal when Audi stood down for a year, ostensibly to let Bentley win. After all, the marques were owned by the same parent company. As it happens, the winning Speed 8 ran faultlessly and even its slightly delayed sister car was good enough to beat the best of the Audi privateers, with Kristensen, Rinaldo Capello and Guy Smith heading home Mark Blundell, David Brabham and Johnny Herbert. Kristensen and Capello then returned to Audi in 2004 and won again. Then, in 2005, Kristensen surpassed Jacky Ickx’s long-standing Le Mans record by taking his seventh win.

Nothing stays the same forever, and it was time for Audi to retire its R8 in 2006 to usher in turbo-diesel power with its R10. The result? Another win, the first of two in a row for Biela, Pirro and Marco Werner. Then, in 2008, it was a third win for the R10 TDI, this time with Kristensen (yes, him again) getting to stand on the top step of the podium with Capello and Allan McNish. 

Finally, in its third year of trying to match Audi, Peugeot triumphed in 2009. It had had the fastest car in 2008, but it had been trumped by Audi’s operational superiority, something that could only be appreciated if you were lucky enough to witness the way they went about their work in the pits. This time Peugeot got everything right and triggered huge celebration from proud French fans, but it was slightly tempered by the all-French crew of Sébastien Bourdais, Franck Montagny and Stephane Sarrazin being beaten by a lap by the sister car driven by David Brabham, Marc Gené and Alex Wurz. The latter’s second Le Mans win followed some 13 years after his debut success.

Emphasising how the entry lists were strong throughout the decade, there was little need to change the class structure. There was a renaming of the prototype classes in 2004, from LMP900 and LMP675 to LMP1 and LMP2. The GT classes became GT1 and GT2 the following year. This would prove to be the start of a global explosion in GT racing that continues to this day, its cars often just as popular as the prototypes.