TiVo Alert: The 24 Hours of Le Mans is over

If you recorded the 24 Hours of Le Mans to watch later, you can move on to the next post and come back here after you're all caught up. For those who just want the scoop on what happened in the big diesel battle of 2007 or the GT1 duel between Aston Martin and Corvette, continue reading after the jump to find out what happened.

[Sources: Audi, SpeedTV and Racing-Live]

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After dominating the 24 hours of Le Mans since 1999 Audi was facing perhaps the most serious challenge to its crown yet. The assault came from the French with team Peugeot Total's 908 HDi FAP prototypes. The speed of the new Peugeot 908 was never in doubt after victories in the first two Le Mans endurance series races and the pole position it captured for this race. What was in doubt was whether the pair from Peugeot could go the distance against the well-proven Audis.

Whether the Pugs can last at full speed is still an open question thanks to the rain that forced the last hour to be run behind a safety car, but even with the reduced speeds only one of three Audis and one of two Peugeots finished, and in that order. The No. 7 Peugeot that had run second most of the race succumbed to low oil pressure at the 22 hours mark while the #3 Audi hit the barrier three laps in during changing weather conditions and the #2 car lost a wheel with Dindo Capello at the controls and crashed 16 hours into the race. The Capello crash came after a tense moment in the pits when techs had problems mounting the same wheel that flew free, causing the accident. (Neither Audi wreck resulted in injuries.) The remaining Audi, #1, ran 369 laps and had a ten lap cushion over the Peugeot at the end, giving Victory to Frank Biela, Marco Werner, and Emanuele Pirro.

Twenty-six laps back, the British racing green Aston Martins finally defeated the Corvettes that have dominated the GT1 class at Le Mans for the last several years. The #009 DBR9 of Brabham-Rydell-Turner came in fifth overall one lap up on the Oconnell-Magnussen-Fellows #63 Corvette with a second Aston one lap further back. The #64 vette went out earlier in the race.

24 Hours of Le Mans results:

Pos. # Class Drivers Team Car Laps
1. 1 LMP1 Biela, Pirro, Werner Audi Sport North America Audi R10 TDI 369
2. 8 LMP1 Sarrazin, Lamy, Bourdais Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 908 359
3. 16 LMP1 Collard, Boullion, Dumas Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo-Judd 01 357
4. 18 LMP1 Short, Barbosa, Hall Rollcentre Racing Pescarolo-Judd 01 347
5. 009 LMGT1 Turner, Brabham, Rydell Team Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin DBR9 342
6. 63 LMGT1 Fellows, O'Connell, Magnussen Team Corvette Racing Corvette C6-R 6:08.031
7. 008 LMGT1 Bouchut, Gollin, Elgaard AMR Larbre Competition Aston Martin DBR9 341
8. 15 LMP1 Charouz, Yoong, Mucke Charouz Racing System Lola-Judd B07-17 337
9. 007 LMGT1 Herbert, Enge, Kox Team Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin DBR9 1:46.406
10. 54 LMGT1 Prost, Groppi, Belloc Team Oreca Saleen S7R 336
11. 100 LMGT1 Babini, Davies, Malucelli Team Aston Martin BMS Aston Martin DBR9 1:26.391
12. 72 LMGT1 Alphand, Policano, Goueslard Team Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C6-R 326
13. 17 LMP1 Primat, Tinseau, Treluyer Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo-Judd 01 324
14. 67 LMGT1 Pergl, Vasiliev, Kostka Convers Menx Team Ferrari 550 Maranello 322
15. 76 LMGT2 Narac, Lietz, Long Imsa Performancec Matmut Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 320
16. 55 LMGT1 Ortelli, Ayari, Lapierre Team Oreca Saleen S7R 318
17. 59 LMGT1 Garcia, Fittipaldi, Menten Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9 1:11.406
18. 31 LMP2 Binnie, Timpany, Buncombe Team Binnie Motorsports Lola-Zytek B05-40 5:04.070
19. 99 LMGT2 Jonsson, Krohn, Braun Risi Competizione Ferrari 430 GT 313
20. 19 LMP1 Berridge, Evans, Owen Team Chamberlain - Synergy Lola-AER B06-10 310
21. 93 LMGT2 Ehret, Erik Nielsen, Simonsen Team Autorlando Sport Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 309
22. 78 LMGT2 Macari, Aucott, Newey Team AF Corse Ferrari 430 GT 308
23. 82 LMGT2 Dean, Tomlinson, Bell Team LNT Panoz Esperante GTLM 307
24. 73 LMGT1 Vosse, Andre, Blanchemain Team Luc Alphand Aventures Corvette C5-R 306
25. 14 LMP1 Lammers, Bleekemolen, Hart Racing For Holland BV Dome-Judd S101 305
26. 12 LMP1 Frei, Cochet, Besson Courage Competition Courage-AER LC70 304
27. 33 LMP2 Kurosawa, Fernandez, Kerr Team Barazi Epsilon Zytek 07S/2 301
28. 70 LMGT1 Gosselin, Peter, Smet Team PSI Experience Corvette C6-R 288
29. 006 LMGT1 Fiskin, Bornhauser, Berville AMR Larbre Competition Aston Martin DBR9 271