2010 24 Hours of Le Mans

2010 24 Hours of Le Mans
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Index: Races | Winners
A layout of the Circuit de la Sarthe near Le Mans, France
The track layout of the Circuit de la Sarthe
A red, black and white sports prototype being driven down a pit lane with people applauding the driver
The race-winning No. 9 Audi R15 TDI plus of Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller, which set a race record for overall distance covered

The 78th 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: 78e 24 Heures du Mans) was a non-championship 24-hour automobile endurance race for teams of three drivers each fielding Le Mans Prototype (LMP) and Grand Touring (GT) cars held from 12 to 13 June 2010 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, near Le Mans, France, before 238,150 spectators. It was the 78th 24 Hours of Le Mans as organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO).

A Peugeot 908 HDi FAP shared by Sébastien Bourdais, Pedro Lamy and Simon Pagenaud started from pole position after Bourdais set the fastest overall qualifying lap in the first qualifying session. The team led for the opening two hours before retiring with a suspension mounting fault in the third hour, giving the lead to the sister Peugeot squad of Anthony Davidson, Marc Gené and Alexander Wurz until they had to enter the garage to replace a failed alternator. Peugeot's third trio of Nicolas Minassian, Franck Montagny and Stéphane Sarrazin led the following 144 laps before the engine failed due to connecting rod failure. This gave the lead to an Audi R15 TDI plus driven by Audi Sport North America's Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller and they held it to the finish. It was Bernhard, Dumas and Rockenfeller's maiden Le Mans victory and Audi's ninth overall since 2000. The Audi Sport Team Joest trio of Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer finished one lap behind in second, and their teammates Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish completed an Audi sweep of the overall podium another two laps behind in third.

Strakka Racing's HPD ARX-01C car, driven by Jonny Kane, Nick Leventis and Danny Watts, won the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) category after leading the final 267 laps. They were six laps ahead of the second-placed OAK Racing trio of Jan Charouz, Matthieu Lahaye and Guillaume Moreau in a Pescarolo 01-Judd. Roland Berville, Julien Canal and Gabriele Gardel won the Le Mans Grand Touring 1 (LMGT1) class in a Saleen S7-R, securing Larbre Compétition its fifth Le Mans category victory. The class order and podium was completed by David Hart, Stéphan Grégoire, Jérôme Policand sharing Luc Alphand Aventures' Chevrolet Corvette C6.R and the Young Driver AMR's Tomáš Enge, Peter Kox and Christoffer Nygaard in an Aston Martin DBR9. A Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 997 GT3-RSR won the Le Mans Grand Touring 2 (LMGT2) category with drivers Wolf Henzler, Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz. Team Farnbacher's Ferrari F430 GT2 shared by Dominik Farnbacher, Leh Keen and Allan Simonsen were two laps adrift in second and the class podium was completed by BMS Scuderia Italia's trio of Marco Holzer, Timo Scheider and Richard Westbrook in a Porsche 997 GT3-RSR.