24 Hours of Le Mans 2008 - Race part 14

Name: 24 Hours of Le Mans 2008 - Race part 14
Uploaded: 2025-09-18T17:15:39+00:00
Duration: 1 h 19 min 38 s
Channel: Racing History
Description: see more Racing on :<br />https://speedworld.sports-classics.stream

Racing History

4 months ago

see more Racing on :
https://speedworld.sports-classics.stream

Category

🚗

Motor

Transcript

Display full video transcript

00:00:00Yeah, when rain pops along, it really does help the Audis.

00:00:04It muters any kind of performance advantage that the Peugeots might have.

00:00:08It seems that, particularly the two-car, which is on its way, this is the red top, this is the number one car, the two-car, which is our leader.

00:00:17In the hands of Alan McNish, it's fantastic.

00:00:20Tom Christensen, very aggressive driver, and I suppose this is going to be the test.

00:00:25They did this earlier on, when they weren't sure whether to go to intermediates or full wets.

00:00:30Let's see what they bring out this time.

00:00:32They're going for intermediates here.

00:00:33Now, this will be a test.

00:00:35See how they go out there on the wet track and see whether Tom will go for the performance difference.

00:00:41That surely will matter.

00:00:43Liz, explain, please, what to view of the intermediates wets.

00:00:47Well, it's a tough call, really.

00:00:48I mean, certainly on slicks, with any bit of rain on the circuit, they become absolutely gripless.

00:00:54I mean, it is really a treacherous drive.

00:00:56So I don't think this close to the end of the race that anybody wants to take that risk.

00:01:00So maybe on some other parts of the circuit that we can see, it's raining even more.

00:01:04But I can certainly see the rain through the window here.

00:01:06So I think teams are saying, let's be safe.

00:01:09Let's put something on that gives just a little bit more grip.

00:01:11But I don't think it's ready for wets yet.

00:01:13So that's the decision on the intermediates.

00:01:15Interestingly, this morning, after the rain, which came about 4 o'clock, finished about 8 o'clock this morning,

00:01:21Dindo Capello tried to get a full stint out of his last set of wet tires.

00:01:25But by the time he did, he did it.

00:01:27But by the time he came in, there was absolutely no tread on the shoulders on the right-hand side of the car.

00:01:32Well, this is the tricky bit, is that once you get into that situation,

00:01:35you have to be looking for wet patches on the circuit because you must cool your tires down.

00:01:39If you're on a drying circuit on wet tires, especially a soft compound of wet tires,

00:01:44it can be very, very difficult.

00:01:45And you've got to use them because it actually reverses the effect.

00:01:49You end up having more grip in the wet and having less and less grip

00:01:52as if you were on slicks in the wet the other way around.

00:01:55Does that make sense?

00:01:56Yeah.

00:01:56They just showed us the art number two is in, our race leader, Tom's in, coming in for those inters.

00:02:04We saw them ready.

00:02:05They're still slicks, those intermediates, aren't they?

00:02:07But they've just got hand-cut grooves in there.

00:02:08They do.

00:02:09It's just enough to sort of cut through the water a little bit.

00:02:11So it'll be slippy on the wet.

00:02:13But certainly in this condition, we had a dry track.

00:02:15We're only just getting a bit wet.

00:02:16It's not pouring.

00:02:17You've got to, you know, make that decision.

00:02:20Getting a bit heavier though, isn't it?

00:02:21It is.

00:02:21It's starting to come down.

00:02:22We can certainly see it more.

00:02:23It's here over the pit lane.

00:02:24And you can probably see it on your screens now as Tom comes on board.

00:02:27It's certainly on our pit camera there.

00:02:29However, as what Carlton said, certainly the rain could actually be very good for Audi

00:02:33because we had Nick Manassian pushing as hard as he could in that Peugeot going very quickly.

00:02:38But as soon as the rain comes, that's going to level it all out again.

00:02:41So this could be exactly what Audi needs.

00:02:43While we're watching this change, let's just update you on LMP2.

00:02:46Michael Blakemolen in the Dutch Porsche Spyder.

00:02:49He's in ninth place overall.

00:02:50We predicted last night those cars could get into the top ten.

00:02:54Indeed, John Nielsen is only in the twelfth place, not that far behind him.

00:02:58In GT1, it's Brabham leading.

00:03:00And they've actually got themselves into the top 13th place now.

00:03:04That is incredible.

00:03:06And it's Mika Sarlow now on board the Ridley Cop, the only car.

00:03:11Liz, at this stage of the race, as we see more going back out, are we going to see any more driver changes?

00:03:16I think it really just depends on the team, to be honest.

00:03:18I think most drivers are probably in for the duration now, one would have thought.

00:03:23I mean, it'd be pretty rare.

00:03:24I mean, we're an hour away from the end.

00:03:25Most of them will be doing a double stint to the end or something along those lines.

00:03:29It's usually in some of the teams where you'll see maybe teams that have had a lot of problems

00:03:33and they've got a team owner or something you'd really like to finish.

00:03:35That's sort of when you see someone say, OK, we'll put someone in and let them finish the race,

00:03:39which is nice, and it's nice when that happens.

00:03:40But all these top guys, certainly, they're in for the duration.

00:03:43There's our helicopter.

00:03:44They're up in the clouds, and this is great shots from it.

00:03:46And you can see just how wet it is at the moment.

00:03:49When you imagine this camera is pointing down, it's not pointing up at the sky.

00:03:52And don't forget, another thing is that this circuit has been used for 24 hours heavily.

00:03:57We've got a lot of oil on the circuit, stuff that's going to come back to the surface

00:04:00now that it's dried out and it's becoming wet again.

00:04:02So it's going to make things very slippery.

00:04:04So I think we're going to see a general stop by everyone else, aren't we, Steve?

00:04:07We've got quite a few cars in now.

00:04:08The Corvettes in there, the 64 car right underneath us.

00:04:11It used to be yellow, that car.

00:04:12It's just absolutely filthy now.

00:04:14This is typical.

00:04:15In fact, in comes the 63 as well.

00:04:17They've called them both in.

00:04:18The 40 Lola goes back out.

00:04:20So here we are on board the Corvettes.

00:04:23This is one of the Peugeots in.

00:04:25That's the 7 Peugeot.

00:04:26It's Grand Panic.

00:04:27They're trolling it.

00:04:28They're going to put it in the pit.

00:04:29Oh, no.

00:04:30My life, intermediates are not going to do any good.

00:04:33You can't see it on your screen, but it is absolutely stair-rodding at the moment.

00:04:38In the movies, they use fire hydrant so you can just see the rain.

00:04:41So it's not being picked up on our cameras at the moment, but it's going to have to be full wet, surely.

00:04:45Look, intermediates, do you want it?

00:04:47No.

00:04:47They've got a jack failure, haven't they?

00:04:48Well, that's what may be.

00:04:50It's not just that.

00:04:50The fuel hasn't quite finished yet.

00:04:52They came out with the intermediates.

00:04:53They've actually gone back in.

00:04:54Are they going to bring wets out here?

00:04:55This is a tricky call, and if everyone goes on to wets and that other Audi has already

00:04:59gone out on intermediates and has to pit again, this could be a problem for them.

00:05:03This could be a mess for Audi.

00:05:04This could be the moment.

00:05:06If Audi's gone out on intermediates and we know where they have, and wow, wow, wow.

00:05:10This is going to be wets pretty soon, I've got to say.

00:05:12Looking out this window, it's going to be wets.

00:05:16This is getting exciting.

00:05:17Stay with us.

00:05:18We'll be back with you live on Eurosport.

00:05:26High drama here at Le Mans.

00:05:28The rain is coming down.

00:05:30Everyone's coming back in for full wets.

00:05:32Those who went for intermediates, advantage may well be lost.

00:05:34We've had a Peugeot push behind, Mark.

00:05:37And the number three Audi, that's being backed into the garage.

00:05:39You can see it on your screens now.

00:05:41Oh dear, oh dear, it's all falling apart at the top of the field.

00:05:44We've had late driver changes, rain specialists wanting to come in, and Peugeot have got their own troubles here as well.

00:05:50That's the nine car running in third place, it was.

00:05:53Montagne was on board.

00:05:54There was all kinds of consternation.

00:05:56Nobody really wanted to take the car out.

00:05:57Sarazan's on board the eight car.

00:06:00And, well, chaos nearly.

00:06:02Tom Christensen is in the two car out there.

00:06:05We're looking at Nick Manassian on board the seven on his out lap here.

00:06:09Still running out there is Tom Christensen.

00:06:11I'd love to see how he's coping.

00:06:12There's the seven car on board with Manassian.

00:06:15Hasn't turned on the windscreen wiper just yet, but it really is coming down.

00:06:19Oh, you saw that snap out of the back there, Mark.

00:06:22Sideway through a Nage.

00:06:23And slowest corner of the circuit is doing it there, Liz.

00:06:25What if I didn't be like for the Porsche Curve?

00:06:28Oh, God, yeah.

00:06:29Well, our Nage is a treacherously slippy corner, I have to say.

00:06:32Even in the dry, it's one of those places everyone goes off, as you know.

00:06:34You know, you brake too late there and you slide right off.

00:06:36So in the wet, it's just, oh, it's horrendous.

00:06:38And then, of course, the Porsche Curve, such fast corners.

00:06:42And in these conditions, an hour from the end of the race, not really somewhere where you want to be taking too many risks.

00:06:47I think, Liz, it's brightening up.

00:06:49And I think this could just be a passing shower.

00:06:51It's a heavy shower, but it's going to pass for sure.

00:06:53The forecast called for some rain sprinkling, they called it.

00:06:57Sprinkles, they called it, on the French Meteor.

00:06:59It's certainly fairly heavy sprinkles at the moment.

00:07:02It's added a lot of excitement to this race.

00:07:04Liz, if you're Tom on those intermediates, well, hand-cut slicks, how would you be feeling at the moment?

00:07:09Well, I think Tom Christensen is a very skillful Audi driver.

00:07:12And I think he's going to be able to make the right decisions about what's going on.

00:07:15It's dry out there.

00:07:15It was dry down at Mulsanne.

00:07:17Well, this is the thing, is that in these conditions, it can look more dry than it actually is.

00:07:21This is why it's so tricky, is that you can look at the surface and say,

00:07:24that's going to be dry, push too hard, and suddenly you're facing the wrong way.

00:07:27So I think with the rain just starting to come down, we don't see the standing water, but it's still slick.

00:07:32Yeah, this is down.

00:07:33It's spray here now.

00:07:34That's striping, you can tell just how wet it is.

00:07:37There's no dry line out there.

00:07:38And talk about going around gingerly.

00:07:40This is Frank Bieler.

00:07:41Now, you don't normally say Frank Bieler in the word gingerly.

00:07:44It's the same word, it's the same phrase at all.

00:07:48Out comes the number nine.

00:07:49Don't know what the problem was.

00:07:50See how slippy and skinny it is out there.

00:07:52Even rubber soles are not good enough in these conditions.

00:07:55And look at that, just pushing it away on its own jacks, almost like a caster jacks, I should say.

00:08:00And, well, we're going to see whether they reboot it.

00:08:03I think they were just tightening everything up.

00:08:05They decided to stay with the rubber that they have chosen.

00:08:07Obviously, we didn't see while we were away what they did.

00:08:10But, well, this is it.

00:08:12Run in, and it's going to be an absolute thriller.

00:08:15Two minutes and 26 is the gap between Tom Christensen and the Peugeot of Minasian.

00:08:22They're on the same lap, don't forget.

00:08:24366, that's two laps clear of the next cars, which are the number nine of Montaigne and Lucas Law in the three.

00:08:31Both of those are in and may well tumble down just a little bit.

00:08:34On board our race leader.

00:08:35Let's talk us through this.

00:08:36Well, this is really exciting.

00:08:38I mean, we are now less than an hour from the end of the race.

00:08:40We've just had some tipping rain out of nowhere.

00:08:43Tom Christensen is still leading this race.

00:08:45He's been in the car for a long time.

00:08:47They need this win.

00:08:48Alec McNish has been trying to get this win for the last 10 years.

00:08:51Look at how wet this is.

00:08:52The rain has come down so fast.

00:08:54The huge plume of water coming off the back of Tom Christensen's car.

00:08:57This is where we're going to see the really good drivers at work putting in the right times to bring the cars home, but not to lose any pace.

00:09:05They're showing a gap of 220.

00:09:06I'm not aware that Minasians are back on the lead lap yet.

00:09:10Yeah, I believe they are sharing it.

00:09:12The split on the screens is because he hasn't come through the start-finish rate just at the moment, but it's about 2 minutes 20.

00:09:182 minutes 20 is all that separates them.

00:09:21Don't forget, we're in the final hour now.

00:09:2355 minutes to go, 55 minutes and 50 seconds.

00:09:27Unbelievable that it's going to be this close.

00:09:29They were calling for a grandstand.

00:09:30Everyone was saying maybe this will happen, this sort of finish.

00:09:33Well, you never know, and the rain is now ebbing.

00:09:36It's ebbing, and on parts of the circuit, it's actually stopped.

00:09:39No rooster tail here.

00:09:40Look how different the spray levels are here than it was on the start-finish straight.

00:09:44It's so difficult to call.

00:09:45Well, Tom Christensen now making his way down the Muls-On Straight on his way to the first chicane.

00:09:50It's still wet there, though.

00:09:51You may not see there's a plume there, but you can see it's slippery.

00:09:54It's very slippery there, and especially at the speeds that they'll be doing.

00:09:57So he's still going to have to be cautious under braking into that first chicane.

00:10:00Do you know when the last time this car came in at all, chaps?

00:10:02I'm just wondering whether they've got to make another stop before they go in.

00:10:06Or when the next stop, I should say.

00:10:08They will definitely need to make a stop.

00:10:09But when it's going to come within 55 minutes?

00:10:12Probably within the next 15, I would have thought.

00:10:14Yeah, quite soon, I think, actually.

00:10:15Yes, I wonder whether they will allow themselves to drive a change.

00:10:18There is a maximum, don't forget.

00:10:19Well, certainly Audi will have calculated every inch of everything to the T,

00:10:24so they will know exactly when Tom needs to get out of the car.

00:10:27Who's the wet expert in that car, as far as you're concerned?

00:10:30Would you go with Alan McNish?

00:10:31Yes.

00:10:32Yeah, me too.

00:10:33To be honest, I think all three drivers are superb in the wet, dry, anything.

00:10:37But Alan is so regular and can just put in a time and do it over and over again, you know,

00:10:42better than almost any driver I've ever seen.

00:10:43Now, the problem, of course, for Peugeot is that Audi can change a driver during the fueling with no delay.

00:10:49Peugeot, they can't.

00:10:50This is true, yeah.

00:10:50The mechanic's got to burrow in there, get the belts done up.

00:10:53The drivers can't do it themselves.

00:10:54There's not enough space to do that.

00:10:55Yeah, that's true.

00:10:56This is going to be a big advantage to them.

00:10:58No roof means that they can get that done quickly.

00:11:00Just a thanks to Cadpig, who, in our absence, set up a thread saying,

00:11:06Le Mans, the final stretch.

00:11:07We now have, thanks, Cadpig, for all your hard work.

00:11:10And it's great to see that everyone is there.

00:11:12Sheila S, Sheila M, lots of Sheila's going on out there.

00:11:16Airbus A346, I think, been up all the entire night.

00:11:20But we've got an official one just now.

00:11:22And that's where we're going to be getting your vote as the umbrellas go up like colorful mushrooms

00:11:27all around the circuit here.

00:11:29We want to know your thoughts on best car, best performance, best driver.

00:11:34And, well, I don't think there's any doubt about the best car just for the time being.

00:11:38But what about these conditions?

00:11:39Will it suit the Audis?

00:11:40Get us your thoughts.

00:11:42If you head to the message boards, it's eurosport.yahoo.co.uk.

00:11:48Go to the message boards, hit motorsports, and we've got a spinner.

00:11:51And it is the seven car in second place.

00:11:53Midnassian having trouble.

00:11:54They're on intermediates.

00:11:55Should they have chosen Wetzley's?

00:11:57Well, let's just look at the times.

00:11:58We've got the last time of Christensen.

00:12:00He's on a 3.48, which is phenomenal in these conditions.

00:12:03However, Midnassian's on a four-minute.

00:12:05So, obviously, really struggling.

00:12:06It's getting wetter.

00:12:07It has not stopped raining, as we can see.

00:12:09So, I don't think, you know, on a circuit like Le Mans, it may be more wet in some places

00:12:13than not in others.

00:12:14But, truly, it's very wet where it is wet here right now.

00:12:16We tried to turn in to the second part of Dunlop.

00:12:20Just couldn't make it happen.

00:12:21Just couldn't pull the front end over.

00:12:21Which is what happens in these conditions.

00:12:23You turn and nothing happens at all.

00:12:24So, certainly a very good driver in the wet.

00:12:27But this is getting a bit tricky.

00:12:29And they don't want to be going off in these conditions.

00:12:31Not this close to the end.

00:12:32Absolutely do not want to be going off in these conditions.

00:12:35With a gap of 2 minutes and 39.

00:12:37After 23 hours and 8 minutes, it could easily, so easily, be thrown away.

00:12:42We're going to take ourselves a short break.

00:12:44Don't forget that new side.

00:12:46That's what it was.

00:12:47Wow.

00:12:47Back in a moment.

00:12:50Welcome back to Eurosport.

00:12:52We're in the wet here in the closing hour of the Le Mans 24 hours.

00:12:56Tom Christensen's leading from Nick Manassian.

00:12:58Frank Montani.

00:12:59That is Audi, Peugeot, Peugeot.

00:13:01And at the moment, three laps covering the top three cars.

00:13:04Well, we're going to be showing you that incident at a moment.

00:13:06It was a real breath holder.

00:13:09And one of the Porsches getting in the way.

00:13:11I say getting in the way.

00:13:12That's unkind.

00:13:13It was, I think, the Lizard's car and Seth Neiman.

00:13:15And you were impressed, weren't you, Liz?

00:13:17Yeah, I have to say, you know, Seth has had a tough race.

00:13:20And he always tries really hard.

00:13:21He does a great job.

00:13:22But he is the amateur driver in that car.

00:13:24And I have to say, he did a phenomenal job to avoid hitting that Peugeot.

00:13:27Because it spun about three times right in front of him.

00:13:30And he just narrowly missed him.

00:13:31So all credit to Seth.

00:13:32He did a really good job to avoid that.

00:13:33Well done.

00:13:34Good heads up driving.

00:13:35And, well, we've got Mikasalo here in the 82 car.

00:13:39They are the class leaders, Mark, of GT1.

00:13:41They're having it all their own way.

00:13:43It's going to be a Ferrari party, surely, this.

00:13:45Yeah, I think class is certainly the right word.

00:13:47This is the classiest team in sports car racing.

00:13:49Rizzi Competizione, Giuseppe Rizzi from Houston.

00:13:53He's the Porsche dealer there.

00:13:54He and Rick Meyer run a really tight team there.

00:13:56Jaime Melo, Mikasalo.

00:13:58And Jimmy Bruni brought in from Virgo for the weekend.

00:14:01Because he's a factory driver.

00:14:03And Liz, there was a little bit of aggravation about that.

00:14:05Virgo were not happy, were they?

00:14:06Couldn't do much about it.

00:14:07But I think there was.

00:14:09And obviously, even now, probably maybe a little bit more.

00:14:12Because he's now, you know, in the leading Ferrari.

00:14:14But definitely brilliant for him.

00:14:15And a smart decision by Rizzi.

00:14:17Because they've had a very, very strong run.

00:14:18Been leading for hours and hours and hours on end.

00:14:20So, certainly, it was a good decision from Ferrari and from Rizzi.

00:14:24Yeah, and if you're just joining us, unfortunately, Rob Bell and the Virgo crew of A went out on lap 289.

00:14:31That's, what, 25 laps ago now with a blown engine.

00:14:34Very, very unusual for the F430.

00:14:35And the Porsche challenge was neutered because the two leading cars got into each other and just wrote off what was looking like a Porsche party.

00:14:44It suddenly swung the way of Ferrari, which is what we were predicting before the beginning of the race.

00:14:48We thought the Porsche had essentially just switched that all around.

00:14:53Didn't happen a bit of it.

00:14:54There's the three car.

00:14:55It's in.

00:14:56It's a Lucas Law.

00:14:57And look at what they're trying to face up to here.

00:15:01The camera, the stroller has actually jammed in the wet.

00:15:05But it's not quite as bad as it looks on that on-board picture, I have to tell you.

00:15:11There, a little bit better view of it.

00:15:13Now, let's have a brief talk about this.

00:15:15It's our leader in GT1 here, Mark.

00:15:17Yeah, 333 laps completed by the 009 car.

00:15:22Brab's on board at the moment.

00:15:23And Mags, his long-time rival, Jan Magnussen, second.

00:15:27But Magnussen's a lap down in the 63 Corvette.

00:15:30We think it lives there all on intermediates.

00:15:32We've actually seen no-one put full wets on yet, have we?

00:15:35I think we did, yeah.

00:15:36We did a bit earlier.

00:15:37We saw a few full wets go on, yeah.

00:15:39Definitely.

00:15:40And I think they might have to, if this rain just starts to ebb.

00:15:42They might have to come in and swap them back.

00:15:44I think they might.

00:15:45It's not raining in front of us now, so.

00:15:46No, it has definitely moved.

00:15:48The cloud's still looking a bit ominous.

00:15:49It's gone to the other side of the circuit.

00:15:51That's the problem.

00:15:51Céline's still out there, applying its trade back in seventh place in class.

00:15:55That's bravery.

00:15:55They'll be just wanting to get to the end here.

00:15:57And this is the 007 crew yet again playing the bridesmaid to the sister, 09.

00:16:03Yeah, we're looking very relaxed there.

00:16:04They're running in fourth place with Frensen.

00:16:06And his first Le Mans, remember?

00:16:08Well, first Le Mans in this century.

00:16:11He did come here, didn't he?

00:16:12It's interesting what Hans-Harr was saying.

00:16:14He approached them, said he loved the car,

00:16:16and his people got in touch with their people,

00:16:18and they got a deal together.

00:16:19Yeah, fantastic.

00:16:21Perhaps you get one for a year to drive on the road.

00:16:23Well, it's very nice to see so many of these, you know,

00:16:25amazing old Grand Prix drivers, you know,

00:16:28here to take on the Le Mans 24 hours.

00:16:30We have just a wealth of them this year, don't we?

00:16:32Yeah, it's been absolutely incredible.

00:16:34I mean, Alex Wurtz returning here after a long and honorable Formula 1 career,

00:16:38but I think Jos Verstappen, that's a big shock.

00:16:41All of it, Panis.

00:16:41Guys have never been to Le Mans,

00:16:43and Verstappen had never, ever raced in the night.

00:16:46In my opinion, Jos Verstappen is the guy out there,

00:16:50because he has put LMP2, the LMP2 car, up there in ninth place.

00:16:57Ahead of him are two petrol cars in LMP1,

00:17:01so he's actually, if he could just get by those two cars,

00:17:04tall order, he's eight laps down on the Pescarola of Trullier, the 17 car,

00:17:07but nonetheless, he's kind of like in a class of his own.

00:17:10He's just out there, or his team are.

00:17:12The 34 car, fabulous.

00:17:14Porsche RS Spyder has come here,

00:17:15and that has been such a performance, that has.

00:17:18There's only two LMP1 petrol cars ahead of him

00:17:21before he gets into the diesel power cars.

00:17:24That's just great.

00:17:25There is the Van Merkstein team,

00:17:27and Liz, that's not taken away from Jeroen Blakermann,

00:17:29who's on board the car now.

00:17:30He's done a fabulous job.

00:17:32He has done 24-hour races.

00:17:33He and Mike Hazelman have raced at Spa many times,

00:17:35but he's been very, very quick all weekend.

00:17:38He's been very impressive in this car,

00:17:39and he's done a lot of driving in it.

00:17:41It's like every time I look, he's in the car again.

00:17:42So he's done a fantastic job,

00:17:44and a big testament to Porsche, as you've said.

00:17:46You know, their first Le Mans 1-2 at the moment.

00:17:49We're not far from the end.

00:17:50It looks like it's going to stay that way,

00:17:51and just remember, it wasn't that many years ago

00:17:53when you could win the LMP2 class and be almost last.

00:17:56This was only like four years ago.

00:17:58That could be the case.

00:17:59So to be four years on in the top ten is very impressive.

00:18:03And you want Heroic.

00:18:03What about the 11 car, down in 34th position?

00:18:07They came out of the box here,

00:18:08and they've been running top ten mark

00:18:09for such a long time until their travels.

00:18:11Yeah, that's the dome.

00:18:12I've been so impressed with that.

00:18:14I've already said once before,

00:18:15this is my car of the race at the moment.

00:18:17Let us know on the phone who yours is,

00:18:18and Frank Montani, still my favorite driver.

00:18:21All right, we've got an interview downstairs.

00:18:22You've decided to stay slick on the car number 7.

00:18:27It's a really dangerous choice.

00:18:29So, Michelle, you decided to stay with slick tires.

00:18:32That was a bit of a dangerous choice, surely, out there.

00:18:35If we don't do that,

00:18:36and if we don't play on, let's say, the sun that's coming,

00:18:39we've already been beaten.

00:18:42So, we're in agreement with Nicolas.

00:18:45Are you ready to ride it and catch up with the Audi's?

00:18:49You think we've just got to stick with it.

00:18:51Well, you're now about three seconds faster than the Audi's.

00:18:56So, what can you do to bridge the gap?

00:18:57Well, it's going to be very hard anyway, he says.

00:19:00But in Le Mans, a lot of things can happen out there.

00:19:03So, we've just got to carry on fighting.

00:19:07What are you going to have to do if you're going to win it?

00:19:09What a question.

00:19:10If you knew, he'd do it.

00:19:13Let's talk about that at three, he says.

00:19:15Quite right.

00:19:17Great answer there, I think,

00:19:18because the other option was maybe somewhere along the lines of

00:19:21hit Tom Christensen, which probably isn't the best option.

00:19:24No, that isn't.

00:19:25Very wisely spoken.

00:19:26Tom has won it so many times, more than anybody else out there, Mark,

00:19:29and he's in the winning car.

00:19:30He thinks again, but the margin is so narrow,

00:19:33you cannot say anything for definite out there.

00:19:35Yeah, eighth place car.

00:19:36This is Luak Duval, the Japanese-based French driver.

00:19:40He is in the factory Courage.

00:19:42It's the only one that's surviving.

00:19:44And ahead of him, Benoit Trullier.

00:19:45He's a long-time rival in Japanese Super GT and in Formula Nippon.

00:19:49Benoit, of course, last year's Formula Nippon champion,

00:19:52and Luak was the Super GT vice champion.

00:19:55So, very much a battle of the Japanese-based drivers there.

00:19:59Nigel H saying, drama all the way.

00:20:01Just got to love this race.

00:20:03Dr. Duck riding, I think, that Peugeot has thrown it away.

00:20:06That's from Diesel 2, another petrolhead out there.

00:20:10And, in fact, it was Dr. Duck, Diesel 2, presumably agreeing with him.

00:20:14Huge decisions to be made, says Ralph, varying weather conditions on the track.

00:20:17You're absolutely right, boys.

00:20:19How about, boys and girls, indeed,

00:20:21how about your decisions on best driver, best effort out there?

00:20:25And, you know, go for the romance as well.

00:20:27Let's not just concentrate on the Peugeots and the Audis,

00:20:30although you can't take it away from any of them.

00:20:33They are just so focused on delivering the job here.

00:20:35Let's hear it from Amanda Strutt.

00:20:36We heard what Hugh Chamberlain told us earlier,

00:20:38that she did a great job dragging that car back.

00:20:42Yeah, and I think that was a really good effort from her.

00:20:44I mean, it's unfortunate she put it off.

00:20:45I mean, I think just some of it's just lack of experience.

00:20:47She's not driven this car much.

00:20:49She's not been able to race it before.

00:20:50So, it was a lot to take on.

00:20:52But, you know, good on her for getting it back.

00:20:53That Lamborghini just getting in the way of the gold top number two car.

00:20:58The Lamborghini's had its own problems as well.

00:21:00Maybe some of you out there think that the bravery that they have shown

00:21:04in the Russian-sponsored car, the number 55,

00:21:07they've constantly come back, never given up and never say die attitude.

00:21:11Yeah, the Dome has done exceptionally well, says Ralph.

00:21:15Ralph, we agree with you.

00:21:17They have come here, ran in the sort of top tens.

00:21:21And it's been a pleasure to watch them, hasn't it, Liz?

00:21:23It has, absolutely.

00:21:24And Lee H. thinks that Stefan Sarazan should be the best driver of the race

00:21:27just for his incredible pace and his best time of the entire race,

00:21:31which I can agree with.

00:21:32I think Stefan has really performed amazingly.

00:21:35But there's been a lot of drivers who have put it in.

00:21:37I know Mark's got his favorite.

00:21:38Yeah, well, I nominate Frank Montani because of what he did during the night.

00:21:43He was banging in, when it was still dry, 3.21s all night long.

00:21:46No one else is within five seconds of him.

00:21:48And, OK, Stefan Sarazan has set the fastest lap of the race at the 3.19.

00:21:52But Frank was just doing that time after time after time.

00:21:55And we've seen it in past years.

00:21:57This is such a consistent but fast driver.

00:22:00Yeah, I agree.

00:22:00I mean, I have to say, it's Frank for me.

00:22:02I think he's done a fabulous job.

00:22:03And it was nice to see, you know, every lap within, like, 0.2 of itself

00:22:07for up to 10 laps.

00:22:09It's an incredible job.

00:22:09Lee Porsche's in, just getting some new boots out there.

00:22:13I suspect it might be intermediates.

00:22:15But it's anybody's guess.

00:22:16It's probably going to be between an intermediate and a wet

00:22:19or between an intermediate and a dry, which is the correct choice.

00:22:22Who on earth could possibly call it?

00:22:24There is the gap between Christensen and Minlassian.

00:22:26They say the Audis have it when it's wet.

00:22:29And look at that, a moisture check from Michelin, the technician.

00:22:32Well, what about that?

00:22:33They're getting a surface temperature as well.

00:22:35They can measure evaporation rates when they measure the temperature.

00:22:37Bit of a mistake from the Peugeot.

00:22:38That is the 7 car running in second place.

00:22:41Wow, we agree with you, Cadvig, on our message board.

00:22:44He's straight on there, and that shows you were Slick's the wise choice.

00:22:49They were taking the Ambrian temperature of the track

00:22:50to see what the evaporation rates are like.

00:22:53And that is his second mistake.

00:22:55Yeah, he's had that spin earlier, narrowly missing that Porsche.

00:22:58He was very lucky there, and then lucky again

00:23:00that he didn't have so much speed on that he could actually get through those tires.

00:23:03Oh, back end, back end, back end.

00:23:06Wow, Cadpig saying this is the best.

00:23:08He said it's about 1988 all over again.

00:23:11You might be right, Cadpig.

00:23:13And the rest of you on there, you're loving it.

00:23:15So we'll be back after this break.

00:23:17Stay with us.

00:23:18Blue off.

00:23:19Welcome back.

00:23:22Jacques Villeneuve is there, and, well, he's had a great, great Le Mans.

00:23:28Will he get the chance to equal Graham Hill's record?

00:23:31That's going to be a big ask.

00:23:33The number seven Peugeot of Minassian has had its troubles

00:23:37just holding on to the surface here, trying to keep the speeds up.

00:23:41Tom Christensen in the two-car is our leader.

00:23:44And in ninth place, the leader of the LMP2s

00:23:48is the RS Spyder in the hands of Bleakamolen at the moment.

00:23:51As far as GT1s are concerned, the 009 of Aston Martin of Brabham

00:23:55has a one-lap lead over Magnussen's Corvette, the 63 car.

00:24:00And when it comes to the GT2s, it's all about Mikasalo at the moment.

00:24:05He is going to, well, he's leading by a country mile.

00:24:08He leads by eight laps ahead of the nearest Ferrari to him.

00:24:12It's Ferraris filling the top four places.

00:24:14The lead Porsche is in fifth spot, Felvermeyer Porsche.

00:24:18It's the boss on board the number 77 car at the moment.

00:24:22As we were talking about intermediates and how, if it does suddenly dry off,

00:24:25they are going to start to get a little bit difficult in the run for home.

00:24:29Yeah, we've just seen one of the Audis come in

00:24:30and swap from wets to intermediate tyres.

00:24:32And I was being asked by Mark if he felt that they could take it

00:24:35to the end on intermediates.

00:24:36A lot of that's going to depend on weather completely.

00:24:39At the moment, looking at the sky and based on the temperature,

00:24:41it's not very warm outside.

00:24:42The sky is not looking very promising.

00:24:44I don't think it's going to get sunny and beautiful any minute now.

00:24:47So chances are, in my opinion,

00:24:48the intermediate is going to be absolutely fine to the end.

00:24:50However, if this track dries up significantly,

00:24:53all of a sudden the intermediate tyre will go off.

00:24:56It will grain up because they'll be pushed very, very hard

00:24:58on these very fast corners on the circuit.

00:25:00And it's going to grain up and it's going to go away.

00:25:02So it's going to be a tough one, really.

00:25:04But I think it's going to be OK.

00:25:05Well, Mulder Street has always been a bit of a nosher

00:25:08of cars that get it wrong.

00:25:11And you can see as well the difference in that little rooster tail

00:25:14that was being kicked up.

00:25:15Different parts of the circuit.

00:25:16Local yellow.

00:25:17And there's a car just being rescued there.

00:25:19And is that the red-top Audi?

00:25:21Number one.

00:25:22Wow.

00:25:22I think that was a very, very long look at it.

00:25:25A long-distance look at it, I should say.

00:25:27We'll wait and see.

00:25:28Lucas Lewis has gone in the gravel.

00:25:29Wow.

00:25:30He's not in the number one.

00:25:31Yes.

00:25:32Oh, Frank Bieler.

00:25:34Oh, dear, oh, dear.

00:25:35Yes, he is there as well.

00:25:37He's being helped out.

00:25:38Now, don't forget, he came in, took some intermediates.

00:25:41We thought maybe he's going to be pushed out on a test here

00:25:43to see how they go.

00:25:43But the answer is not very well.

00:25:46What an incredible finish.

00:25:48It should be hard for the heart.

00:25:51Yeah, it's another 40 minutes to go.

00:25:54It's really thrilling because we think this was not the very end

00:25:58of the interesting weather today.

00:26:02We think that there will be another shower coming.

00:26:06So it will become and stay difficult to the end.

00:26:09I'm sure you're looking for what the Peugeot is pushing hard

00:26:14and they have slicks.

00:26:16You are an intermedium tire, sir.

00:26:19Yeah, I hope we have chosen the safe and the right choice

00:26:22for the tires.

00:26:25Okay, thank you.

00:26:26Do you know the Audi number one just stopped on the track?

00:26:30Do you know what's happening?

00:26:32Not yet, no.

00:26:34There was a man who just did not want to answer questions

00:26:38about tires and tire choice and hardly surprising.

00:26:40He's not going to give anything away.

00:26:42Peugeot will have their people watching this.

00:26:43They don't want to give a moment's advantage,

00:26:47but clearly it's getting difficult out there.

00:26:49Well, yeah, and we've just seen Frank have a real difficulty

00:26:53there in the first chicane.

00:26:54Same place where Nick Manassian went straight on,

00:26:58Frank had a spin.

00:26:58So this is definitely a tricky part of the circuit.

00:27:01You're coming off the Molson stripe very, very quickly.

00:27:03Having to break hard on the really dodgy surface at the moment,

00:27:07to be honest, is very slippery, very difficult to judge.

00:27:11But, you know, we're saying, should he be on intermediates?

00:27:14Well, is Nick Manassian not on slick still?

00:27:18We believe he is not now.

00:27:20He's not, good.

00:27:21I was going to say, I don't know how he's doing it otherwise.

00:27:23Certainly, I don't think he's on anything above intermediates.

00:27:26Yeah, I don't think so either.

00:27:27I think it was our question and just got it a little bit leading.

00:27:31I was thinking that is phenomenal.

00:27:32And to be honest, the thing was, they were having an interview in English,

00:27:35and you could see the eyebrows of the spokesman for Peugeot just sinking.

00:27:39Yes, well, if you want to say we're on slicks, I'm not going to deny it.

00:27:42I was thinking this was a feat of nature, actually.

00:27:44No, no, no.

00:27:45He knew that they were watching.

00:27:46And I've got sunshine, and it's going to dry up very, very quickly.

00:27:49The cloud is very high now,

00:27:50so this is just going to throw another spanner into all their calculations.

00:27:54This could get very exciting.

00:27:55Just watching the back end of that Peugeot getting a little excited as he accelerated very hard out of that corner.

00:28:00You can just see how much horsepower these cars have.

00:28:03And in these conditions, they will get wheel spin all the way up to fourth gear sometimes.

00:28:07So, certainly very tricky.

00:28:09Amazing.

00:28:10Once you just hit that accelerator, there's the gap, and it's 2.27,

00:28:14and Christensen is holding his own against Manassian.

00:28:182.27 with 33, just under 34 minutes remaining of this fantastic 76th running of the Le Mans, 24 hours.

00:28:27It's been an absolute pleasure throughout the evening, hasn't it?

00:28:29It has.

00:28:30This has been an incredible race.

00:28:31Of all the races that I would be stuck not driving in,

00:28:34it's been very exciting to commentate on it.

00:28:36So, thanks to Eurosport for bringing me in, because this has been very lively all the way through, hasn't it?

00:28:40It's a pleasure to have your perspective here, Liz.

00:28:42It really is useful, especially in these kind of conditions,

00:28:45just to know what the mindset is within the team's map.

00:28:48Yeah, and I think this is what you've got to consider.

00:28:50And I remember Frank Beeler and two of his colleagues have won this race five times,

00:28:55and two of those are in the wet.

00:28:56So, Frank's not an idiot.

00:28:57So, when something like that happens, you know just how bad it is.

00:29:00Frank isn't a guy who goes and makes mistakes.

00:29:02The only sad thing, I think, for him is that his future of Audi was under threat at the beginning of this year,

00:29:07and he would have just loved his third successive win to consolidate his time at Audi.

00:29:12We may not see Frank here again at Le Mans.

00:29:14Which I think would really be a shame, because Frank has been such a strong part of Audi for so many years,

00:29:19and he really does a great job.

00:29:20So, it would be really, really disappointing to see him not back with Audi at Le Mans again.

00:29:25James W. says here he's just loving the coverage.

00:29:28Well, we promised you we'd go 24 hours, James W., and we have Titcha enjoying life as well.

00:29:34So are the rest of you.

00:29:36And there it is.

00:29:37The two lights on the side of the number seven car show it's in second place.

00:29:41What you want is to just have a solitary one there.

00:29:43It looks prettier with three on it, but the one is what you're after,

00:29:47and that, at the moment, is what is on board the number two car of Tom Christensen.

00:29:52373 laps completed, 32 stops despite all of the weather.

00:29:58And when you look at the nearest Peugeot to him, it's the seven car, 372 laps.

00:30:02It'll be on the same lap as they come by in a moment's time.

00:30:05But two more stops, and that's the crucial difference between them.

00:30:08In fact, they've started already as well, because Benoit Trilio has bought the seventh place Pescarola,

00:30:13best of the petrol cars.

00:30:14He's in being refuelled and refettled.

00:30:16That will be their last stop.

00:30:17There's only 35 minutes to go.

00:30:19So that, I think, Carlton and Liz, is going to start the train of pit stops off.

00:30:23If Pescarola call that, the rest will be following.

00:30:25Well, I think we've just heard that the number seven car is going to come in for a pit,

00:30:29but not change its drivers.

00:30:30So that would be Nick Manassian coming in just for fuel and then carry on to the finish.

00:30:35So I think we've just heard that.

00:30:36So we'll wait and see if that's what's going to happen.

00:30:38Nervous times for Dr. Wolfgang Ulrich.

00:30:41He's a busy man out there.

00:30:43He has a lot on his in-tray, I should say.

00:30:48And finally, he'll be able to put this one to bed, surely, for the two-car.

00:30:52And what would it mean to Alan McNish as well?

00:30:54Eleven years ago, he won it, and he's been desperate to do so again.

00:30:57He thought he'd got it in the bag last year.

00:30:59I've never seen a man look more disappointed than last year.

00:31:02Well, can he hold on this time?

00:31:04He's got just over half an hour to go, but it's in the hands of someone else.

00:31:08Tom Christensen is the man, and he's doing a great job.

00:31:11He's posted a 3.24, 1.52.

00:31:14Mnassian, remarkably, and Montagnier just heading towards the 3.20 mark.

00:31:19In fact, 3.20 has just been kissed, and it's gone under by Alexander Virta.

00:31:233.19, 3.94.

00:31:25These speeds are just absolutely unbelievable out there.

00:31:29Not now, Carlton.

00:31:30That's the best laps.

00:31:31That's the best.

00:31:32There's no chance they can do that in the wet.

00:31:34Do you know what?

00:31:36I'm sorry, Carlton.

00:31:37Not even Superman can do that time in the wet.

00:31:40I'm just going to go out and quietly shoot myself.

00:31:43I've got a silence here.

00:31:44Look at the wrong column, Carlton.

00:31:45It's been a very, very long night, and I'm sure everyone will forgive you.

00:31:49Yeah, but you make for a great show, Carlton.

00:31:51Back with you soon from your escort.

00:31:53Let's have a break.

00:31:54There'll be a small gunshot sound while we're out.

00:31:56We're just going to nip downstairs and talk to Jacques Villeneuve, who will fill us in on his thoughts.

00:32:08I'm not always going to think about the commentary that's been going on up here.

00:32:11Sorry about my phone power, looking at the wrong screen.

00:32:14Jacques, it looks difficult to come back from the end for Hody.

00:32:20They're quite a little bit front, but it's still possible.

00:32:23Well, 30 minutes to go, and it's a little bit too late.

00:32:28We would need to be lucky right now, but you never know what might happen.

00:32:31Still, Nicolas did a good job there driving with the dry tires on the wet track.

00:32:37I'm sure you don't really like to finish second, but you will be there next time if it's not possible this time.

00:32:44Well, we're here to try and win.

00:32:46Second is good for all the guys who worked hard on the Carnau team.

00:32:49But frankly, finishing second doesn't do much.

00:32:55Do you love Les 24 heures du Mans now?

00:32:58Oh, it's a great fun.

00:33:00It's a great experience, but only because we're in a competitive car.

00:33:04Thank you, Jacques.

00:33:05Well, Jacques, we don't know if saying, or I still don't know whether they're pretending that Minassian is on slicks out there.

00:33:13If he is, that is incredibly impressive.

00:33:16Just have a look at the Peugeot No. 7 as it applies its trade out there in just a few moments' time.

00:33:25But they're doing a great job.

00:33:26But second is nothing as far as he's concerned.

00:33:28And there is the No. 7.

00:33:36And straight awning.

00:33:38And maybe they are on slicks out there because it's clearly having just a little bit of trouble for the time being.

00:33:44Well, Nick Minassian is not the kind of person to make many mistakes unless he's given sort of a difficult prospect like slick tires in the wet.

00:33:53So it's very possible that he might be.

00:33:55I mean, truly a very good wet driver.

00:33:57So it is possible.

00:33:58Yes, I've just applied my technical skill to my monitor because it does keep jumping.

00:34:02I thought we were on last lap earlier and we were suddenly on best lap.

00:34:06And, yep, there it is.

00:34:07You just give it a smack and it appears to go to the right screen.

00:34:11You keep moving in columns then, Carlton.

00:34:13It's almost a career ender, this sort of thing.

00:34:16Anyway, thanks to Chock Monster who says her award, or his award, not sure which, is to the dedication to duty,

00:34:23goes to Epsilon Mechanics, spending six hours rebuilding the gearbox on the 21 car.

00:34:29Yeah, hi, Emma.

00:34:30How's Darlington?

00:34:31Everything well?

00:34:32And are you baking a cake at the moment, Phyllis?

00:34:34Oh, yeah, sounds like a test match special all of a sudden.

00:34:37Oh, she's wonderful.

00:34:37Look at this, head in hands.

00:34:39That is what Peugeot just, well, it is head in hands, Tan.

00:34:43You could hear the disappointment in Jacques Villeneuve's voice, couldn't you?

00:34:46He could.

00:34:47And Jacques was here last year as well.

00:34:49And obviously Audi won last year again.

00:34:51And Peugeot really thought this was going to be their year.

00:34:53They've been here once.

00:34:54They've figured out all the problems.

00:34:56So they thought this was the year they would win in France.

00:34:59So it's really a disappointment for them.

00:35:01Maybe the good news, though, Liz, is if they don't win this, we know they will be back next year.

00:35:06Oh, absolutely.

00:35:06I think they'd be back anyway.

00:35:08I mean, we've seen what a huge force they are and the dominance they've had in speed

00:35:12and the huge following they have here.

00:35:14Obviously, you know, very important to have a French car back at the famous French race.

00:35:19So this is fantastic.

00:35:20And I'm sure we'll see them back many times to come.

00:35:22But it's certainly a disappointment for them.

00:35:24The big question, Mark, of course, is what will Audi be bringing back?

00:35:26This is the question, yeah.

00:35:28What is Audi going to bring back to challenge them?

00:35:30Because certainly they've not liked playing second fiddle in the dry to these cars.

00:35:34On board with the number eight car, that's Alexander Wurtz.

00:35:39He's just sub four minutes at the moment by two and a half seconds.

00:35:43We've got Marc Genet to have a word with us right now.

00:35:47Let's cross down.

00:35:48I'm sure you're still fighting for the win, but it looks to be difficult.

00:35:52Yeah, it's difficult for sure.

00:35:55Half an hour only to go.

00:35:56But the weather seems to be changing a lot.

00:36:02There may even be some rain towards the end.

00:36:03So we may try to do something different because to win this race, we must do something different

00:36:07to our competitors, but we'll give our best.

00:36:09But I'm sure you're happy after your big crash and you'll be happy to be second anyway.

00:36:16Yeah, if we finish second, it's still a good result.

00:36:18But we had the car to win.

00:36:20The car was fast, it was very fast.

00:36:22We lost the race in the night.

00:36:24It started raining and I don't know why we lost a lot of pace.

00:36:26But yeah, if we finish second after the accident, it's still a good result for sure.

00:36:32Thank you very much.

00:36:33Thanks.

00:36:34Yeah, no driver likes to finish second.

00:36:37I'm sure she'll come to realize that one day.

00:36:39But Marc Genet is, well, he has come back from amazing adversity.

00:36:48You've got to say that.

00:36:49And second would be, in anyone's normal terms, would be a good result.

00:36:52Racing drivers aren't interested in that.

00:36:54There are winners and then there's the rest.

00:36:57Just as the likes of Alan Wittnish, he will mean so much to him.

00:37:02Interesting, though, that they have decided that they have to take a different strategy.

00:37:06That's why they are on slicks.

00:37:08And one of them is coming in right now.

00:37:10Manassian in the seven car.

00:37:12Well, this is pinning off the second spot.

00:37:15And there, the clock ticking down.

00:37:1622 minutes and 54 seconds now remaining of this race.

00:37:20As I smack the monitor yet again.

00:37:22And it has righted itself.

00:37:24I'm not suggesting that violence is an answer to anything.

00:37:27All high-tech here.

00:37:30Let's watch the tyres, Liz.

00:37:31See exactly what he's choosing.

00:37:33Times, look at that.

00:37:3422 minutes to go.

00:37:36Going to be intermediates, I think.

00:37:37Or, it's very hard to tell, unfortunately, on a monitor what tyres they're going to have.

00:37:42He's only got a maximum of five laps ahead of him now, hasn't he?

00:37:45Yeah, he's not got that many.

00:37:47But it's hard to tell because we're not out on the track with him.

00:37:50There you go.

00:37:50We've just heard it.

00:37:51It's wet tyres for version number seven.

00:37:53He's going for the safe option.

00:37:55And he was, in fact, on slicks.

00:37:57We've just seen that.

00:37:58Well, congratulations to him.

00:37:59I have a new favourite driver in this race.

00:38:01And it's Nick Manassian for hammering around this track in the wet on slick tyres.

00:38:05Well, he hammered off the track a couple of times.

00:38:07Yeah, but he's awesome.

00:38:08He did.

00:38:09That was amazing.

00:38:10But Tom Tristensen was on intermediates, went around three seconds faster last time by, and that told its own story.

00:38:16I think that's the gamble.

00:38:18Will it rain?

00:38:19And if it does, they're in a safer place.

00:38:21Yeah, it's glad that they were refuelling anyway, so they made a safety call.

00:38:25Absolutely.

00:38:26Full wets just in case.

00:38:26Clever, yeah, good decision.

00:38:28Not far to go.

00:38:29Not that many laps.

00:38:30It's not going to dry out in five laps.

00:38:32And they just said, Nick, you know, we're this close to the end.

00:38:35He's done a brilliant job, but there's absolutely no point in keeping those slicks on.

00:38:38Yeah.

00:38:38Lee H says, took our university team for, well, just keeping us entertained, I suppose.

00:38:44They did a good job as well.

00:38:46That was a long time ago, wasn't it?

00:38:47Come on, is nobody agreeing with me out there?

00:38:49Come on, guys, give me some support.

00:38:51Who was all the agree with you about the Dome?

00:38:53Montani and Dome.

00:38:54And I do think Montani was awesome.

00:38:56I agree.

00:38:56I think that was pretty cool.

00:38:57But what about this lot?

00:38:58Mini GP says, Sarazan, the best, the fastest driver vice far out there.

00:39:03I'm sure there'll be others would disagree.

00:39:05See, we, Alan, they're 10 years since his famous win for Porsche.

00:39:08And this is such an important day for Alan, if he can pull that off again.

00:39:16This would be huge for Alan.

00:39:18And he just can almost taste it now.

00:39:19You can tell he's just sitting in the garage, rubbing his hands together, thinking it's on its way.

00:39:24Sarazan, well, you know, do you know what?

00:39:27He did such a fantastic job in qualifying.

00:39:30And, you know, these boys have voted for him.

00:39:32Mini GP thinks that he's the boss.

00:39:34So does Kevin, and I'm sure, and many, many others of you out there.

00:39:37So it's just whether you've got the whole package together.

00:39:39Its speed doesn't necessarily come down to it, does it?

00:39:41In the end, you've got to have a fortune as well.

00:39:43Absolutely.

00:39:44This is sports car racing and 24-hour racing.

00:39:47This is what makes it what it is.

00:39:48You can be the fastest car on circuit.

00:39:50If you don't have the reliability, it's not going to happen.

00:39:52And, unfortunately, this is where it's come down to.

00:39:55LMP2.

00:39:56Peter van Merkstein, he owns the Dutch Porsche.

00:39:59That's why they put him in the car.

00:40:01He's not in any danger position from the cars behind.

00:40:04John Nielsen, in fact, is seven laps down in the Essex Porsche.

00:40:08Second in that category.

00:40:09So that is going to be a big day for the weekend driver, amateur, Peter van Merkstein.

00:40:14That would be superb.

00:40:15I think you might see an awful lot more of the RS Spyder next year.

00:40:19We're wondering whether Roger Penske will bring his America cruise.

00:40:22Has so much success in the American Le Mans series.

00:40:25As the two-car continues to just move through the field here.

00:40:29Still spots of rain around the place.

00:40:32But I have to say, on the start-finish straight here, not the sign of it.

00:40:35Everyone's sitting quite happily without their brollies.

00:40:38And the wind just picking up ever so slightly.

00:40:41It's helping with the drying process.

00:40:42Yeah, I'm just going to pick up, Carlton, what you're saying about Penske Porsche.

00:40:46They will not be coming to Le Mans in LMP2.

00:40:48No, they may well take a step up, though, Mark.

00:40:50The ACO perceive them as a full-on factory team, which, of course, they are in America.

00:40:55The ACO does not want factory teams running in LMP2.

00:40:58Honda are coming next year.

00:40:59We know that.

00:41:00The Acuras.

00:41:01It was even announced in the Audi press conference, perhaps inadvertently,

00:41:04that next year, when we are fighting Peugeot and Honda.

00:41:08They actually said that in the conference, didn't they?

00:41:10So they know more than Honda is saying at the moment.

00:41:13So that is going to be LMP1.

00:41:14Will we see Porsche in LMP1?

00:41:16Honda or Acura, take your prick.

00:41:19We will be back in just around a few minutes' time.

00:41:23The French are busy talking to Henri Pescarolo.

00:41:26I would have liked to have had a word with him as well.

00:41:29Mark Cole's got the giggle.

00:41:30No apologies for any slip of the tongue out there.

00:41:32But Tom Christensen is our leader.

00:41:36And the Peugeots, they're trying everything they can.

00:41:38They're praying for rain now.

00:41:40I never thought I'd tell myself to say that about Peugeot.

00:41:43Because Audi always seem to go better when it is wet.

00:41:48But they've taken a gamble.

00:41:49Will it pay off back in a moment?

00:41:51Welcome back.

00:41:56Eurosport is live.

00:41:58And what about a live wire?

00:41:59Look at the back end of that car.

00:42:01Slowing all over the place.

00:42:02The number seven.

00:42:04It's on wet, don't forget.

00:42:05Doesn't seem to be happy in the dry.

00:42:07Maybe it was the final roll of the Dyson.

00:42:09Peugeot are going to have to think of something else.

00:42:12What on earth could they possibly do?

00:42:15As we come under the 16 minutes to go mark.

00:42:18And Tom Christensen is out there.

00:42:20I mean, that's the end stop.

00:42:21It means he's fallen off the lead lap.

00:42:24They're clean with the run for home, we think.

00:42:27But you don't count your chickens out there.

00:42:29There's something wrong there.

00:42:30I'm just wondering, is it all attached properly?

00:42:34Liz?

00:42:34It could just be that the tyres are very new.

00:42:37And he's just struggling a bit to get the heat into them.

00:42:39And everything's sorted out out there.

00:42:40Because he is on wets now, I believe.

00:42:42And he's on a drier bit at the circuit.

00:42:44So this just could be the problem.

00:42:45That they're sort of struggling to settle in a bit.

00:42:47But it's hard to tell right now.

00:42:49Because definitely there's a lot of movement there in the back end.

00:42:51Taking a look at his hands on the straight.

00:42:52He looked like he was well set.

00:42:54So it just may be an issue in the corners, as you say.

00:42:56Just finding grip.

00:42:57Look at him go.

00:42:57That is snaking all the way into the turn.

00:42:59And that's a gentle turn as well.

00:43:01Let's see the back end now as he comes and gets the power down.

00:43:04So ginger, you saw the back.

00:43:06Oh, look at that.

00:43:07Really shuddering under acceleration.

00:43:10Poor old Nico.

00:43:11I have to say, the 7 car.

00:43:13Look at that.

00:43:13Number 9 is going to go for the same.

00:43:15Changing the boots.

00:43:17They're going to bring him in just like this.

00:43:19Tom Christensen is still out there and in the lead.

00:43:22And Merckstein is on board the 34 car.

00:43:25Leading LMP2.

00:43:26Brabham is in the Aston.

00:43:27The lead car in GT1.

00:43:29And a lap clear of the Corvette of Magnussen.

00:43:33The 63 car.

00:43:34And as far as GT2 is concerned, it's Micasallo who is just bringing it in with a lead of 8 laps.

00:43:42Over the nearest other car.

00:43:43Well, in comes the 9 car, as we said, just piling in there.

00:43:47Frank Montani bringing it in.

00:43:48He stays on board.

00:43:49Full wets and fuel.

00:43:50They're just going to get that car to the finish.

00:43:5214 minutes remaining in this race.

00:43:54Well, Trax Martuk says, Dr. Diesel must be turning cartwheels in his grave.

00:44:03His invention is being highlighted like this.

00:44:07I think it's probably a very, very good point.

00:44:10We're on the final stretch.

00:44:11That is the name of the thread on the message boards.

00:44:15We'll do our best to have a chat with a few of you, perhaps afterwards when things can't happen.

00:44:18Race leader in.

00:44:19But we've got just under 14 minutes.

00:44:21And here comes the race leader, Tom Christensen.

00:44:23This has got to be slick.

00:44:25Surely it will be.

00:44:26Any mistakes now will be incredibly costly.

00:44:29The pressure is on all of the crew.

00:44:31Who'd be an air jack man right now, Liz?

00:44:34Yeah, this is definitely a pressure part of this race.

00:44:37I mean, we're right at the end.

00:44:38We're only at lap off each other.

00:44:40You know, place one and two.

00:44:41That's not often that it comes about like that in these races.

00:44:43So this is really exciting.

00:44:45This team is going to have to be absolutely dialed in in this pit stop.

00:44:48Any mistake, like you said, could be detrimental to that win.

00:44:51They carried those wheels so carefully.

00:44:53And look, the seven cars coming in, not happy with whatever.

00:44:56I think there is a problem there.

00:44:57I'm just wondering whether it's an inflation problem.

00:44:59What do you think?

00:45:00There definitely could be.

00:45:01I mean, that's something, yeah.

00:45:02Maybe there's something that's gone wrong there.

00:45:04Or maybe even a problem with the tyres.

00:45:06I mean, that could be an issue.

00:45:07It's hard to say right now.

00:45:08It's very difficult because we aren't sitting with Nick.

00:45:10We're not experiencing what he is experiencing.

00:45:12He is not going to lose third place at the moment.

00:45:14He's five laps ahead of Lucas Lewis.

00:45:16So he's got that safety margin, Montagne.

00:45:18It's the seven car in ASEAN.

00:45:20They may well swap around.

00:45:21That could happen, Tony.

00:45:22We will see.

00:45:23It's the seven car that's actually coming to change his boots.

00:45:26They may well drop to third place.

00:45:28We'll wait and see.

00:45:28But out comes Tom Christensen.

00:45:30Watch those wheels.

00:45:31You can see Jackman and just fingers crossed down there,

00:45:36hoping that everything just stays on board.

00:45:39But Tom Christensen knows that he's got a comfort cushion here.

00:45:42And he's holding up the Aston.

00:45:44I don't know.

00:45:45Couldn't see which one it was.

00:45:46But they want to get on with their own race out there.

00:45:48That was Frensen.

00:45:49He was just ahead of, yeah.

00:45:50So out goes Manassi.

00:45:52And then this is his last stint.

00:45:53Obviously, 12 minutes together.

00:45:54And he's going to get at the best three and a half laps in, four laps, aren't they?

00:45:58Now, of course, Liz, when the checkered goes out, or when the clock hits 24 hours,

00:46:04those are still on the track, still do that last lap, don't they?

00:46:07Yeah, you absolutely have to.

00:46:08And within a certain amount of time.

00:46:10And he must take that checkered flag.

00:46:11Just remind people, six minutes.

00:46:13Yeah, six minutes from when the lead car goes over, isn't it?

00:46:16Unless you happen to be called Sebastian Bourdain.

00:46:18You're on board of Persia.

00:46:19And you're a bit special.

00:46:20Yeah.

00:46:20Last year, he kind of hung back.

00:46:22They said it was to do a formation lap.

00:46:24Then they changed their mind and said it was for safety issues.

00:46:26We've got a big story here down at the bottom of our screens at the moment.

00:46:2918th place, the third place car in LMP2 is Saunier Racing.

00:46:33And on board that is Frankie Cheng, the first Chinese ever to start at Le Mans.

00:46:38He's going to get on the podium.

00:46:39Didier Radigues is, Pierre Radigues, rather, sorry, he's driving that car at the moment with

00:46:43Mathieu Le Hay.

00:46:44Frankie Kung Fu Cheng, the first Chinese to start at Le Mans.

00:46:47Le Mans lives in Oxford, carries the Olympic torch in London.

00:46:50How good is that?

00:46:51Very cool.

00:46:52I mean, this is awesome for him.

00:46:53It's so exciting.

00:46:54I mean, the first time out to be on the podium, what more could you want, really?

00:46:58I mean, that's just fabulous.

00:46:59And also, this Saunier has just taken on this Pescarello LMP2 car.

00:47:03So, for them to come out here and do such a great job at Le Mans has got to be a real,

00:47:07real, you know, embellisher for the team.

00:47:09Dan, look at this.

00:47:10Wow, the bottles of hair dye are out.

00:47:12They know that the photographs are going to be taken back at Peugeot.

00:47:16How miserable does that look?

00:47:18Anybody dare turn the sides of their mouth up is going to be taken outside and given a talking

00:47:23to, it is serious stuff at Peugeot.

00:47:25This was supposed to be their year, Mark.

00:47:27They had the Le Mans series in their mind just wrapped up.

00:47:32When it came to the big one itself, though, well, Audi surely are going to bring it home.

00:47:36Yeah, we understand the guillotine is being set up now in the plastic jacoban.

00:47:39Look at that fella.

00:47:41That is Dr. Wolfgang Gulerick.

00:47:43And that's about as happy as he lets himself be, I can tell you.

00:47:46But, well, the mood's pacing around.

00:47:49It's tension, but it's not worry, surely.

00:47:52Well, maybe it is.

00:47:53Through the forest yet again.

00:47:55Dappled light.

00:47:56Gray sky.

00:47:57Almost flat light.

00:47:58And that can also hamper your vision of just shadows.

00:48:02As soon as they start to blank out ever so slightly, round he comes yet again.

00:48:06Tom Christensen doing such a great job.

00:48:08Three laps remaining, Liz.

00:48:11This is such a stressful time at Le Mans.

00:48:13I mean, it's almost like everyone thinks, oh, it's all wrapped up, it's done.

00:48:17But anything can happen until you've crossed that checkered flag.

00:48:20And it's so stressful because it's almost like you're willing the time to go faster.

00:48:24You know, you just want the car to be across the line.

00:48:26You want it to be finished and all over.

00:48:28But anything can still happen.

00:48:30Anything can go wrong.

00:48:31These cars have been running for 24 hours.

00:48:33So that's why I think everyone's looking nervous in Audi.

00:48:35They feel like it's there.

00:48:36It's in their grasp.

00:48:37But anything could still happen in this race.

00:48:39I think they've been there before.

00:48:40A little bit of history with the two cars.

00:48:42Wasn't as close as this.

00:48:43But Alan McNish will be, well, he's not to be found.

00:48:47We're looking down towards that pit box.

00:48:50And you just can't see him.

00:48:51Everybody else is watching the monitors and doing whatever it is that they do.

00:48:55Yeah.

00:48:56Amazing.

00:48:56Let's not forget Tom Christensen is going to take win number eight.

00:49:00He's already the record holder on seven.

00:49:01This is going to be eight.

00:49:02Jack Eek's second best at six.

00:49:04And Jack is sitting in the next door commentary box of Eurosport France does at this moment.

00:49:09I wonder what's going through.

00:49:10It's Mike.

00:49:10Well, they're seeing his record go further and further away.

00:49:14Solidly in second place.

00:49:15I don't think he's going to get back on board one of these cars.

00:49:17And there's the clock ticking down.

00:49:18Eight minutes and 50 to go and ticking.

00:49:21And the forgotten man of the two car.

00:49:22Let's not forget him ourselves.

00:49:23Dindo Capello.

00:49:25Absolute Mr. Solid out there.

00:49:27A great ambassador as well.

00:49:28And he's got wins under his belt too, Mark.

00:49:30Let's not forget that.

00:49:31Yeah.

00:49:31Three wins already.

00:49:32This will be his fourth in ten participations.

00:49:34So the dream team.

00:49:36They've never, ever won Le Mans together.

00:49:38They've won Sebring together.

00:49:39They've won Petit Le Mans together.

00:49:40They've won American Le Mans series races.

00:49:43They've won LMS races.

00:49:44But never the three of them together at Le Mans.

00:49:47Wow.

00:49:48Yeah.

00:49:49Another big story that we're going to look at here is that it looks like Darren Turner

00:49:52and I believe David Brabham are going to win for a second year in a row.

00:49:56And Antonio Garcia, who's got his first drive in that works car, is also going to take the win, it looks like.

00:50:00I mean, obviously, like I've said, anything can happen.

00:50:02But it certainly looks like the 009 Aston Martin is going to take the win at Le Mans for the second year in a row.

00:50:08So that's very exciting.

00:50:09The clock ticks away.

00:50:11And eight minutes is hit.

00:50:12Now, eight minutes to go.

00:50:14It's going to break the 380 lap mark.

00:50:17If it had have been dry, we may well have been nudging the 400 up there for the winner in the 24 hours.

00:50:25We're not going to get close this time.

00:50:26I reckon 381, by the looks of things, is what it's going to be.

00:50:31Tom Christensen is out there, but the cameras are looking at Peugeot.

00:50:35You might well expect that from the blimp.

00:50:37The cameraman's picked up the wrong car.

00:50:39He's clearly been told at the beginning, stick with the Peugeots.

00:50:41They're heading for victory.

00:50:42Unfortunately, the note has not been passed to him that Audi are the ones who are in the driving seat at the moment.

00:50:48But certainly a very exciting race we've had.

00:50:50I mean, this has been probably the most exciting 24-hour race, if not even, you know, a 12-hour race.

00:50:55It would still be very exciting.

00:50:56It's just, it's incredible.

00:50:57I mean, how often do we get things this close right at the end?

00:51:00Yeah, let's just have a look at the Aston statistics as well.

00:51:02David Braddon, he's going to win for the third time here at Le Mans.

00:51:05The first time he won, 93, is not shown in the record books.

00:51:08He and David Coulthard took that Jaguar XJ 220 to victory in GT, but the ACO decided they didn't like the fact they didn't have catalytic converters.

00:51:17Although IMSA were here, said this is legal in America.

00:51:20The ACO said that he's not legal here.

00:51:22But the car was running in the IMSA class.

00:51:23I mean, it was crazy.

00:51:24Anyway, just to finish that, García, as you say, what a great, great job by him.

00:51:28He's going to win.

00:51:29And Darren Turner will beat his second win in GT as well.

00:51:33In a row as well.

00:51:34He won last year.

00:51:35Yeah, him and Brabs, two in a row.

00:51:37So that's quite exciting.

00:51:37Virts comes in.

00:51:39No hurry to do anything with the number eight car.

00:51:42Running in fifth place.

00:51:44And with two-lap cushion over Frank Bieler in the Audi, even if he stops now, he's probably going to finish in that spot.

00:51:49There it is.

00:51:50Total stops times.

00:51:52Look at that.

00:51:5333.

00:51:54The three pit stop difference is where the time is found.

00:51:58Absolutely.

00:51:59And we've always been saying this, that pit stops is where it's going to come down to.

00:52:02And just reliability.

00:52:04The less problems you have, the less pit stops.

00:52:06It's all just time in the end, and it's clocked it up nicely for the Addys.

00:52:10So many stories to tell.

00:52:11This has been one heck of a race.

00:52:13They write a book each year on this.

00:52:15Generally, it sells very well in France.

00:52:17It's a superb tome, but your French has to be up to it.

00:52:20They're going to have so much to say about this year, Mark.

00:52:22Oh, yes.

00:52:23Yeah, it's been absolute non-stop drama from start to finish.

00:52:27I mean, the biggest story of the race probably is how Porsche self-destructed early in the race

00:52:32and just handed it on a plate to Ferrari.

00:52:34We've got Ferrari in the top four places.

00:52:36But look at this.

00:52:37The Felbermaier car has dragged itself up into fifth, having been seventh all night.

00:52:41And the Lizard's car, which was taken out in a very heavy shunt by the Imsum Atmut Porsche,

00:52:45they went flying off the circuit together.

00:52:47That is going to finish in seventh place.

00:52:49And Seth Neiman will bring that across the line.

00:52:51He will, which is really exciting for Seth.

00:52:53He's done a good job.

00:52:53He's had some drama in the race.

00:52:55But, you know, it's nice for him to have to take that over the line.

00:52:57And also, a great story is JMB.

00:53:00They've moved all the way up to fourth place.

00:53:01They've pounded their way through Ben Alcott, the amateur driver on that team,

00:53:04but has done a phenomenal job driving in this race.

00:53:07After a shunt in practice, he's just gotten past that.

00:53:09He's gotten his head down and done a great job.

00:53:11I don't think that car has had many problems at all.

00:53:13So great to finish in fourth.

00:53:14GT2, it's been a thriller, hasn't it, out there?

00:53:16It's so much mix and meshing.

00:53:17But when you look at the top, the record books will read Ferrari 1, 2, 3, and 4.

00:53:23They will.

00:53:23Now, Tom's going to try and eke out these last laps, isn't he?

00:53:26It's 4.40 to go.

00:53:27And, look, he's slowing down already.

00:53:29He's got six minutes to do that last lap, and he doesn't want to have to do another lap.

00:53:33So, in fact, his last one, 4.05, he's just done.

00:53:36So he knows he'll be told from the pits, Tom, this is your last lap.

00:53:40Just keep it cool and be like that.

00:53:42And when you come round next time, the checker will be waiting.

00:53:44How exciting.

00:53:45It will be 381 laps that's recorded historically here.

00:53:50That's going to be the last time in competition he goes under that Dunlop Bridge.

00:53:54Fantastic.

00:53:55Tom Christensen, what a guy.

00:53:57He's got so much that's automatic about him, but he's so much deeper than that as well.

00:54:01He really is a genuine character.

00:54:03The smile can be switched on and off whenever he requires it.

00:54:06That just shows what a pro he is out of the car.

00:54:08And there it is, 258,500 visitors.

00:54:12The beer, well, they've still got plenty left.

00:54:15I don't think they might drink it dry.

00:54:16As for Peugeot, they keep that champagne on ice for another year, perhaps.

00:54:20Will they bring it back, or will they just cancel the program?

00:54:24Liz, the last lap of this race, you're backing off.

00:54:27Everything's now relaxed.

00:54:29But that is probably a really dangerous time, isn't it?

00:54:31It is, yeah.

00:54:32I mean, the last lap, I mean, I've finished the Spa 24 hours before,

00:54:35and it's a similar sort of thing.

00:54:36Everybody's backing off because it's the end of the race.

00:54:38But I'll say, as a driver, you're still thinking,

00:54:40God, it's got to happen.

00:54:41You just have to get over that line before you've actually settled in.

00:54:45So, yeah, it is so exciting for Audi,

00:54:47and I'm really happy for Alan McNish finally getting that win.

00:54:50He's been begging for it for ages.

00:54:53And the Dome is going to take the finish.

00:54:56Fantastic.

00:54:57How good is that?

00:54:57Come on, get on the forum.

00:54:59It's my car.

00:55:00A big story for them.

00:55:01The Dome's going to take the finish right behind Audi, it looks like.

00:55:04What a nice place for them, right alongside.

00:55:06He's going to keep up.

00:55:07And the reason he's going to keep up, he's not just getting out of,

00:55:10well, actually, I think he's doing the modesty thing.

00:55:12Anyway, let's just get back to Audi.

00:55:15Nervous moments for them.

00:55:16When a driver is told to slow down,

00:55:18all the natural way of going through the corners kind of goes out the window.

00:55:22It's a little bit of a dangerous thing to do.

00:55:25It is a bit.

00:55:26I'm sure that Tom Christensen can more than cope with this.

00:55:29Tom Christensen going on for breaking his own record in his many races as he's won here.

00:55:34Unbelievable.

00:55:34I think he certainly knows what to do in the finish.

00:55:37And the Danish flags are out in force.

00:55:40And look at that.

00:55:41They're waiting, waiting, waiting.

00:55:43And it's going to be a huge, huge celebration.

00:55:46And Tom Christensen is used to celebrating,

00:55:48but he'll go for this one just as big as ever before.

00:55:52Yeah, and Brian Holderst, we just saw there,

00:55:54this will be his 11th Le Mans victory as a team owner, as a team runner.

00:55:59So that's pretty impressive.

00:56:01And I think Norbert Singer at Porsche will be the first to congratulate him.

00:56:04They've been friends for years, those two,

00:56:06but they're still trading wins against each other.

00:56:09Wow, look at this.

00:56:10He's going so slow.

00:56:11The GT1 cars, GT2 cars are almost keeping up.

00:56:16It's kind of a parade going on already.

00:56:18In his head, Tom Christensen is going to come home here.

00:56:22Victory for the Audi's.

00:56:24Alan Whitnish, Dindo Capella.

00:56:25What stories will be told by those?

00:56:27And what stories still remain?

00:56:29I wonder if Tom can come back and do it again.

00:56:31It almost seems impertinent to say so.

00:56:34He will, he will.

00:56:35I think, to me, the overriding story of this year's race

00:56:38is that we've had no lamed up cars.

00:56:40Once the Lucini had gone, every car out here was within a chance of victory.

00:56:44Yeah, I think so.

00:56:45I mean, every car pushed hard.

00:56:46And this has certainly been one of the most competitive years we've seen for a long time.

00:56:49And I think that's really cool.

00:56:50That's the way Le Mans should be.

00:56:52There should be people fighting all the way to the finish in every class.

00:56:55And it's great to see that.

00:56:57Peugeot want to spoil out his party to grab the photo opportunity.

00:57:00He's going to stay right in front of Tom's last lap.

00:57:02So, Peugeot crossed the line ahead of Audi.

00:57:05I actually thought just for a moment that Minasian was going to come alongside him

00:57:08and they were going to do a sort of a doffing of the cap there, but not a bit of it.

00:57:12He roosted the tails and away he goes.

00:57:15He's just going to scoot out of it.

00:57:17He's unlapped himself, don't forget.

00:57:18So, effectively, he's going to finish higher up the numerical order.

00:57:22As far as his position on the track, that's not going to change.

00:57:25But he's got to do another lap, Carlton.

00:57:27He has, but he doesn't care.

00:57:28He doesn't want to be part of this party.

00:57:30This is going to be Audi's day here.

00:57:31Everybody else with a great deal of respect.

00:57:33The 90 car that has his troubles as well is just hugging in there.

00:57:37That's going to finish on the podium in GT2.

00:57:40But this is all going to be about Tom Christensen and Audi in particular.

00:57:44Alan McNish will have got it again.

00:57:46Amazing.

00:57:46Here they come.

00:57:47The lights looking brighter than perhaps they should do

00:57:49as the grey skies fall upon us 17, 16, 15

00:57:53before the clock runs out here.

00:57:56The final 10 seconds comes now.

00:57:59Everybody's standing up.

00:58:00The crowds are there.

00:58:01They're going to be bashing the barriers, waving the flags.

00:58:04The clock is going to be out.

00:58:05Two, one, now.

00:58:0724 hours have been completed.

00:58:10And this is the winning moment.

00:58:12As Tom Christensen and Audi,

00:58:14he comes past the entrance into the pit lane here.

00:58:17He's just got these final curves to do.

00:58:19And he will bring it around here as if it was made of gold.

00:58:24There he goes.

00:58:25He wants every single one of these corners to pass by slower than you could possibly imagine.

00:58:31The line is waving.

00:58:32Tom Christensen has done it.

00:58:33Breaking his home record.

00:58:35And the Le Mans 24 hours.

00:58:37The 76 running on it.

00:58:39The flags are up.

00:58:40Everybody is loving this.

00:58:41But no more so than Audi.

00:58:44Peugeot have been beaten on a day when everyone thought it would be their party.

00:58:49Audi are the ones celebrating yet again.

00:58:53Good job.

00:58:54And Tom goes over to the pit wall right underneath all his colleagues there.

00:58:58The crews.

00:58:58And what a great job.

00:59:00The Viking wins with Braveheart and with Dindo.

00:59:02So how good is that?

00:59:04It doesn't get any better.

00:59:05Especially for Audi UK.

00:59:07They've been chasing its win ever since they took on Alan McNish.

00:59:11Alan McNish.

00:59:11Dindo Capello and Tom Christensen will be on the winner's role.

00:59:17Got his crew working really well.

00:59:19And we've done it.

00:59:20We've done it against the odds.

00:59:22You've done it.

00:59:23Dindo.

00:59:24I'm sure it's just incredible.

00:59:26No words.

00:59:28Yeah.

00:59:33You should take our best of glasses.

00:59:36I think after last year, Alan Tom and myself were done.

00:59:41It never happened again, the chance of winning.

00:59:44But this year was fantastic because we were not the fastest car at the start.

00:59:49But probably we have been the best during the race.

00:59:52And after last year result, I think we really deserved this victory.

00:59:56The team did a great job.

00:59:58We had no one small problem, no one small mistake from the driver.

01:00:03Everything was perfect as it was last year.

01:00:05And fortunately, this year the end was much, much better.

01:00:09Well done.

01:00:11Well done indeed.

01:00:14Almost lost for words, Dindo Capello.

01:00:16And that's a very rare thing.

01:00:17We got the briefest of the looks at Alan McNish, I think it was.

01:00:19It wasn't quite on the monitor.

01:00:21Tom Christensen still on board the car.

01:00:23No happier crew than the Audi boys.

01:00:26Let's not overlook what's happening behind LMP2.

01:00:28Peter van Merkstein brings the Dutch racing Porsche across the line with Jürgen Blake and Molen and with Josh Verstappen.

01:00:35Josh's first Eberleman.

01:00:36What a great job for him.

01:00:38First drive in the night.

01:00:39Go down to GT1.

01:00:40Well, Porsche 1 and 2 in that P2 class.

01:00:43And GT1, well, the Aston has done it.

01:00:46They have beaten by an entire lap the Corvette Charge.

01:00:50The two factory Corvettes, the 63 and 64 car, finishing in an Aston sandwich, if you like.

01:00:56The 009, Brabham brought it home.

01:00:58And the 007 with Heinz-Harold Frensen who makes a great return to Le Mans in fourth spot.

01:01:03Oh, and Carlton, we just have to say, once again, as last year, Aston are all terribly sober there with their flags.

01:01:09But in front of us, there's the stars and stripes and they're all over the wall, the Corvette people.

01:01:14They might have come second, but they're going to make a bigger finishing show.

01:01:17Absolutely.

01:01:17It's America.

01:01:18This is what we do.

01:01:22Well done.

01:01:23Yeah, congratulations.

01:01:24Yes.

01:01:24Oh, dear.

01:01:24Well, thanks.

01:01:25On your second place in GT2.

01:01:27Yeah.

01:01:28And what about those GT2 cars?

01:01:31And what about Mick Asalo in the 82 car?

01:01:33He and Jamie Mello really backed up a bit, Jimmy Bruni.

01:01:37Bruni, I have to say, in GT2, to me, was the driver of the race.

01:01:40He just got that car by the scruff of the neck and he threw it around the circuit all night long.

01:01:45I mean, they didn't quite get Matchberg Meister's sub-four-minute lap, but he did a super job.

01:01:51So full marks to those three.

01:01:52And a seven-lap winning margin mark.

01:01:54And to Giuseppe Rizzi.

01:01:55Yeah, they had a huge one.

01:01:56They've been leading for hours and hours and hours.

01:01:58I think they've been leading this race as long as the Audi has been, which is quite impressive.

01:02:02Anyhow, they'll be dancing in Houston tonight.

01:02:04Absolutely.

01:02:05They are.

01:02:07I went there once.

01:02:08Tobias Stetson.

01:02:09I've raced there.

01:02:10You've raced there.

01:02:11It's rip-roaring fun.

01:02:12Best team.

01:02:14That's the best, maybe, victory for you.

01:02:16Yeah, we have a great team and they did an excellent job.

01:02:20So I'm very proud and happy for all of us.

01:02:23Well done.

01:02:24Well done.

01:02:26The briefest of words from a man who will be talking to an awful lot of people, Dr. Wolfgang Ulrich.

01:02:31He's busy with DTM most of the time.

01:02:34He follows, of course, the Le Mans series.

01:02:36He slips over to the American Le Mans series and has been here for the 24 hours.

01:02:40He's looking good on it.

01:02:41Absolutely.

01:02:42This is a great win for him.

01:02:43This is huge.

01:02:44Another year of Audi.

01:02:45Everyone said it was going to be Peugeot.

01:02:47Everyone thought they would really have it dialed in this year.

01:02:50But this car, even though it's a bit slower, still reliability and honest, great drivers

01:02:55has won this race.

01:02:56It's that fuel economy that really pays for them.

01:02:59They took fewer stops, three fewer, the winning car than that.

01:03:03And here comes the LMP2 winner.

01:03:05And Manassian.

01:03:06And Manassian behind.

01:03:07So this is an interesting line-up coming over the checkered flag now.

01:03:11Well, that tells its own story as well because the P2s, they may be LMP2, but the 34 car

01:03:16has beaten a number of LMP1 cars out there as well.

01:03:21And all credit to them.

01:03:22They've come here with the RS, the Porsche Spyder, and they've done such an amazing job.

01:03:28Positions one and two.

01:03:30A real superb result in that class.

01:03:33And behind the Corvette, there is the Dome.

01:03:34He's made it on the final lap.

01:03:36So what a debut for the Dome here.

01:03:38We've had two big things.

01:03:39The Dome is finished and the Lamborghini.

01:03:41So huge, huge days for both of them, finally.

01:03:44The Dome will now go to Toyota in Tokyo and say, we can do it.

01:03:48Fuck it out.

01:03:49We will win this for you.

01:03:51Show me the money.

01:03:51Absolutely.

01:03:52You would not bet against it.

01:03:54They really had that car hooked up.

01:03:55It was running top 10 for most of this race.

01:03:58It was.

01:03:58And just some ill fortune late on.

01:04:00Fortune, well, it favors the brave.

01:04:02And there's none braver than that trio who have come to victory here.

01:04:06And Tom Christensen, there he is.

01:04:08He's fantastic.

01:04:09Just getting himself.

01:04:10Looking gorgeous here.

01:04:12It's really Audi day to prove reliability and give us a race car.

01:04:16Which Alan and me, we can go out and spank, spank, spank and put pressure.

01:04:20Put pressure on Peugeot.

01:04:22And they gave us a fantastic fight.

01:04:24But to come out and winning this one, everyone in Audi, they can be so proud.

01:04:29And thanks for believing in me, Alan and Dindo for this amazing result.

01:04:33And it pays a lot back for us for last year where we were dominating.

01:04:38But this year to win with such a strong competition from Peugeot, which had a car which is three

01:04:45or four seconds a lap faster.

01:04:47But the different conditions and the perfect strategy, our engineer Houghton Haynes and

01:04:52all his background of people gave us the right tires before others sometimes could see what

01:04:59we want to do.

01:05:00So with this tricky weather, it was three pretty tough hours out there, I can tell you.

01:05:05You know, you made all the team cry.

01:05:08Dr. Ulrich, Alan, Dindo, everyone is crying.

01:05:12Alan and Dindo too.

01:05:13This is amazing.

01:05:14Dr. Ulrich, he cries always.

01:05:15But to see these two cry, this is something special.

01:05:19That little Scottish Terrier, he deserved very much a victory at Le Mans.

01:05:24He has been my hardest competitor for many years.

01:05:26And now he has won number two.

01:05:27And I think now for him it can get rolling as long as it's with me.

01:05:32And with Dindo, a charming gentleman.

01:05:35Yeah, he's not as old as he looks.

01:05:38But he did a fantastic job.

01:05:40And they brought me the car in the end where I could finish it off in the difficult conditions.

01:05:46So really, really, we enjoy driving together.

01:05:49And we enjoy driving for this Audi brand, which, yeah, as we all know, what is aiming?

01:05:55I forgot.

01:05:56But definitely U is united.

01:06:00D is determined.

01:06:01And I is in control.

01:06:03The first I forgot what it means.

01:06:05I think it means aggressive.

01:06:07Is it your best one?

01:06:11Yes, because the best one is always the one you get out of.

01:06:14And the best one is always when you look forward.

01:06:16And just now, I just stopped looking forward for this race.

01:06:20And this is the best moment you can have.

01:06:23And this is great because people said, you cannot win with Alan.

01:06:28And now we proved that.

01:06:29And people say, we can't win with a yellow car.

01:06:32And, hey, Nicholas, great fight.

01:06:36Great fight.

01:06:40Tom Christensen, what a character he is.

01:06:43That little Scottish terrier.

01:06:46We'll stay with Alan forever, I think.

01:06:49And Wolfgang Ulrich apparently always cries out.

01:06:51I'm very concerned about the spanking.

01:06:53It's been far too much of that.

01:06:55Well, we now know why the Audi won.

01:06:57It requires spanking.

01:06:59Difficult to finish second, but still a good result.

01:07:03Yeah, we'll be gutted.

01:07:05But, you know, I think they're all credit to them.

01:07:08It was a great race.

01:07:10They did a great job.

01:07:11We did a great job, but not good enough.

01:07:15That's it.

01:07:15Thanks, Nico.

01:07:18Hey, that was great.

01:07:19That was great.

01:07:20Carlton, something you picked up.

01:07:21Well done.

01:07:22He made sure he finished on the lead lap by just passing Christensen.

01:07:25So at least they got some sort of bragging right on that.

01:07:28Yeah, that was a good effort there by Nick Manassian.

01:07:31And truly some amazing driving by him at the end of the race.

01:07:33I mean, what a job on those slick tires.

01:07:36So, you know, Nick deserves a lot of credit for that.

01:07:39Well, and you guys deserve a lot of credit as well.

01:07:41And you both.

01:07:42Oh, thanks.

01:07:43You too, Carlton.

01:07:43It's been a busy one.

01:07:45We've had a big crew for you here on Eurosport live throughout those 24 hours.

01:07:51Oh, I'm going to be cut off myself now.

01:07:55Choking up.

01:07:56It's been great fun.

01:07:58And thanks to everyone who's been on the forums as well.

01:08:00It's been a pleasure to have your company.

01:08:01I think we've broken just about every forum record at Eurosport as well.

01:08:05So it's credit to you as well.

01:08:06We know you've been loving proceedings here at Le Mans, the 76 running of it.

01:08:11And thanks to Jeremy Shaw as well.

01:08:13Neville Hay, Chris Parsons and Simon Hill who've been so much a part of this team here.

01:08:19It's been a pleasure to have your company live throughout the planet on Eurosport it seems.

01:08:2424 hours.

01:08:25Well, we have every single one of those minutes right here, didn't we?

01:08:28We're being told 28 million viewers in all.

01:08:30So that's pretty impressive.

01:08:32Fantastic.

01:08:3228 million viewers.

01:08:33If I could buy you all a drink, I probably would.

01:08:36But I'd be a very rich man.

01:08:37And sadly, I'm not.

01:08:38Carlton, it has been a pleasure.

01:08:39My 26th Le Mans and I have to say, one of the best.

01:08:42And Liz, great to have you with us again.

01:08:44Well, my fourth and my first one in the box instead of in a car.

01:08:47So it's been very exciting and I appreciate the opportunity.

01:08:50Are we going to see you again in the box or you want to be racing here next year?

01:08:53Well, you know, I have to be honest.

01:08:55I desperately want to be in a car next year.

01:08:57But if I'm not, then I will 100% come join you and hopefully in some other races.

01:09:00This is when they unleash the stands and everyone gathers out front to meet the winners.

01:09:08All the handshakes going on.

01:09:12And it looks, it's a serious, it's a professional, it's a fantastic crew.

01:09:17Audi are, well, they're what racing at distance is all about.

01:09:21They love Le Mans.

01:09:22They're never going to give up on it.

01:09:24There's lots of theories as to which divisions they'll be racing in in the none-too-distant future.

01:09:30There was also speculation, Mark, that maybe this would be the last time that we see this vehicle, the winning vehicle.

01:09:35Yeah, I think you'll find at the end of this season, Audi will announce a new programme.

01:09:39The R10 has done its job.

01:09:41They're the first to say it's a three-year-old car now and, you know, we need to move on.

01:09:45And Wolfgang even said last year, don't necessarily expect us to come back with diesel cars.

01:09:50They said petrol is getting more and more efficient and we have new things in the pipe.

01:09:55So, well, certainly the big story is Audi, the legend continues.

01:09:59It certainly does.

01:09:59I think.

01:10:00Two steps to the podium are made up by Peugeot.

01:10:03But the moment really matters, the top step.

01:10:06Yeah, fastest lap of the race going to Peugeot, by the way, Sarazan, that 3.19.

01:10:09Now, tomorrow morning, the ACO is going to sit down and look at that.

01:10:12And, Liz, I think they're going to be very, very concerned that that was set during the race.

01:10:16Yeah, there's a lot of chat about trying to limit the speed in the race so that the times are a bit closer together in the classes.

01:10:21They're talking about a three-minute 30.

01:10:23So, I think this definitely will be a bit of a topic to discuss.

01:10:26It's a safety issue.

01:10:28We saw cars getting very, very heavily damaged.

01:10:31The Mazda was one of those.

01:10:32Lola did a great job repairing the tub to get them back out there and racing.

01:10:36Sadly, it wasn't to be a finish for them.

01:10:39No, this is a shame.

01:10:40I mean, there was a lot of work that went on in the whole race.

01:10:42And a lot of amazing cars we saw this time around.

01:10:45We saw some of the first new coupe cars in this 24-hour race.

01:10:49And we've seen the speed of them and what they can do.

01:10:51Lola especially.

01:10:52We're going to see a lot more from them, I think.

01:10:53And expect Lola well up there on the grid next year.

01:10:56Yeah, two of those coupes also finishing.

01:10:59The Cherouz Lola, Aston Martin, and the Dome.

01:11:02As we look at the number two car.

01:11:04Is that the seven car?

01:11:05Yeah, the second place car, yeah.

01:11:07Yeah, finishing.

01:11:08They had lots of congratulations early on.

01:11:11And that was in qualification.

01:11:13And at qualifying, well, we thought that Peugeot had got this just about wrapped up.

01:11:17They certainly showed us the way in qualifying.

01:11:21They started this race in fine style, but they ended it trailing the Audis.

01:11:26Well, it just goes to remind you that speed is not everything in endurance racing.

01:11:30It certainly is for the start of the race and where you'll be on the grid.

01:11:34But certainly by the end, it is not the be-all and end-all.

01:11:36It all comes down to reliability and keeping the car going round and round consistently.

01:11:41And Audi's done just that today.

01:11:42They certainly have.

01:11:43Look at the crowds here.

01:11:45And how many Danish flags can you possibly say?

01:11:48If you're a Danish flag salesperson, I suspect you'd spend most of your life just following Tom Christensen around the planet.

01:11:55Let's just look at the four-class winners.

01:11:58Audi, Porsche, Aston Martin and Ferrari.

01:12:01Four of the most iconic names, not just in racing, but in motoring as well.

01:12:04And Aston Martin pulling off a second successive defeat of Corvette.

01:12:08I'm sure, Corvette, we're back with a vengeance.

01:12:11And doing it in a beautiful livery as well.

01:12:13The golf colours reigning supreme yet again in that GT2 class.

01:12:18LMP2, it was all about the Porsches.

01:12:21Aston beating the Corvettes, it was always going to be that fight again.

01:12:24And so it proved, despite the fact that Aston looked off the pace after qualifying when it came to GT2.

01:12:31Well, Porsche seemed to be the ones that were bossing it.

01:12:33But in the end, as predicted, in fact, the Ferrari F430 GTs, well, they came home with everything.

01:12:40This will be a bit sad for Porsche.

01:12:41I'm sure they're thrilled to win the LMP2 class on their first outing here.

01:12:44But certainly they would have loved to have had a win in two different classes, where they really did have the opportunity.

01:12:50Jeroen Blake on there and then leads the Dutch LMP2 winners onto the podium.

01:12:54Josh Verstappen and Peter van Merkstein there.

01:12:57What a great day for him.

01:12:58He owns that car.

01:12:59He bought the car with the sole objective of winning Le Mans.

01:13:02And he's done it first time.

01:13:03Fantastic.

01:13:04That's how to spend your money wisely, Mark.

01:13:06So we're just waiting now for the podium for the main production class, the one that really sticks in everyone's minds, despite the best efforts of all the others.

01:13:21And we saluted all of them one by one.

01:13:24But what it really counts is who is top dog.

01:13:27381 laps completed by just two cars.

01:13:31So unfortunately for Peugeot, they weren't the one that crossed the line when it mattered.

01:13:35After the clock ran out, after a full 24 hours, the nine-car, Mark.

01:13:40Yep, the nine-car crew.

01:13:42So they're up there on the top of the podium and on board that nine-car, as you well know by now.

01:13:47You've been following us long enough.

01:13:48Frank Montani, my personal hero of the race.

01:13:50Riccardo Zonta, his first Le Mans and Christian Cleon, rookie as well.

01:13:54So good choice by Peugeot, good people in the cars.

01:13:58And they made sure that in no one car was the drivers of the same nationality.

01:14:02Seven-car, Jacques Villeneuve, Mark Jenny and Nicolas Minassi.

01:14:06And Jacques Villeneuve will have to wait if he wants to equal the record of Graham Hill, winning Formula One, the Indy 500 and the Le Mans 24 hours.

01:14:14And Jacques in his trademark very large suit.

01:14:16It looks like it's still the thing he likes to do.

01:14:19Keep it comfortable.

01:14:19And here they are, here are the winners of the Le Mans 24 hours 2008.

01:14:25What a day this is for Audi.

01:14:27Getting on the podium, Alamut Nish, Dini Cabello and Tom Christensen yet again.

01:14:33He just can't stop winning at Le Mans.

01:14:35Will anyone be able to stop him?

01:14:37And I don't think it's going to be his last.

01:14:40So the crowds wait, the crowds loving this almost as much as we are.

01:14:47Just turning up the sound just to appreciate what's going on down there.

01:14:51And, well, it's such an atmosphere.

01:14:54And this party is going to rage long.

01:14:57The Danes make pretty good beer as well, Mark.

01:14:59Well, show me some.

01:15:01I'll try it.

01:15:03But eight wins, as you say, for Tom Christensen just goes further and further away from everyone else into the record books.

01:15:08Even Dr. Ulrich behind is now happy.

01:15:11He's acknowledging to the eight wins.

01:15:13Alamut Nish coming back in glory after winning for Porsche in 1998.

01:15:17Now wins for Audi in 2008.

01:15:20Now, Tom Christensen has just taken out his Rolex.

01:15:24He was almost threatening to throw it to the crowd.

01:15:26And there was a huge search.

01:15:28Think of how many of those he has now.

01:15:30I don't know.

01:15:32Running out of wrists.

01:15:33Not so many because Rolex, of course, haven't been associated that long with Le Mans.

01:15:36That's true.

01:15:37Daytona, yes.

01:15:39He's never one of those, of course.

01:15:40Fair enough.

01:15:40Yeah, McNishy has, but Tom hasn't.

01:15:43I presume it's a steel Daytona Cosmograph that they're handing out.

01:15:46Oh, absolutely.

01:15:47White being the choice.

01:15:48You have a choice of white or black faces.

01:15:50White, easier to see the dials, apparently, if you're a driver.

01:15:54That is the watch to have.

01:15:55The same way if you win Indianapolis, you get the signet ring, don't you?

01:15:59Yes, exactly, yeah.

01:16:00And you get a lovely watch for Petit Le Mans and Sebring as well.

01:16:04Can we see your Sebring watch, Liz?

01:16:05You're not wearing it.

01:16:05It's not with me, no.

01:16:06Sorry, but I do wear it to the racetrack.

01:16:08Whenever I'm racing, I've got the Sebring watch.

01:16:10Look at the hordes here, guys.

01:16:11This is amazing.

01:16:12It seems that just about everybody, over a quarter of a million people coming along to

01:16:16see this event.

01:16:17It just gets bigger and bigger, Mark.

01:16:19It is, along with Indianapolis, the biggest motorsport event of the world.

01:16:23And, of course, they always say with the 85,000 Brits, it's the second biggest motor race in Britain.

01:16:28Yeah, absolutely.

01:16:28And, I mean, this is what every sports car driver wants to do.

01:16:31We want to stand on the podium at Le Mans.

01:16:34It is the dream, and I think, well, it's certainly still my dream.

01:16:38So, I think every sports car driver wants to be up there one day.

01:16:41As if on cue, the drizzle has now stopped.

01:16:43Everything's drying out, and the crowd can actually go and enjoy it.

01:16:46They'll be drinking and dancing at the campsites long into the night.

01:16:49There are the trophies.

01:16:51Alan Windisch has done it again after an 11-year hiatus.

01:16:54Dindon Capello missed a solid on the car.

01:16:56And, Tom Christensen, the broadest grin in the whole of the paddock.

01:17:07Look after those watches, fellas.

01:17:09The Michelin Award, Bruno van der Riesrich, the Le Mans public address announcer, famous throughout the world, of course,

01:17:15bringing on the presenter of the trophies.

01:17:18But, look at this.

01:17:19That is a huge trophy.

01:17:20That's enormous.

01:17:21It needs, it needs, it's the same size as Alan and Dindon.

01:17:24That's one of the two of them need to pick it up.

01:17:28Look at the atmosphere here.

01:17:30This is going to be a big party.

01:17:31There's rock bands and everything in the Le Mans village.

01:17:34If ever you do fancy a visit, you will not be disappointed.

01:17:38Those who came along this year will have been thrilled at what has been an incredibly exciting race.

01:17:54It's that this culture was a wonderful day to see.

01:18:00It's that you are a big party.

01:18:02It's really big party.

01:18:03There the Finisterium is a mid-rounded nature.

01:18:05There's rock bands and everything in the wind對方.

01:18:06There's rock bands and everything in the wind.

01:18:09There's rock bands and everything in the wind.

01:18:10In the бег accumulate alto bands and everything in the wind.

01:18:12There runs around in the wind.

01:18:14There's rock bands and everything in the wind.

01:18:15There's rock bands and everything in the wind.

01:18:18There's America is a big party.

01:18:19It's that you are a big party today to see his site.

01:18:20Where's to ride with a rusty flag that everybody.

01:18:21But ready for up little bit two of them.

01:18:22For the thrilled 50 years, we will,

01:18:23The anthem of our winner's team.

01:18:53The German national anthem ringing out, I imagine there'll be a few more, but as it stands before the remainder get underway, we'd just like to say thanks for your company. Hope you've enjoyed this unrivaled coverage that we've had here. Tremendous. It's been live throughout on Eurosport. I'm Carlton Kirby. Thanks to the rest of the team with us signing off here, Mark Cole and Liz Halliday. We'll see you next time, eh? Yes.

01:19:23We'll see you next time.

01:19:25We'll see you next time.

01:19:29We'll see you next time.

01:19:31We'll see you next time.

01:19:35We'll see you next time.

01:19:37We'll see you next time.