24 Heures du Mans |
| Review & Hour by Hour Recap |
| authored by Matthew W. Campbell |
| bigMoney Le Mans Index |
| bigMoneyracing.com |
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2004 Le MansLe Mans, France (bM) 2004 RACE BRIEFING Hour 1: Jamie Davies led the 48 car field away for the 72nd 24 Heures, but the first Mulsanne chicane the Champion and Goh Audi's had passed the Zytek to make it a Audi 1-2-3-4. One has to think it might be that way for a while. The Nasamax started from pit lane, as it returned too late from being recovered from the circuit after the morning warm-up; no problem they were just checking exactly how far the car could go on the fuel reserve. First car into pit lane is the 96 TVR. An intermittent engine failure apparently being the cause. As suspected the GTS battle between the Prodrive Ferrari's and Corvettes is monumental. After a quarter hour it is 66 Ferrari, 65 Ferrari, 64 Corvette, 63 Corvette with nothing between them. Contradictory to popular stereotypes of strengths with the Ferrari and Corvette, it is the Corvette that is best through the twisties and the Ferrari that has the legs on the Mulsanne. The Kondo Dome and 18 Pescarolo pit on lap 8. With only 80L tanks this year (10 less than 2003), pit stops will happen more frequently this year. It'll be a bit before we can determine the pit window properly due to the installation laps, parade laps, etc. Whoa and the 17 Pescarolo loses the engine cover in spectacular fashion! Leading 88 Audi pits on lap 10, no tires and rejoins. JJ Lehto did some rally car driving putting nearly all 4 wheels into the gravel on the exit of the chicane leading to the front straight. He was trailing Allan McNish in the 8 Audi at the time and the completed another lap before hitting the pits on lap 11. The leaders in GTS 66 550, 65 550, and 64 Vette pit together. Fuel only and Corvette beats out both the Ferrari's! But it is drama for the 63 Corvette driven by Ron Fellows, he straight lines the right-hander at Arnage and stuffs the car into the tires. He is immediately into the garage after finding his way back to pit road and a flurry of activity envelopes the C5R. The front bodywork is off and the crew is checking for suspension damage. With the first hour not even complete and the 550's showing competitive pace, this could be a long fight back for the 63 car. As the first hour clicks over, it is at least 4 laps down surely. Hour 1 leaders:
Hour 2: Apologies it was Sascha Maassen in the pole sitting 90 Porsche leading the first hour for GT. Corvette slips back out to the pit stall after a lengthy repair. Ron Fellows admits going too deep into Arnage trying to clear a GT Porsche and stuffing it. Not the usual quality of work from Fellows and he's noticeably upset and disappointed. Leader Davies is in at 20 past in the 88 Audi. He's back out after fuel only, so a triple stint on the tires--so far. With less fuel this year a triple stint isn't what it used to be so expect a quadruple stint. Maybe even a quintuple stint in the night? Hey go figure! It's an "MG" with an electrical problem! The Achilles of this car has always been the starternator; a combination starter and alternator. Being directly underneath the car it's a bugger to change, and not even 2 hours gone and they're replacing it already. Yikes. HUGE DRAMA! The McNish 8 Audi and Lehto 2 Audi have spun are wedged into the tire barrier! McNish is looking angrily at Lehto, Lehto is pointing at the track indicating that was the problem. A Ferrari spins too so it is certainly a slick of oil. McNish is out of the car and frantically trying to asses damage. He is trying to take off the front cover but the car is so deeply buried into the tires it won't come off. Lehto's Champion Audi is the first to get extracted. Looks like the left front is deranged from the contact in fact it isn't turning hardly at all. The marshals are indicating Lehto needs to exit the car but he is refusing and wanting to get back to the pits. He's back to the garage. McNish is underway too, COMPLETELY missing the front bodywork! Seeing the car in the way indicates these modern sportscars are really F1 cars with fenders. No lack of aero development underneath the skins of the R8's. McNish is "crabbing" back to the pits, severe rear damage but the car IS moving though looking VERY second-hand. More developments as they come. Hour 3: The no 8 Audi UK Team Veloqx driven by Allan McNish is definitely the worse for wear after the incident in hour 2 with JJ Lehto. Once in the pit stall he leaps immediately out of the car allowing the mechanics to swarm the car and get it lifted then turned into the garage. This R8 is going to require massive, massive repairs. Allan runs to the back of the garage and collapses. A scoring update. The No 5 Team Goh Audi spun early on at one of the chicanes on the Mulsanne. Dindo Capello lost a lap getting it going so the lead No 88 has a lap in hand on second place. The lead 64 Corvette has the pace on the Prodrive 550s and they're gaining ~5secs at each pit stop due to swifter refueling. And yet another leader with trouble. The 22 Zytek suffers it's second puncture after Andy Wallace had a big moment earlier on with a front tire puncture. David Brabham gets it back in but the rear bodywork will have to be replaced. Something else is amiss and they back it into the garage for a more lengthy repair. The 27 Interport Lola B160/Judd has trouble too, a left rear issue and John Field is out taking a look. He's back in and will obviously try to make it back to pit road. The Champion Audi is back out at the bottom of the hour; ~30 mins in the garage for repairs from that big oil-induced wreck at the entrance to the Porsche curves with the 8 Audi. It'll rejoin ~10 laps down. The PK Sport Porsche is the likely suspect for dropping the fluids. Counting backwards, they've been in the pits about the right amount of time to have been the car slicking up the track. The Caterpillar diesel is in it's pit, or nearby. It stops about 3 pits short of it's own and seems to be stuck in gear as the mechanics can't get it rolling. No doubt it'll be straight into the garage for replacement of some bit. As the hour comes to a close the 8 Audi is nearly ready return to the race. It's been an hour since the incident and a good 50 minutes in the garage. That they're making it back at all is amazing, that it is so quickly is even more so. The leaderboard at the end of the third hour is quite surprising. Sure, losing two Audis will do that but supposed best of the rest aren't really up there. 88 Audi UK leads from 5 Audi Japan, No 9 Kondo Dome is third, No 18 Pescarolo/Judd fourth, and 6 Rollcentre Dallara Judd is fifth. 31 Courage heads LMP2, 64 Corvette is first in GTS, 90 Porsche leads GT. No word yet on McNish. JJ Lehto said he saw him and he was fine but the medics are taking him to hospital to be sure. Hour 4: The Panoz GTP is in the gravel very near the entrance of the pits. Patrick Bourdais, father of Milwaukee Champ Car winner and No 17 Pescarolo driver Sebastian Bourdais is at the wheel of the Panoz and had just set the fastest laps of the race for this car. The No 8 Audi makes it back out shortly after the top of the hour. It makes one lap and is back in the garage. The Zytek has also fallen down the order. Lapping in the 3:46 range it'll climb the chart quickly, but a podium is looking unlikely at the moment. The 16 Racing for Holland Dome with recent F1 drivers Ralph Firman and Justin Wilson in addition to vet Tom Coronel is needing a new gear cluster. Podium unlikely for this lot too. Eco-friendly entries are also down the order. Nasamax are fighting a misfire on their bio-ethanol fueled Judd V10. The Caterpillar diesel was still in the garage at last check. Kristensen in the 5 Audi Japan Team Goh is lapping ~2sec quicker than Guy Smith in the 88 Audi UK Team Veloqx. The 88 has a lap in hand over the 5 but it is much too early to be backing off. With Kristensen seeking his record-tying 6th win and the race seemingly coming to him, it could be quite a fight at the front. Judd engine cars are 3rd, 4th, and 5th with the 18 Pescarolo, 15 Dome, and 6 Dallara. McNish has a severe concussion from the accident. He must stay at hospital for 4 hours and will be forbidden from taking part in the remainder of the race. Pierre Kaffer and Frank Biela will have to finish out the race. Hour 5: In light of the news that McNish received a concussion in the massive shunt with JJ Lehto at the very fast Porsche curves one must make note of the effort by him to get the 88 Audi back to the crew in the garage. Monumental effort there from the diminutive, in-height-only, Scot. In addition to striking the wall McNish was also hit by Lehto's Audi. A new wiring loom for the Nasamax hasn't cured the misfire. The repaired 8 Audi is lapping in the 3:38s, only 1sec off it's best before the accident; amazing. It appears I've slightly dismissed the effort from the LMP2 class. The 31 Courage Competition AER-powered Courage is up to 6th overall and lapping very well. Remember, this is a prototype without a carbon tub and ostensibly for low-budget factories or privateers. That they're so far up the order and lapping so quickly is very much a surprise. Whoop! Kiss of death, they're in the garage needing some gearbox bits. The 27 Intersport Lola/Judd is going to be retired. The damage suffered in that off with Jon Field apparently being too much to overcome. The ACO has inexplicably disqualified the 16 RfH Dome, stating the team improperly replaced the gear cluster. The team DID replace the entire cluster which according to the rules they're allowed to do (and other teams have done as well) but the ACO made them come back and replace the new cluster with the old but repaired cluster. Confused yet? The 65 Ferrari with rally ace Colin McRae driving has evidently had an off on the Mulsanne Straight and suffered a slipping clutch either as a result or it was the cause. (How do you have a spin down the straight? Was he instinctually looking for gravel as the fast way 'round?) McRae says the car will now need a new clutch and it's going to be ~25mins in the garage. At the end of the hour the 16 RfH dome is in the pits with a fuel issue. Owner drive Jan Lammers said it'll take a maximum of 10 minutes for a repair. When told he was up to 3rd and by most accounts having a good race, Lammers' face seemed to light-up with pride. This very much a privateer effort headed mainly by that man. A podium for this group would be just reward for what they've been through. The PK Sport has been retired with an engine failure. Officially they'll finish behind the previously retired Intersport entry. Hour 6: 10 minutes past the top of the hour and the previously well up 31 Courage returns after a gear change. They've dropped to 33rd. The No 10 Lola Caterpillar diesel has retired; and they will go down as the official first retirement, in the 4th hour. According the team manager Ian Dawson it was the clutch that failed and they decided to withdraw rather than keep replacing bits. With the same 80L tank, they were able to go 16 laps between fueling, further than any other car including GTs. He boldly predicts a diesel win within 4 years. The GTS is ongoing beteen the 64 Vette and the 66 550. They're up to 5th and 6th overall, what with the 15 RfH Dome dropping down with the fuel pump replacement. That car is now in 20th and a good dozen laps down. Just plugging away now for most of the competitors; a race pace has definitely settled in. The lead 88 Audi still has a lap in hand over the 5 Audi. Problems for the Morgan unfortunately, they're falling down the order. Problems too for the Lister, they needed a new starter. Hour 7: Night at Le Mans. The 15 RfH Dome was back in the top 15 when it suffered a puncture. Sadly a podium is slipping away for these guys. Moving up considerably is the No 2 Champion Audi. Emmanuele Pirro has set the fastest lap for this car and is quickly gaining on the 6 cars in front of it. With the two primary GTS particulars still ahead, the Champion Audi will be is still on pace for a good finish. Should anything befall the 88 or 5 Audi's, then Champion will be in with a shot. The 27 Intersport retired with a overheating after suffering broken rear link in a spin. Incident involving the already troubled 63 Corvette which had been back in third in GTS. It did a half spin, tank slapped the armco, completed the 360 and contined slowly on. Being on the straight section of the Mulsanne towards Indianapolis it'd appear that a tire went down causing the C5R to hook to the right into the fence. Then comes along poor Paul Belmondo who says he got punted by a "fuc&!ng c^nt" from behind and slid into the rear of the Corvette. The resulting contact with the Corvette pushed an upright through the tub and their day is done. The 18 Pescarolo and 6 Dallara remain the best of the non-Audi's ~4 laps down. Hour 8: Quite the slow hour at Le Mans. List of retirements in no particular order, 37 Paul Belmondo Courage, 27 Intersport Lola/Judd, 78 PK Sport Porsche GT3RS, 86 Freisinger Motorsport GT3RSR, 10 Taurus Lola/Caterpillar, and unfortunately the 11 Panoz LMP. Second (Goh Audi) is a lap down on first (88 Audi UK), third (18 Pescarolo) is two down on second, and fourth (Dallara) is a lap down on third. Corvette is four more down in 5th, 66 Prodrive ~2mins down in 6th. Hour 9: Remember the Morgan? It isn't officially retired but it was stopped on course for about three hours with a fuel problem. Some speculation that the fuel problem is more like a like-of-fuel problem. Regardless the Aero 8 makes it back to pit road where the mechanics deem it fit and the car is back out. Chris Dyson takes the 16 RfH Dome back into the garage for some detailed attention. JJ Lehto has the hammer down in the Champion Audi, he sets the fast lap --for everyone!!-- a 3.36.060. Champion is back to 5th. A penalty for the leading 88 Audi with Jamie Davies at the wheel. Supposedly he passed under local yellow somewhere on course. This might let the Goh Audi back onto the lead lap, but just. It'll be much closer no doubt--Kristensen might get it yet! Hour 10: Early in the hour an incident between the leading 88 Audi (still Jamie Davies driving) and the 64 Corvette with Jan Magnussen at the wheel. It happened at the entrance of the Ford Chicanes so *just* past the pit entry. Both have to go around before finding their way to the pits. The 88 makes it back and has a new nose fitted and is promptly back out again. The story for the Corvette isn't so rosy. They lose a lap to the 66 Prodrive Ferrari while getting extracted from the gravel trap, then lose the better part of another going slowly around. Magnussen takes the car directly into the garage with rear damage from backing it into the wall. It is 4 laps lost due to senseless wreck with the 88. What Davies was thinking is anyone's guess. Yes he was coming under pressure from the Goh Audi which was back on the lead lap and yes he was nearly inside the Corvette but to put the Audi in such a vulnerable position so early in the race? It was an ambitious move to say the least and Corvette are feeling the effects. When asked about the availability of spare bodywork with all the trouble between the 63 and 64, team manager Doug Fehan said, "I think we've got enough for another 2 or 3 hours!" The 64 is 4 laps down on the GTS leading 66 and the 64 is 4 laps down on GTS 3rd No 65 but it is chin up for these guys. The 31 factory backed Courage spends time in the garage for another gear change. The Petersen/White Lightning No 90 Porsche GT3 RSR continues to lead from it's pole position. They gave up the lead briefly over the first couple of pit stops but have otherwise been in front the entire race. Yeah, these guys are in complete control it seems; two laps over second in class No 85 Freisinger. And yes! The TVRs and Morgan are still going! At the end of the hour the 66 parks in the garage when a ball of rubber got lodged into the air intake. Their lead over Corvette is down to 3 laps by the time they rejoin. Hour 11: Still a gap between the leading 88 and second place 5 Audis. Nothing to rest on though. Pescarolo and Rollcentre and Champion remain 3, 4, 5 with ~1 lap or more between each. Corvette within two of the 66 550. The GT race has swung in favor of the 85 Freisinger Porsche. It leads over the Petersen entry which is on the same lap as the Choroq and Orbit entries. The sequential gearbox in the Petersen entry is at fault. It was air in the fuel line of the Morgan causing the extended delay at Indianapolis earlier in the race. Driver Neil Cunningham got it sorted with the onboard toolkit and it's still going. Hour 12: Halfway already and its been the most frantic 12 hours at least in the last few years. The 88 still leads the 5 (which has been suffering a misfire) by a lap, give or take. Pescarolo, Rollcentre, Champion still 3, 4, 5. Kondo up to 6th. The biggest news in LMP1 is the ka-blam-o of the Zytek engine. The engine went up in a big way in the Porsche curves and the car drifts into the pits with a tell-tale trail of fluid. They had troubles throughout the race with puntures and related frustrations. Losing the lump was probably not the way they expected to go out considering it's the engines for which Zytek has been known in the past. 66 Prodrive 550 back up to a 3 lap lead over the 64 Corvette. 61 Barron Conner Ferrari 575 pits and the left front brakes immediately burst into flames. Several extinguishers required to put out the fire and re-put out the fire. Retirement list is growing rapidly. The Noel del Bello Reynard has also retired. The 4 time LMP 675 class winner will not find glory this year. The engine in the 35 Epsilon Courage, this one of the IES/Willman/Nissan V6 variety, has done blown slap up. Conveniently for driver Gunnar Jeannette it did so near the driveway of the chateau where the Jeannette's are staying. Nice one Gunnar. The previously LMP2 leader 31 factory Courage has retired. LMP2 is now a fight(ha!) between the two WR's and the now leading Intersport Lola B2K/40 Judd. Leaderboard
as best I can tell... Hour 13: The No 6 Rollcentre Dallara Judd was in the midst of adding a bit of oil when there was some hand signal confusion between the driver and crew. Joao went to take off and pulled the oil line out. An extra stop cost an additional 40 seconds--hurting their pursuit of the third place Pescarolo. Towards the end of the hour the 64 Vette is back into the garage. Not going to catch the Ferrari like this, boys. There are three cars left in LMP2. Intersport has 26 laps on the Rachel Welter WR and 82 laps on the Gerard Welter WR. With as few laps completed, the GW WR has to hope for problems with the Intersport Lola to even be classified at the finish. Hour 14: No 16 RfH Dome, back in for another gear change while the starter on the 15 needed a good thump. Nasamax still have a misfire but soldiers on. Champion Audi is slowly running down the Rollcentre Dallara. Still have yet to hear what put the 64 Vette in the garage a while back, but they're back and running after a 15 minute stop. Six laps down now. Hour 15: Totally non-race related item here, it is in this hour listening to Radio Le Mans that makes it all worthwhile. Take a three or so cheeky Brits, an dirty old American, a female pit reporter deprive each of rest and stir. The result is classic radio what between bathroom jokes and manhood jokes. Hilarious stuff. The lead 88 Audi has spent the least amount of time in the pits, big shock there I'm sure. But they're suffering with an increasing understeer issue that is costing them ~3secs per laps to the 5 Audi. Team Veloqx has changed rear bodywork on several occasions to try and remedy the problem but it hasn't worked. During certain corners a visible smoke trail is evident from the left rear tire. So in the front or in the rear the 88 has an issue that could change the face of this race. The Champion Audi spent ~10mins in the pits changing the brake caliper and pads on the left front. Accident damage from earlier caused the car to cook the pads which wore too thin causing the piston to over extend out of the caliper body. The Rollcentre Dallara capitalizes to put a lap on Champion. Unfortunately they get shunted right before the top of the hour by the 17 Pescarolo around the Dunlop chicane. The gap on Champion shrinks with each passing second. A tractor is dispatched to retrieve the beached Dallara with team owner Martin Short at the wheel. 66 Prodrive has a 6 lap cushion on the 64 Corvette. Not going to catch up on lap time, going to need a fault in the 550. Hour 16: Audi UK Team Veloqx bring the 88 in to remedy the understeer issue. They're tackling the rocker on the left rear. The bearing has apparently packed up. The 5 Audi takes the lead and puts a lap on the parked 88. Funny how Tom Kristensen's ride always seems to find the lead at Le Mans come morning... It was Sebastian Bourdais that punted Martin Short. Completely unapologetic, Bourdais claimed that Short was holding him up and continuously cutting him off. But now Shorty has a suspension failure in the left rear and has a HEAVY HEAVY impact with the wall on drivers left. The car is most certainly out but the driver isn't. On the replay the failure occurs at the exact moment of loading on the exit of a fast right-hander. The car does a complete 360, strikes the wall with the right/right rear, tank slaps on the right side, goes up on two wheels as air packs under the car because it is now going sideways with the left side leading, the rear bodywork rips off, and the car returns to the ground and heads forward with the proper end forward. Short does finally get out of the car after a few minutes; he's obviously shaken and limping severely. They were 5th at the time--a super, super effort for this private team that only bought the Dallara over the winter. This retirement is a true shame. Other notables: The Nasamax is up to 15th, the Lister is still running, the RML Lola/AER "MG" is still running, the TVRs are still running, the Morgan is still running. Hour 17: This almost turned into the hour of "throw away the podium." First Emanuele Pirro stuffs the 2 Champion Audi into the gravel and lost a good 30-45 seconds. But then the 18 Pescarolo hits the garage for a non-normal stop. At the end of the hour it's a ~1.5 mins lead for the Pescarolo. 5 Audi maintains a lap lead over the 88 Audi. Morgan having a bit of an issue with the engine evidently, the oil temp is rising. The Radio guys have a chuckle that this racecar still has a dipstick. Retirements now included the 6 Rollcentre Dallara with that crash, the 87 Orbit Porsche GT3RSR with a gearbox, and the 61 and 62 Barron Connor Ferrari 575 Maranello's. The 61 had a brake issue, the 62 an engine issue if memory serves. Hour 18: Self serving moment here: lots of OZ, center-lock, Crono Evolution-like wheels running around. They're on the WR's, the Intersport Lola, the front of the Morgan and a couple others. They're pretty hot in black! The Lister has stopped at pit exit. Would be nice if they could fake losing their brakes and reverse back down the pit road to the waiting mechanics. Endurance racing is great. There is a full side window laying on the frontstretch, looks to be from a Maranello of some flavor, and the ACO sends out a marshal to retrieve it WITHOUT a displaying a full course caution. Quite different from NASCAR where they throw a yellow when someone simply spills a Budweiser. An update on Martin Short who suffered that mighty hit in the Porsche Curves when a left rear upright failed after contact with Sebastian Bourdais. He's got his wits about him, so perhaps not a concussion. But the right front wishbone pushed through the tub on impact and it struck Short in the leg. Other than that he is doing ok. Nasamax stop to fix a dodgy starter, and while they've been suffering a misfire for some time they continue to hang in the top 15. Radiator woes for Morgan. They top it off with water and a MacGyver-like secret stop-leak potion dispensed from an "agricultural-like" watering can according to the amused Radio Le Mans guys. They're just poking a *bit* too much fun now! 18 Pescarolo finds the gravel trap at the first Mulsanne chicane in spectacular fashion, leaping curbs and spraying gravel like a sprinkler. Eric Comas was at the wheel and they lose third to the Champion Audi in the process. For those of you still up and scoring at home, that's Audi 1, 2, 3 for the first time since the McNish/Lehto accident in hour two. Hour 19: Bugger! Should've taken a nap during hour 19. Outside of normal pit stops not a thing has happened with the leaders; certainly no major incidents involving any of the participants. A bit of hiccup with the 63 but lets face it, they're so far down it hardly matters. The leading 66 Prodrive 550 is going in and out of the pits gingerly. PR goddess Fiona Miller tells us there is no problem however. Hour 20: An eventful hour this one. First, the 17 Pescarolo Judd has retired out at the first Mulsanne chicane. The car was on it's out lap after a 15 minute or so stop to work on fiddly bit down in the bowels of the French entry. Second, the GTS leading 66 Prodrive 550 is in the pits with a deflated left front. Curiously the wheel wasn't turning at all out on course seeming to indicate that the real problem might be a bearing or perhaps sticky brake caliper. They've got ~18 mins in hand on the 64 Corvette so not panic at Prodrive just yet. At the end of the hour the Corvette picks up the lead from the Ferrari! They leave the pits in sequence, it is surely on now! The GT leading 85 Freisinger Porsche is reported to be sounding off out on course. Clockwork pitstops from the primary prototype protagonists. Hour 21: Another plugging away hour for the most part until the leading 5 Audi makes a scheduled stop at ~45 past the hour. On the exit the fuel man failed to dislodge the hoses properly, spilling fuel on the bodywork. The fuel catches fire and Dindo Capello immediately pulls to the right into another stall seeking out a fire marshal. The fire is quickly extinguished, Dindo belts himself back in, and he returns to the fracas on the track. A 1.5 minute lead for the Japanese owned Audi. Corvette has pulled out a half minute lead or so on the 66 Prodrive car. A change for the lead in GT as the engine woes come to fruition on the previously leading 85 Freisinger Porsche. The pole sitting 90 White Lightning Porsche retakes the lead and has 1+ lap in hand by the end of hour 21. Hour 22: The GTS battle which has ebbed and flowed all night has ebbed (or flowed?) back to Corvette. The 66 Prodrive has spent massive amounts of time in the garage this hour. To add insult to injury Alain Menu stuffs the 550 into the tire wall and the 66 is back in the garage to finish out the hour, eesh. Only two cars left in LMP2, Intersport Lola and Rachel Welter WR. In GT the 90 Petersen continue to pull away from the 85 Freisinger now 3+ laps ahead. The Morgan, Rachel Welter WR, Lister, and RML Lola/AER "MG" are in danger of not being classified at the finish due to not completing enough laps. The Morgan, completing ~150 fewer laps than the leader is most certainly not going to be classified. Never mind that though, they will nurse that car to 4:00p.m. and finish their first 24 Heures du Mans for the Aero 8. Hour 23: The RML car has retired. The MG Lola AER has never finished Le Mans. The Kondo/Mugen Dome also retired with an oil system problem. No change at the front of any of the classes except that Choroq has taken second in GT from Freisinger. It's Seiji Ara in the Goh Audi and Johnny Herbert in the Veloqx Audi to finish it out. ~1min between them. Hour 24: Ara does it for Audi Japan Team Goh! Kristensen gets a record-tying 6th Le Mans win and an Audi R8 has won 4 of the last 5. The Oliver Gavin piloted C5R takes the win in GTS, the sister Corvette slugs it's way home in 2nd. Intersport win(survive!) LMP2 Petersen/White Lightning win GT Amazingly the TVRs finish, the Lister finished, the Morgan finished, the Nasamax finished; and, now, at the strike of 4:00 Le Mans '04 is finished!
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