![Peugeot 908 HDi - 24 Hours of Le Mans 2009](http://www.ausmotive.com/images/Peugeot-908-HDi-05s.jpg)
As reported last night, Australia’s David Brabham, along with Marc Gené and Alexander Wurz, drove their Peugeot 908 HDi to victory at Le Mans, finally beating fierce rivals Audi. Both teams headed the field for most of the weekend, with the Peugeot team dominating the race.
“It’s such a great feeling to have won,” beamed David Brabham. “Peugeot Sport did a tremendous job; they really did.
“It’s a great team – they gave us a 100 per cent reliable car and the three of us drove a faultless race.”
Audi, on the other hand, began the race with high hopes. With five successive Le Mans wins behind them, and a hard fought win over Peugeot in the Sebring 12 hour for their new R15 TDI, the 2009 race was always going to be a fight between the French and German teams, despite a renewed bid from Aston Martin.
Audi sent three cars to La Sarthe, but only one remained in contention. Although, as the race drew to a close hopes began to fade and the #1 R15 TDI held on for a safe third place, some seven laps behind the race winner.
The Audi team were gracious in defeat and, according to Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Motorsport, are already planning their 2010 assault, “Obviously we are a little disappointed about the result. We didn’t manage to extract the full potential of the Audi R15 TDI in the race, which we had seen during testing.
“In addition, we had several technical problems that really caught us by surprise. As a result, we could only get one car onto the podium. Peugeot produced a fantastic performance and certainly deserved the victory. We will analyze the problems we had to ensure we come back stronger in 2010.”
More from the Peugeot and Audi PR teams below.