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Double Victory For Audi at 24 Hours of Le Mans 2014

The end of the 2014 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans saw Audi take double victory once again, as its two remaining R18 e-tron quattro racers finished in first and second position, respectively, after 24 hours of grueling racing.
Audi R18 e-tron quattro 1 photo
Photo: Audi
This makes for the thirteenth win for the Ingolstadt car manufacturer, putting it just three titles behind Porsche, who still have the most wins but have sadly abandoned with both cars just hours before the end of the race today.

What is arguably the world's most exhausting endurance race claimed more than one racing car this year, with both Porsche 919 Hybrids, a Toyota TS040 Hybrid and a number of other LMP2 and GT cars succumbing before the end of the race because of various technical problems and/or accidents.

Marcel Fassler, a fantastic Andre Lotterer and Benoit Teluyer had to overcome the same type of turbocharger problems encountered by the drivers of the No 1 car, which was driven by Lucas di Grassi, Marc Gene and the legendary Tom Kristensen, but both R18s managed to finish on the podium in the end, ahead of the No 7 Toyota TS040 Hybrid driven by Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Nicolas Lapierre.

While the race was first lead by Toyota for a good amount of the first laps yesterday, the relay was then passed to Audi during the night, but the return of Porsche in the LMP1 class proved to pose more than a soft challenge to both Audi and Toyota.

With just three hours until the end of the race, it was the No 20 Porsche 919 Hybrid which was leading after the second Audi had went into the pits to change its turbocharger, and it looked like the final laps would have fans watch a fratricide battle between two car manufacturers that belong to the VAG Group.

In the end it wasn't meant to be though, as the two overall faster (by lap times) Porsches abandoned the race because of technical problems, leaving Audi to take their fifth 24 Hours of Le Mans win in five years, with a hard-fighting Toyota to complete the podium.
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About the author: Alex Oagana
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Alex handled his first real steering wheel at the age of five (on a field) and started practicing "Scandinavian Flicks" at 14 (on non-public gravel roads). Following his time at the University of Journalism, he landed his first real job at the local franchise of Top Gear magazine a few years before Mircea (Panait). Not long after, Alex entered the New Media realm with the autoevolution.com project.
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