Audi Wins Amid Tragedy in the 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans was marred by tragedy just minutes into the race when Danish driver Allan Simonsen in the #95 GTE-AM Aston Martin was killed in a single-car incident when he spun into the barriers. But the race went on, and AudiAudiGermany, 1909 > present83 models
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#2 driven by Tom Kristensen, Loïc Duval and Allan McNish took the overall win. Kristensen put in another fantastic drive to win his ninth Le Mans victory and bring Audi its overall twelfth win.

The #3 and #1 Audis finished third and fifth respectively.

“That was the most difficult race I’ve experienced in my 15 Le Mans years. One reason, no doubt, was having to see a young race driver from Denmark lose his life this weekend. We’re feeling with his family. But the race itself was unusual too. For 24 hours straight, our drivers had to cope with changeable weather and adjust to new conditions over and over in a very short period of time," said Audi Motorsport Boss Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich.

ToyotaToyotaJapan, 1937 > present155 models
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scored its fourth career second-place overall finish at Le Mans with the #8 car driven by Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Stéphane Sarrazin taking the honor. The #7 Toyota driven by Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima came in fourth place overall. Toyota's previous second-place finishes came in 1992, 1994 and 1999.

"We never gave up or lost focus, even in difficult circumstances. To get both cars to the finish and to stand on the podium was a very satisfying result. I will always remember the determination and team work showed by everyone after the #7 was damaged. It was very emotional for me to see this because it showed our team spirit. So I would like to say thank you to the team and also the drivers, who gave everything for us," said Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Toyota Team President.

The race for the privateer LMP1 cars this year was won by Strakka Racing with a Honda HPD ARX-03cHonda HPD ARX 03aJapan, 2012 > present2 photos
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, but the team took the win only after the two Rebellion Racing LolaLola B12/60 CoupeUnited Kingdom, 2011 > present2 photos
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-Toyota's had problems. The #12 Rebellion had a major crash that broke driver Andrea Belicchi's ribs in the impact. He limped the car back to the pits, but it retired. The #14 Rebellion struggled with oil leaks and clutch problems in the latter portion of the race.

In LMP2, the OAK Racing  MorganMorganUnited Kingdom, 1909 > present12 models
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-NissansNissanJapan, 1932 > present159 models
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dominated the race with the lead for most of the time. The team's cars finished first and second in class.

It appeared that Aston MartinAston MartinUnited Kingdom, 1914 > present62 models
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was going to win the GTE-Pro class for most of the evening, but as morning dawned, PorschePorscheGermany, 1931 > present43 models
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led the race. The Porsche win came down to strategy. During one of the bouts of rain late in the race, Porsche stayed out on slicks, while Aston Martin came in for intermediates. The rain did not last long, and the advantage turned in Porsche's favor. Aston Martin had to switch tires back to slicks, and Porsche took the lead. In the end, the factory Porsche's finished first and second in class, and Aston Martin only managed third.

In GTE-AM, Porsche took another class win with the IMSA Performance Matmut team. Behind them were two FerrarisFerrariItaly, 1947 > present233 models
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.

The race varied among wet, damp and dry for its entire duration, and often the rain would be pouring on one side of the track while the sun was shining on the other side. The wetness contributed to a high attrition rate in this year's race with 13 cars officially retiring and several more that completed enough of the race distance to be classified but did not take the final lap. The race also had a record 12 safety car periods totaling five hours and 27 minutes of race time.

Simonsen's death was the first during the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 1986.

You can view the complete finishing results here.