LMP1:1 - Audi
This Audi probably showed the weakest performance of all diesels in the race. Apart from the 9th hour, when it was classified fourth, it ran fifth or sixth for the entire race and in the end was the last of the six factory car after being repaired for a long time 4 hours before the finish due to clutch problems so that even the very much delayed Peugeot could pass it.
2 - Audi
This Audi outpaced both other Audis. In the first lap McNish briefly ran third keeping one Peugeot behind but only until the first chicane. It then appeared in the lead for a while several hours after the start before Peugeot recovered from their early short delays but a real comeback of this car came when it started to rain very early in the morning. It moved to the lead and never allowed Peugeots to take it back. This car spent most laps in the lead. Result and performance of the car was a bit reminiscent of Jaguar's effort in 1988 when car with the same race number 2 won over quicker Porsches with margin also less then a single lap after having completed a trouble-free race as well.
3 - Audi
Second quickest of the Audis, ran fourth for a long time during the first half of the race. Then it moved up to third for a while then it started to rain just to return back to fourth a few hours later just to maintain it until the end.
4 - Saulnier Pescarolo
Gentleman driver squad was actually slowest of all Pescarolos in the race kept pace with the LMP2 Pescarolo early in the race, later just focusing on finishing the race while running among the GT2 car pack.
5 - Courage Oreca
Orecas were originally 4th and 5th among the petrol-fuelled cars just behind two quick coupes (Lola Aston Martin and Dome) and traditionally successful and quick Pescarolo no.16. But as the race progressed, all those cars suffered various troubles and the Oreca kept the lead among the private teams. But various delays mainly in hour 10 and 13 moved the car behind both factory Pescarolos. After the Pescarolo no.16 retired, the Oreca became second most successful non-Audi/Peugeot entry in the finish.
6 - Courage Oreca
Running at similar pace as the other Oreca, it crashed very heavily at the beginning of 10th hour. It was the only accident that forced the organisers to call the safety car.
7 - Peugeot
Originally the slowest of the three Peugeots in the race became the main opposition to the early leading Audi no.2 in hours 3 and 4, then led in hour 5 before the number 9 took the honours for several hours. After Klien span that number 9, this Peugeot easily led for many hours and would be a probable winner if there was no rain in the race. With the rain falling down the second Audi was quickly approaching but the overtaking did not happen on track but in the pits because Peugeot's pit stops were simply longer. At the end of the race quickly shortening margin to the leading Audi but another rain took the final chance of winning the race off.
8 - Peugeot
With Sarrazin at the wheel this Peugeot was fastest in both qualifying sessions and early in the race. But the car had also bad luck facing problems with battery and speed selector that delayed the car to fall down into the third ten after 3 hours. The car than recovered to 6th to join the pack of diesels and in the end was classified ahead of Audi no.1, delayed during the 20th hour.
9 - Peugeot
Appeared in the lead after six hours and lead with a little margin ahead of Peugeot no.7. Lost on lap in the 8th hour when Klien went off the track to the gravel and it took more than one lap before he could return back. Since then it was running third until the end apart from a relatively short period when the early morning rain enabled Audi no.3 to overtake it and keep the position after hour 14 and 15.
10 - Charouz Lola Aston Martin
After some early problems with the handling of the car in qualifying session were resolved, the car was able to qualify among the factory diesels and maintain that position for a couple of laps. Apart from the accident in the third hour caused by Jan Charouz, which cost the team a lot of time to return to the pits and to repair the car, it had really almost trouble-free weekend. It might have finished fifth overall ahead of two delayed factory cars but ninth overall and in class was still an excellent result for this relative new team, which recorded its second Le Mans finish in only the second start.
11 - Dome
The very new car was surprisingly quick, outqualified all petrol-fuelled cars but Lola Aston Martin with a production engine but easily the best from Judd-powered cars. Unfortunately a lot of accidents by the drivers followed by long repairs lost the car a good position. It was still nice to see this nice coupe classified in its the very first outing ever.
12 - Charouz Lola Judd
With slow Pickett at the wheel in the first hour the car was actually lagging a lot to be classified only 25th after 60 minutes of the race. Graf and Lammers, who were lapping 15 seconds a lap quicker, were then able to recover the car, which had had lost a lot of positions in the second hour after some problems. Unfortunately entire effort died after 9 hours when the engine said its final word and stopped for ever.
14 - Creation
With Jamie Campbell-Walter out of the squad following his Monza accident the car was not in contention with the likes as Pescarolo, Oreca or Lola Aston Martin but rather ran among the better LMP2 cars until experiencing numerous problems since the third hour of the race. 24th position at the end of the race was not the best one the team could have wished but in fact in their three year Le Mans effort it was for the first time that the team Creation managed to get their own car to the finish line.
16 - Pescarolo
In practice and early in the race this fastest Pescarolos showed that it is lacking a bit of performance to keep the pace with either Lola Aston Martin or the Dome but the Pescarolo team is well organised and their cars very reliable so it did not took too long that both works cars topped the unofficial petrol-fuelled class which Henri Pescarolo often refers to. But this was not the happiest race for the usually reliable car and after some minor problems early in the race that helped the car no.17 keep well ahead of no.16, this car had to be retired after 15 hours and 20 minutes with broken engine.
17 - Pescarolo
This become the car with less problems among the petrol-fuelled prototypes and finished behind the pack of factory Audis and Peugeots as the best of the rest though only 7th, which might seem as by far the worst result for Pescarolo in recent years but in fact the same performance would be still enough for the second place overall in the last year's Le Mans race.
18 - Rollcentre Pescarolo
Another nice race for this small team. Despite covering five laps more than last year, they were classified nowhere near the fourth position they celebrated last year, so the 11th spot might not look as a success but we think it was the best the team could hope for in this very strong opposition.
19 - Chamberlain Lola
After missing last two Le Mans Series races due to disagreement on payments between the drivers, it was nice to see the car back for at least the Le Mans weekend. They showed their standard performance, i.e. a decent amateur line up effort but weren't lucky enough to make it to the finish because their AER engine said enough after less than 9 hours. Before retiring, the car suffered a big damage when Amanda Stretton before Tertre Rouge had an accident, probably something had broken right before.
20 - Epsilon Euskadi
Early in the race this first ever Spanish car in Le Mans was a filler of a gap between French LMP1s, Pescarolos & Orecas, and the LMP2 leaders followed by the rest of LMP1 contenders. The car then kept among top 15 for the first third of the race before experiencing serious troubles that forced the car to stay more in the garage than on the track for most of the race before being retired five hours before the end of the race.
21 - Epsilon Euskadi
This car was a miracle to appear in the race at all. It was not selected among the 55 but appeared as the first reserve. The team claimed that they are prepared to field a second car if any competitor is withdrawn. And after the Lucchini was withdrawn due to paperwork reasons, this beautiful Epsilon Euskadi was allowed to take its place. The decision was made on Wednesday, the same day as practice sessions started. It is something unseen in the modern Le Mans history. In the race the car ran pretty much like its sister and both cars retired approximately at the same time after having been variously on the track and in the garage for almost 19 hours.
22 - Tokai University Courage
This Tokai University effort with its own engine and Oreca updated Courage must have been selected by the committee only because the team was heading from Japan where the Le Mans racing should become more and more popular. The team had never shown up in any race before Le Mans, there were many more teams with much notable histories than this one and did not get an invitation. In qualifying this car was by far slowest prototype, actually 8 of 10 GT1 qualified ahead of this white prototype, which was in the end moved to the back of the grid because not achieving a limit time for its class. In race it was running surprisingly long for almost 18 hour before retiring while being placed several positions from the end of the field.
23 - Autocon Creation
The team got a Le Mans entry based on their results in the ALMS where they were the best but Audi, so they decide to take the challenge despite their performance was nowhere near usual European team racing in LMP1 class in either Le Mans Series or the 24 hour event itself. We guess they would have never seen Le Mans from a cockpit of their car, had the ALMS a good competition level in its highest class. Since they still race a hybrid in the USA, which has not been valid for racing in Europe for almost two years now, the team closely co-operate with the factory which built a new car from destroyed chassis 001 (Monza, Campbell-Walter's accident) and pieced from their regular ALMS hybrid car. Unlike in ALMS, here they wear traditional Creation blue colours and did not perform quite bed during the race. Apart from the very early minutes of the race, which are not recorded in hourly positions, their best standing in the early parts of the race was 38th place in hour 1 and 6 but still kept close with the majority of GT2 field so due to relatively good run over the night and some other retirement they could move ahead and were climbing around 36th to 33rd during hours 12 to 18 keeping four additional LMP1s behind. Unfortunately a few minutes later the car was pushed into the garage to be retired officially couple of hours later.
24 - Terramos Courage
The car featured a driver with most starts in Le Mans, Yojiro Terada, and was entered under his own company Terramos. It spent one third of the race in the garage with various repairs but still was circulating around the track at the end of the race to became 35th car in the finish, though a long way from being classified.
LMP2: 25 - RML MG Lola
After winning the class in Le Mans 2005 and 2006 and generating first MG marque finish after forty(!) years, the team had another bad day this year in Le Mans. Not only they are not quite competitive with the top of the class (Porsches, Lola Coupe) but their race was far from a trouble-free one and led to a retirement again. A bad luck for the team started after only 8 laps when Gregg Pickett in a Lola no.12 touched the MG, by then running as high as third in the class, effectively sending it into a tyre wall. Car was slowly moved to the pits and repaired in the garage. When it returned back it was the very last car on the track. Then there was some progress until the 7th hour when it was classified 38th but then the car started to move down the order before finally retired before the middle of the race with accident damage.
26 - Radical
Three year old car now seems to be a little outdated, at least according to performances shown here in the Le Mans Series races. While last year the regular Radicals used to qualify easily among the first half of the LMP2 field, this year the lone car is simply outpaced by all new machinery filling up the class. The only car in the class that was slower in the practice sessions was the Lola Mazda that crashed the first day and could not improve on the other. In the race they originally ran behind the four factory GT1s, then with some load of problem they dropped down among GT2 mid-fielders but managed to bring the car home to be classified 31st overall and 6th in class.
30 - Racing Box Lucchini
This car was a very late withdrawal after the team was not able to show valid homologation papers following rebuilding of front suspension which appeared not working well in the first two Le Mans Series races.
31 - Essex Porsche
It was the main rival of the LMP2 winning squad in the same type of the car. During the first six hours both Porsches were changing in the lead almost regularly. While the Essex car was in the lead in hour 7. it got a puncture and lost a lap to their rivals before they could return from the pits. Then the Essex car settled second for many hours and continuously lap after laps with some smaller repairs and adjustments needed. But it came worse in the 16th hour when the car lost position to Pescarolo LMP2 and was even running behind two leading GT1 cars. Fortunately for the team, they managed to recover well in the final third of the race to defend the second place in class, twelfth overall and they were also the second best team on Dunlop tyres just behind the Rollcentre Pescarolo.
32 - Barazi Zytek
This car, which almost won its class last year in Le Mans, was surprisingly quick in qualifying when it was quicker than the Lola Coupe just behind two Porsche RS Spyders. Originally the car maintained this position for several hours also in the race before starting experience various problems like clutch, fuel pressure, suspension or puncture. At least it finished the race, fifth in class, but some fifty laps behind the class winner.
33 - Speedy Lola Coupe
The only coupe in the smaller prototype class is usually the only car able to compete with Porsches on outright speed. This time it was a bit different as they were outqualified by Barazi Zytek and early in the race were in the battle with an Embassy car and the Zytek before being slowed by various reasons. The final problem of the car brought the rain which meant a crash. Despite the car returned to the pits, it never appeared on the track again.
34 - Van Merksteijn Porsche
Van Merksteijn Porsche is the most successful small prototype in the LMS and it was expected that it would be also the fastest car in the class here in Le Mans. But would the Porsche last entire 24 hours at its debut in Le Mans? Both Porsches proved to be very reliable and only those two were ever in the class lead during the race. This Porsche lost some time early in the race but after about 100 laps it permanently took the lead and never lost it until the end of the race.
35 - Saulnier Pescarolo
The only Pescarolo in LMP2 field kept itself in the background early in the race running just 7th out of eleven starters but its times were to come. It started to improve in the third hour, then it climbed various fourth or fifth for several hours, mixing up with the Embassy until the hour eight when Embassy disappeared from the results. By the time the LMP2 order were Porsche-Porsche-Lola Coupe followed by this Pescarolo. It was running some three laps behind the Coupe and ahead of all GT1 cars. Before the race would move to its second half, the Lola Coupe lost several laps and the Pescarolo appeared in a podium position. At the two thirds of the race, the Essex Porsche dropped down to third so the Pescarolo ran as high as 2nd in class, though already behind the GT1 leader. The Porsche then recovered but it was still nice for Pescarolo to have a car on a podium, despite not in the highest class.
40 - ASM Lola
In the early stages of the race it ran regularly sixth ahead of the LMP2 Pescarolo. Then it kept one position behind that Pescarolo throughout the entire race and as some opposition in LMP2 faded away, the Portuguese team moved up to the 4th position in the finish. This is actually the first Lola chassis ever built to the current prototype regulations and it was its fourth start in Le Mans and the very first finish of the chassis. So really a good result for the team despite being classified one position behind the GT2 winner.
41 - Trading Performance Zytek
This chassis was the quickest LMP2 car last year in Le Mans though after collision it finished second, this year in hand of too private team with gentleman drivers it belonged among the slowest entries in the LMP2 class. Trio Ojjea/Gosselin/Sharpe was after a collision with a quicker Lola crashed and became the second car to retire from the race.
44 - Kruse-Schiller Lola Mazda
The car was almost a non-starter after a heavy accident by Hideki Noda at the end of Wednesday qualifying. The car got airborne and flipped eight times looking completely destroyed. The team worked very hard along with Lola help to make the car running as early as on Saturday's warm up. The warm up run discovered further repairs are needed but the car was ready for the race. During the race the car run at the pace of GT1, not to its full potential as it was not supposed to ran at maximum speed after the accident. The team tried hard to finish the race, they lost 5th gear at the end of the first quarter of the race so it had to be replaced. Other smaller issues slowed the car by repairing them but the car was finally forced to retire when a drive chain between engine and gearbox had failed completely just half hour before the race would move to its second half.
45 - Embassy WF01
The team looks very promising improving race after race. It was originally fighting for the third position in class along with Lola Coupe and Barazi Zytek, later settled fourth behind the Lola Coupe, and of course the two Porsches, before being finally delayed in the 8th hour. Unfortunately Joe Foster crashed the car rather seriously eight hours later in the second Hunaudieres chicane and despite he managed to bring the car back to the pits, it had to be retired as it was not repairable for the moment.
GT1: 007 - Aston Martin
The least successful car of the four full factory efforts. Never in the lead, mostly running 4th or a little worse (especially early in the race when the Saleen was still capturing). It was the only factory GT1 car never in the class lead, the best moments for the team were before the middle of the race when they were lying third in class for several hours following the short delays of Corvette no.64. However despite the car was only fourth in class, it was far from being slow or whatever, its fastest lap in the race was better than that of well performing Corvette no.63. The four factory cars in the class were perfectly matched even if in qualifying it looked as the Corvettes are notably quicker but it was not the case in the race itself.
009 - Aston Martin
The more successful factory Aston Martin, the team which was now running in a new Gulf livery, the oil company celebrating this year 40 years since their first Le Mans victory when legendary Ford GT40 went home first after the big factories left the series following drastical rule changes. This Aston Martin recorded another win for Gulf, though not in the overall standing. Apart from the very beginning of the race, this car driven by David Brabham/Antonio Garcia/Darren Turner lead for most part of the race but the pit stop and despite running all the time in the same laps as their closest opponents, they managed to win and lead 262 laps out of 344 covered by the class.
50 - Larbre Saleen
This team could have been an equal opposition to the factory Corvettes and Aston Martins but when ACO selected only a single Saleen for the race, the team opted to hire paying drivers so that only Bouchut of the trio was capable of some excellent performance. He proved it in qualifying and early in the race when running second just behind the Corvette no.63 but when the race progressed the Saleen dropped down the order. Even during the Bouchut's first stint all four factory cars were ahead. During the race the car for further delayed by technical issues, most notably spending almost two hours early in the race with repairs after incident when it lost a wheel, but it was still nice to see the Saleen in the finish despite 'only' 7th in class, i.e. 3rd out of 5 GT1 private team finishers.
53 - Vitaphone Aston Martin
This was a bit of a hybrid entry. Vitaphone won the FIA GT championship with Maserati to get invitation by ACO to the Le Mans race when however Maserati is not allowed to race. So they entered an Aston Martin which they did not have. Another team that applied for an entry to ACO was a new Strakka Racing but they failed to get in as ACO chose just 10 cars out of 22 GT1 applications. So the team joint their forces together for this single event, repainted usual Strakka car to nice Vitaphone colours, let the Strakka drivers Peter Hardman/Nick Leventis drive it. Alexandre Negrao was chosen to join them and the effort was together. In the race they were of course among the slower cars as could have been expected but worse for the team they did not last too long, so they had to say goodbye to the race only just after a little more than six hours with blown engine.
55 - IPB Lamborghini
So far the most serious attack of the marque in Le Mans. Unfortunately the car lost a lot of time at the beginning of the race with repairs. When it returned, it continued in a pace of its time until the finish. A question is whether it was officially classified or not. Most of the results published after the race by ACO showed it as not classified, but not all. According to number of covered laps, we believe that this car should be classified the last as 34th.
59 - Modena Aston Martin
Rather successful team in Le Mans series had not their usual driver Tomas Enge, who was selected for the Lola Aston Martin Le Mans debut. Here in Le Mans with four factory cars out of 10 entries, the Modena Aston Martin was destined to play a role of mid-fielder in the class, just like Alphand Corvettes. The final result (30th/8th in class) was a bit worse than the team with Jos Menten/Christian Fittipaldi/Terry Borcheller as drivers could hope for but at least they managed to finish the race.
63 - Corvette
Fastest car in the qualifying and early in the race. Later it was caught by Aston Martin no.009 and run second for most part of the race. It spent together 78 laps leading the class but most of them were just because Aston Martin's earlier planned pit stops.
64 - Corvette
Backing up factory Corvette was running usually third, briefly leading for 4 laps early in the race during the pit stop period. It finished 3 laps behind its sister car and the winning Aston Martin.
72 - Alphand Corvette
Faster of the Alphand cars due to driver line-up, the car had a good race finishing just behind the four factory cars. And it was not expected they could match their forces with the factory team unless they suffer some serious problems, which did not happen.
73 - Alphand Corvette
Backing up Alphand car is never expected to show some excellent performance but this time they managed to finish just behind its sister car number 72 beating all other usual Le Mans Series opponents, like Modena Aston Martin, Lamborghini, the Saleen or the Strakka Aston Martin running here in Vitaphone colours. So fairly successful race for the squad.
GT2: 76 - IMSA Porsche
It qualified first in GT2 class but started from the final row. In the race it moved up until it hit another Porsche, the Flying Lizard entry, lost a wheel and was not able to continue. Since that accident delayed another very quick Porsche and there were only three of them against half dozen of Ferrari, this moment effectively gave the GT2 race to Ferrari, especially after the final Porsche, the Felbermayr car, hit troubles too, it was top 5 Ferraris, later reduced by one.
77 - Felbermayr Porsche
After the two other Porsches in the class were out of contention following their accident, where some LMP car might have been involved as well, this Felbermayr entry was the only one to keep the Porsche flag against Ferrari armada in the class. This Porsche was running second behind the leading Risi Ferrari no.82 for many hours after that Porsche accident, which happened at the end of the second hour of the race. During the 9th hour this final competitive Porsche in the class was hit by gearbox troubles and despite finishing the race ahead the other surviving Flying Lizard Porsche there were no less than four Ferraris ahead of both Porsches.
78 - AF Ferrari
Running in the middle of the GT2 field just ahead of the Spykers, while there were still running, later moved up to third, mainly thanks to the collision of the two fastest Porsches, then had retired before the first third of the race finished.
80 - Flying Lizard Porsche
Actually the best running Porsche in the race, leading the class early in the race. Unfortunately damaged a lot after being hit by another quick Porsche, it had to spend more than one hour with repairs. When it returned back to the track, it was outside the top 50 and completely out of contention for any good result. It was classified as a finisher but 20 laps behind the nearest class competitor.
82 - Risi Ferrari
The leading Risi Competizione car was simply car to beat in the class. Had not the two fast Porsche collided, it might have been different. But this car led the class all time but the first hour and the pit stop periods when another, surviving Porsche of Felbermayr used to take briefly leads until the race moved to its second third. Since then there was no serious opposition for the car so the trio Mika Salo/Jaime Melo/Gianmaria Bruni took the class win.
83 - Risi Ferrari
The Krohn Racing Ferrari competing under Risi Ferrari banner was the first retirement from the race after Tracy Krohn hit the barrier at Arnage damaging front and rear end of the car so that he could not continue.
85 - Spyker
After having been running relatively well, seventh in the class for several early hours, it was pushed to garage in the first minutes of hour four, with some electrical issue. The car never appeared on the track again, became an official retirement a couple of hours later, the official reason announce was the engine.
90 - Farnbacher Ferrari
The Farnbacher Ferrari was one of those Ferraris that raced regularly and more or less reliably and moved forward within the class when the Porsche had struggled with their own problems and incidents. This car was known for having used left door from the Krohn-Risi Ferrari after their original door was damaged a lot. Regardless that delay the team finished safely on the podium, the third.
94 - Speedy Spyker
The private Spyker performed very similarly as the factory entry, it was just lightly slower. Both cars retired with engine problems but this private car last five and half hours compared to factory three hours.
96 - Virgo Ferrari
The fastest Ferrari team in Le Mans Series had their regular driver Gianmaria Bruni, who hosted in the winning Risi Ferrari, replaced by slower duo Tim Sugden/Tim Mullen but the other LMS regular Rob Bell set qualifying time that gave the Ferrari the third best position on the grid behind two Porsches. Unfortunately, in the race, where the team usually kept second behind the Bruni's Risi Ferrari, this Virgo Ferrari was force to retire only with several hours to go after completing more laps than some of the classified finishers.
97 - BMS Ferrari
BMS Scuderia Italia team car did not belong among the fastest GT2 cars but thanks to reliable and regular run they maintain the third position for most part of the race, after all Porsches faded away, running behind leading Risi car and the Virgo car. And when the Virgo car retired, the BMS Ferrari had its way to finish second quite open.
99 - JMB Ferrari
Ben Aucott crashed the car in Thursday practice so seriously that the car had to be rebuilt on a new chassis, despite wearing the same chassis number. In the race they were among the slowest cars on the track but without any major issues they managed to finished ahead of all surviving but delayed Porsches and behind three Ferraris.
