Porsche Wins 24 Hours Of Le Mans, Denying Audi A Sixth Consecutive Win
Porsche has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans Race, unseating fellow Germans Audi, who had consecutively won the past five races. The result marks the first time Porsche has won at the 92-year-old race since 1998. After 24 hours of hard driving, Porsche driver Nico Hulkenberg pipped Audi to the winner’s podium, finishing first, followed by Porsche colleague Mark Webber’s #17, with the #7 Audi finishing third, The Verge reports.
The Audi drivers were behind the wheel of the proven R18 e-tron Quattro, which has given the company three of its five back-to-back wins. Autosport reports the Audis suffered several mechanical problems, with the #8 and #9 Audis both having to pay visits to the Le Mans garages during hour 21. Porsche looked like something special from the start, The Verge report, achieving the pole position with a blistering pace.
Nico Hulkenberg took to Twitter with some understandably triumphant tweets after the race.
INCREDIBLE… / WAHNSINN… @PorscheRaces #Porsche919Hybrid #LeMans24h pic.twitter.com/FLHIcrOeVM
— Nico Hülkenberg (@NicoHulkenberg) June 14, 2015
What a Day! Unbelievable! Great teamwork! @PorscheRaces #24hLeMans #winners #SoHappy #porsche919hybrid pic.twitter.com/A4bbcLndc5
— Nico Hülkenberg (@NicoHulkenberg) June 14, 2015
It’s not all bad news for Audi however, and especially not for Andre Lotterer, one of the drivers of the #7 Audi, whom according to Autosport set a new lap record — getting around the Le Mans circuit in just 3 minutes and 17.475 seconds.
Nick Tandy, one of the drivers of the #19 Porsche, alongside Hulkenberg and Earl Bamber, praised the Porsche 919 hybrid which powered the team to victory, The Guardian reported.
“For our car it was an amazing race, the race track really came to us when the temperatures came down and the dusk came in, our car just really switched on with the tyres. It was the key to our pace and to our victory.”
The Guardian reports that the race was highly competitive. While the Audi team held firm on the curves of Le Mans, once the drivers got their Porsche 919’s out onto the straights, they blasted forwards at unbelievable speeds.
Lotterer remained gracious in defeat, congratulating the Porsche team on their win, according to ESPN.
“Porsche deserved to win. Hats off to them. We’ll do everything to come back stronger and we’ve learned a lot from this race.”
Porsche, for years, held Le Mans in a stranglehold, winning four times in the 1970s and five times in the 1980s. Audi had better watch out, because this could just be the start of yet another reign as Le Mans champions for Porsche, a position they’re very much used to.
[Photo by Ker Robertson/Getty Images]
