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Peugeot Takes Historical Le Mans 24 Hours Win

They've waited a long time for a maiden Le Mans win with their 908 model, but the way they did it the past weekend topped even their wildest dreams. Peugeot clinched a historical 1-2 at the Le Mans 24 Hours Race this weekend, while Marc Gene became the first Spaniard to ever conquer the winning crown of the famous endurance race.

It was a first all around for the winning Peugeot crew, as David Brabham also became winner of the 24-Hour race for the first time in his career. Alexander Wurz was the only man who had felt the winning taste before, as the Austrian driver forgot all about his F1 entry drama this year to take his second Le Mans victory of career, after 13 years of waiting.

Due to team orders, the last hour of the race was not as spectacular as the fans would have wanted it, but considering their fellow countrymen were leading the race some 6 laps ahead of rivals Audi was reason enough to celebrate. Soon after the safety car went in during the 23rd hour, Gene drove a safe race ahead of Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais (No 8 908 HDi) as the Peugeot duo was followed by last year's winner Tom Kristensen in 3rd place.

The R15 TDI was no contender for this year's win whatsoever, as the 908 HDis led the field for the entire duration of the race (the early stages through the No 8 car and the late ones through the winning No 9 908). Kristensen/Capello/McNish crossed the finish line ahead of the Lola Aston Martin driven by Tomas Enge, Stefen Mucke and Jan Charouz, while ORECA's only car still in the race went on to complete the Top 5 (led by Soleil Ayari in the final section of the race).

Team Essex-prepared Porsche RS Spyder walked away from Le Mans with an easy win, driven by Emmanuel Collard/Casper Elgaard/Kristian Poulsen, as they finished some 14 laps ahead of nearest LMP2 contenders Lola B08/80-Judd (Speedy Lola team).

Corvette managed a 1-2 of their own in the GT1 category, only the runner-up were privateer Corvettes (led by Julien Jousse). The winning C6.R was brought home by works team led by Johnny O'Connell.

In the GT2 class, Risi Competizione's Jaime Melo took the chequered flag in his Ferrari F430 GT, ahead of BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari's Fabio Babini.
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