Dear Ultimatecarpage.com visitor,

At 3 pm this past Saturday 55 roaring racing cars took off for the 77th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The legendary twice around the clock race has long since been dominated by Audi but in the last two editions Peugeot came very close to break the stronghold. The French manufacturer returned for a third stab at glory with the blisteringly fast 908 HDI Fap, which faced Audi's brand new R15 TDI. Behind the six protagonists there was a high quality field with talented drivers and fabulous racing cars. In one of the classes the age-old rivalry between Ferrari and Porsche was disputed once again, while in the other a future classic, the works Corvette C6.R, celebrated its final race in great style. Obvious crowd favorites were the Lola-Aston Martins that combined the classic Gulf livery with a glorious engine note. Local boys Pescarolo Sport could also count on plenty of support, this year fielding a 2008-spec Peugeot and one of their own Judd-engined machines.
Although there were numerous incidents in the race, it was not a classic like last year's. It will nevertheless find a spot in the very rich history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was fulfilling to see each of the classes being won by a deserving team and on merit.
We were in Le Mans for the full duration of the event from the scrutineering at the Place des Jacobins on Monday all the way through to the podium ceremonies late Sunday afternoon. This has resulted in a 2650-word report and an exclusive 260-shot gallery with pictures from scrutineering, practice, qualifying, the Le Mans Legends and of course the race.

Enjoy the links:

2009 24 Hours of Le Mans report and slideshow

Regards,
Wouter Melissen