For me this is not one driver, this is a team rivalry – Audi and Peugeot at Le Mans in 2011, my first of three victories there after an intense rivalry that lasted the whole race. Sharing the R18 TDI with Marcel Fässler and Benoit Tréluyer I was doing multiple stints of nearly four hours, flat out, and in the end we beat Sébastien Bourdais, Simon Pagenaud and Pedro Lamy in the Peugeot by just 13 seconds after 24 hours. This was a tough rivalry and a victory that changed my racing career, enabled me to break through into more international racing, changing my life a lot.
“The cars were so evenly matched, the lead changing all the time, and by the end we were the only Audi still in the running so it was all down to us. We were fighting not only the lead Peugeot but also their second car. Franck Montagny was trying to hold me up, then in the final hour Marc Gené was blocking me and we touched, nose to tail, at the second chicane. Pretty intense.
“The Audi and the Peugeot had very similar pace but our ‘joker’ was that we could do five stints on one set of tyres so that gave us the edge. We were maybe slightly faster in the corners, they were a little better on the straights. I didn’t sleep at all for the whole race. I was following our progress on the app. I don’t know how I did that, driving multiple stints, three hours and 45 minutes on the limit every lap, pushing for every metre, every braking point. Late in the race, battling with Pagenaud, I got confused, not sure if I was leading, and the gap was increasing. I couldn’t understand how the Peugeot was pulling away; I was pushing so hard. Then Leena [Gade], my engineer, told me that I was leading, pulling away from the Peugeot, but this confusion caused me to take too many risks, like passing a GT car in the Porsche curves, just closing my eyes and praying.
“Then we had a slow puncture before heading into the last stint. The tyre could have exploded. Everyone was panicking, freaking out. The engine guys said, ‘If we stop now, we won’t finish the race,’ because our stops were perfectly synchronised for fuel, so I stayed out. At the last stop they changed all four tyres. I had a six-second gap over the Peugeot having driven so hard when I thought I was behind. When I crossed the line to win, it was very emotional.
“A great rivalry like that, against good drivers and a good car, makes you feel so alive. It’s not so much fun if you win by three laps or something. Sharing this with Marcel and Benoit was incredibly satisfying, celebrating with the team. It was Audi’s 10th Le Mans win, and my first. We partied until early Monday morning.”
From left: Tréluyer, Lotterer, Gade and Fässler, Le Mans, 2011
Audi AG
Audi and Peugeot head-to-head
Stats taken from the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup
