2009 24 Hours of Le Mans

Events for the 24 Hours of Le Mans began on 8 June with technical inspections, before initial practice began on 10 June. Due to the cancellation of the May test session, the Wednesday track session has been altered to free practice only, with no qualification times being recorded in the mostly wet session. Qualifying therefore only took place on Thursday, which remained dry.

Automatic entry to the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans was granted to teams that had performed well in the previous year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as the 2008 seasons of the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, FIA GT Championship, and the Petit Le Mans.^[4] New for 2009 was an automatic invitation awarded to the team which accumulated the most points in the Michelin Energy Endurance Challenge, as part of the Le Mans Series. The award was based on fuel economy of competitors during each event.^[5]

On 20 January 2009, the ACO announced that 15 of the 29 automatic invitations had been accepted by their recipients.^[6] Entries with a blue background were granted entries, but did not accept their invitations.

Reason entered	LMP1	LMP2	GT1	GT2
1st in 24 Hours of Le Mans	Audi Sport North America	Van Merksteijn Motorsport	Aston Martin Racing	Risi Competizione
2nd in 24 Hours of Le Mans	Team Peugeot Total	Team Essex	Corvette Racing	BMS Scuderia Italia
1st in Le Mans Series	Audi Sport Team Joest	Van Merksteijn Motorsport	Luc Alphand Aventures	Virgo Motorsport
2nd in Le Mans Series	Team Peugeot Total	Team Essex	Team Modena	Team Felbermayr-Proton
1st in Petit Le Mans	Audi Sport North America	Penske Motorsports, Inc.	Corvette Racing	Risi Competizione
1st in American Le Mans Series	Intersport Racing1	Penske Racing	Bell Motorsports2	Flying Lizard Motorsports
1st in FIA GT Championship			Vitaphone Racing Team	AF Corse
2nd in FIA GT Championship			Phoenix Carsport Racing	BMS Scuderia Italia
1st in Energy Endurance Challenge		Horag Racing

Prior to the deadline for applications, 82 separate entries by teams representing 17 countries were received by the ACO. This amount is only six less than the total of applications received for the previous running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The ACO Selection Committee decided on which teams were invited to fill the remaining 40 positions alongside those teams who had already received automatic invitations, along with ten reserve entries.^[7]

On 26 February, the ACO announced their list of 55 entries which will be invited to take part in the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans. 21 cars within the LMP1 category include Audi, Peugeot, and Aston Martin with three cars each, as well as private entries for the Kolles Audis, Pescarolo Peugeot, and Speedy-Sebah Aston Martin. This also made a total of nine cars which would be using diesel fuel. LMP2 featured previous race winners Team Goh in a previous winning car, the Porsche RS Spyder, joined by last year's runner-up Team Essex. Mazda supplied engines for four entries, split amongst the Lola and Pescarolo chassis.

The GT1 category was fought amongst three manufacturers, as Corvette Racing and Luc Alphand Aventures attempted to overcome the two private Aston Martin and Lamborghini entries. GT2 was once again dominated by the Ferrari and Porsche battle, although Ferrari had the power of numbers with its ten entries compared to Porsche's five. Sole entries from Spyker and the Drayson Aston Martin completed the GT2 field.^[8]

Ten entries are granted a reserve entry, in case an entry from the list of 55 withdraws prior to the event. These ten entries will be allowed to join the race entry list in the order they are listed here, regardless of their class.^[8]

On 31 March, Gigawave Motorsport withdrew their Aston Martin from the GT1 category of the entry list in order to concentrate on their development of the Nissan GT-R program. This promoted Advanced Engineering/Team Seattle from the reserve list to the entry list.^[9] Three days later Epsilon Euskadi withdrew their LMP1 entry which was replaced by the Endurance China Team. Epsilon Euskadi also withdrew their second entry from the reserve list.^[10] On 29 April, it was announced that Vitaphone Racing withdrew their LMP2 entry and was replaced by a second IMSA Performance Matmut GT2 entry. Racing Box also announced that they withdrew their LMP2 reserve entry.^[11] IPB Spartak Racing announced their withdrawal from the event on 15 May because one of their drivers, Peter Kox, was unable to participate in the race. It was replaced by the Barazi-Epsilon LMP2 entry.^[12]

On 22 May, reserve entries were no longer able to be accepted into the race, regardless of further withdrawals. The entries of Gerard Welter's WR-Zytek LMP2, Team Felbermayr-Proton's Porsche GT2, Snoras Spyker Squadron's Spyker GT2, and Larbre Compétition's Saleen GT1 were the only remaining reserves at the time of the entry list closure.^[8]

After the cancellation of the test session, Wednesday's schedule was changed from a qualifying session to a six-hour free practice. Track conditions varied as rain arrived several times during the practice, limiting the amount of time available with a dry circuit. Audi led the session with Allan McNish setting a fastest lap of 3:30.708 in the No. 1 car, followed immediately by the No. 2 Audi. The best Peugeot was the No. 9 car, followed immediately by the privately entered Pescarolo Sport Peugeot. The fastest LMP1 not running a diesel engine was the second Pescarolo entry with a time of 3:35.868, followed by the No. 008 and No. 007 Aston Martins.

The LMP2 category was led by the Porsche RS Spyders, with Team Essex's 3:46.426 ahead of the Navi Team Goh entry. Quifel ASM Team's Ginetta-Zytek was a distant third, ten seconds behind Team Essex. Corvette Racing were at the front of GT1, with the No. 63's 3:57.876 lap time ahead of the No. 64 car. Jetalliance Racing were third while the two Luc Alphand Corvettes did few laps after fixing an incorrectly installed rollcage and the JLOC Lamborghini did not complete a lap after breaking a driveshaft. Porsche were ahead of Ferrari in the GT2 category, with Felbermayr-Proton ahead of the Risi Competizione. Spyker Squadron were able to reach third in the class.^[13]

The only major incident of the practice session was an accident by KSM's driver Jean de Pourtales. The driver spun approaching the Dunlop Chicane, impacting a concrete barrier before sliding into a tire barrier. The second impact ripped much of the rear of the car off.^[14]

Stéphane Sarrazin claimed his third consecutive pole position at Le Mans,^[15] planting the No. 8 Peugeot at the front of the field with a lap time of 3:22.888. He set the lap on the third of his flying laps during a run near the end of the four-hour qualifying session, bettering Allan McNish's lap time by 0.8 seconds. McNish's lap was set on the final lap of the first two-hour qualifying session,^[16] beating the Peugeot of Franck Montagny who led much of the first session.^[17] McNish's lap remained at the top of the charts for much of the second session until Sarrazin's performance. Peugeot planned to practice race setups during the entire qualifying session, and were not seeking to obtain the pole position.^[18]

At the end of qualifying Peugeots filled the next three places on the grid behind the front row with the car of Pescarolo Sport settling in at fourth fastest. Aston Martin were able to secure the fastest lap for a petrol-powered car, with the No. 007 entry on a few thousandths of a second behind the No. 3 Audi and followed by the No. 008 Aston Martin and No. 13 Speedy Racing Team Sebah Aston Martin.

The Porsche RS Spyders continued their dominance in the LMP2 category, with Casper Elgaard of Team Essex ahead of Team Goh with a lap time of 3:37.720. Third in the category was the No. 33 Speedy Racing Team Sebah Lola-Judd which was over three seconds behind the Porsches. Corvette Racing secured the front row in the GT1 category, with Jan Magnussen's No. 63 entry half a second ahead of the No. 64 sister car. Jetalliance Racing's privately entered Aston Martin was under two seconds behind, and followed immediately by the two Luc Alphand Corvettes. The JLOC Lamborghini struggled with mechanical issues and was never able to lift itself from last place on grid.

The GT2 category was led by Porsche who bested their rivals Ferrari with two cars. Pole winner Flying Lizard Motorsports' 4:03.202 was less than a tenth of a second ahead of the No. 77 Felbermayr-Proton car. Risi Competizione led the Ferrari fight with a third place qualifying time, joined by JMB Racing and BMS Scuderia Italia. The Aston Martin of Drayson Racing was ninth in the category, while the Spyker was eleventh.

Several incidents occurred during the qualifying session. The Pescarolo Peugeot drive by Jean-Christophe Boullion spun at the Tetre Rouge corner and ripped the left front fender off the car after impacting the wall. The Peugeot was able to return to the pits and be repaired.^[19] The No. 007 Aston Martin also hit a wall after losing control during braking for the second chicane on the Mulsanne Straight. Jan Charouz was traveling at 270 km/h (170 mph) at the time of the incident. The incident occurred in the closing minutes of qualifying, but the car was repaired.^[20]

 

 

Class leaders are in bold.^[21]

New rules have caused the diesels to become considerably slower than the previous year. Peugeot qualified 4 seconds slower than 2008 but still maintained the speed advantage over the new Audi R15. Audi's lack of testing meant that the cars struggled to get any sort of a good setup. All works drivers complained about understeer in the Le Mans aero package on the R15. Tom Kristensen commented that the high-downforce package like the one used at Sebring were much better. The R15 also struggled to get beyond a double-stint.

 

The race began at 15:00 local time (UTC+2) 13 June 2009, with Franck Montagny in the pole position Peugeot 908 HDi FAP leading the field. The race was started by the waving of the French tricolour by Fiat and Ferrari chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, honoring the 60th anniversary of Ferrari's first victory at Le Mans.^[22]

In the LMP1 class, the Peugeots showed they could maintain a pace that the Audis struggled to maintain over the full run. The #7 Peugeot was released too early and hit from the side by the Pescarolo Peugeot. The initial damage was a small puncture but the resulting damage destroyed the whole left rear end of the car. Two of the three Audis had off-track excursions in the first 12 hours; one resulting in the #2 car being out of the race on lap 104. During the early evening, the #1 Audi lost a lap to the leading Peugeot. Further technical issues would see it lose another seven laps in total to the winner. In LMP2, the Navi Team Goh Porsche RS Spyder qualified 2nd overall and maintained a solid pace until crashing heavily with one hour to go, allowing the pole-sitting #31 Team Essex Porsche to carry on to the win.

 

In GT1, the final outing of the Chevrolet Corvette C6.R as a factory team at Le Mans ended well, with the #63 car driven by O'Connell, Magnussen and García sitting on the pole and finishing first in class. Magnussen was sick early on, which left O'Connell and Garcia to finish the race as a two-driver team. Several other teams were stricken with the loss of a driver, most notable being the LMP1 #009 Lola-Aston, whose driver Stuart Hall was excluded when he collided with the LMP2 #26 Radical, and the stewards determined his fault to be substantial. Another team with a driver that was excluded was Kolles' Narain Karthikeyan as he dislocated his shoulder going over the pitwall before the race, leaving Charles Zwolsman Jr. and André Lotterer to do the whole 24 hours, yet they finished a respectable 7th in P1 and 7th overall.

In GT2, Ferrari celebrated their 60th Anniversary win with Ferraris taking the first 4 spots, the Risi Competizione #82 Ferrari F430 GT2 heading the class.

New rules requiring only one man with one airgun in the pits were aimed to lower the overall costs of the event by causing teams to double or triple stint tires due to the time needed to replace them.

Class winners are marked in bold. Cars running at the finish but failing to complete 70% of the winner's distance are marked as Not Classified.^[23]

Pos	Class Pos.	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Tyre	Laps
						Engine
1	1	LMP1	9	Peugeot Sport Total	David Brabham   Marc Gené   Alexander Wurz	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	M	382
						Peugeot HDi 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)
2	2	LMP1	8	Team Peugeot Total	Franck Montagny   Sébastien Bourdais   Stéphane Sarrazin	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	M	381
						Peugeot HDi 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)
3	3	LMP1	1	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen   Allan McNish   Rinaldo Capello	Audi R15 TDI	M	376
						Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V10 (Diesel)
4	4	LMP1	007	AMR Eastern Europe	Jan Charouz   Tomáš Enge   Stefan Mücke	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	M	373
						Aston Martin 6.0 L V12
5	5	LMP1	11	Team Oreca Matmut AIM	Olivier Panis   Nicolas Lapierre   Soheil Ayari	Oreca 01	M	370
						AIM YS5.5 5.5 L V10
6	6	LMP1	7	Team Peugeot Total	Nicolas Minassian   Pedro Lamy   Christian Klien	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	M	369
						Peugeot HDi 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)
7	7	LMP1	14	Kolles[a]	Charles Zwolsman Jr.   André Lotterer	Audi R10 TDI	M	369
						Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)
8	8	LMP1	16	Pescarolo Sport	Christophe Tinseau   Bruce Jouanny   João Barbosa	Pescarolo 01	M	368
						Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V10
9	9	LMP1	15	Kolles	Christian Bakkerud   Christijan Albers   Giorgio Mondini	Audi R10 TDI	M	360
						Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)
10	1	LMP2	31	Team Essex	Casper Elgaard   Kristian Poulsen   Emmanuel Collard	Porsche RS Spyder Evo	M	357
						Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8
11	10	LMP1	12	Signature Plus	Pierre Ragues   Franck Mailleux   Didier André	Courage-Oreca LC70E	M	344
						Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V10
12	2	LMP2	33	Speedy Racing Team   Sebah Automotive	Benjamin Leuenberger   Xavier Pompidou   Jonny Kane	Lola B08/80	M	343
						Judd DB 3.4 L V8
13	11	LMP1	008	Aston Martin Racing	Anthony Davidson   Darren Turner   Jos Verstappen	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	M	342
						Aston Martin 6.0 L V12
14	12	LMP1	13	Speedy Racing Team   Sebah Automotive	Andrea Belicchi   Nicolas Prost   Neel Jani	Lola B08/60	M	342
						Aston Martin 6.0 L V12
15	1	GT1	63	Corvette Racing	Johnny O'Connell   Jan Magnussen   Antonio García	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	M	342
						Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8
16	2	GT1	73	Luc Alphand Aventures	Xavier Maassen   Yann Clairay   Julien Jousse	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	D	336
						Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8
17	13	LMP1	3	Audi Sport Team Joest	Timo Bernhard   Romain Dumas   Alexandre Prémat	Audi R15 TDI	M	333
						Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V10 (Diesel)
18	1	GT2	82	Risi Competizione	Jaime Melo   Pierre Kaffer   Mika Salo	Ferrari F430 GT2	M	329
						Ferrari 4.0 L V8
19	2	GT2	97	BMS Scuderia Italia	Fabio Babini   Matteo Malucelli   Paolo Ruberti	Ferrari F430 GT2	P	327
						Ferrari 4.0 L V8
20	3	LMP2	24	OAK Racing   Team Mazda France	Jacques Nicolet   Richard Hein   Jean-François Yvon	Pescarolo 01	D	325
						Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I4
21	14	LMP1	23	Strakka Racing	Nick Leventis   Peter Hardman   Danny Watts	Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S	M	325
						Zytek ZJ458 4.5 L V8
22	3	GT2	83	Risi Competizione   Krohn Racing	Tracy Krohn   Eric van de Poele   Niclas Jönsson	Ferrari F430 GT2	M	323
						Ferrari 4.0 L V8
23	4	GT2	92	JMW Motorsport	Rob Bell   Andrew Kirkaldy   Tim Sugden	Ferrari F430 GT2	D	320
						Ferrari 4.0 L V8
24	15	LMP1	4	Creation Autosportif	Jamie Campbell-Walter   Vanina Ickx   Romain Iannetta	Creation CA07	M	319
						Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V10
25	5	GT2	85	Snoras Spyker Squadron	Tom Coronel   Jeroen Bleekemolen   Jaroslav Janiš	Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R	M	319
						Audi 3.8 L V8
26	6	GT2	78	AF Corse	Gianmaria Bruni   Luis Pérez Companc   Matías Russo	Ferrari F430 GT2	M	317
						Ferrari 4.0 L V8
27	7	GT2	84	Team Modena	Leo Mansell   Pierre Ehret   Roman Rusinov	Ferrari F430 GT2	M	314
						Ferrari 4.0 L V8
28	4	LMP2	32	Barazi-Epsilon	Juan Barazi   Phil Bennett   Stuart Moseley	Zytek 07S/2	D	306
						Zytek 2ZG348 3.4 L V8
29	8	GT2	99	JMB Racing	Manuel Rodrigues   Yvan Lebon   Christophe Bouchut	Ferrari F430 GT2	M	304
						Ferrari 4.0 L V8
30	9	GT2	81	Advanced Engineering   Team Seattle	Patrick Dempsey   Don Kitch Jr.   Joe Foster	Ferrari F430 GT2	M	301
						Ferrari 4.0 L V8
31	3	GT1	66	Jetalliance Racing	Lukas Lichtner-Hoyer   Thomas Gruber   Alex Müller	Aston Martin DBR9	M	294
						Aston Martin 6.0 L V12
32	10	GT2	96	Virgo Motorsport	Sean McInerney   Michael McInerney   Michael Vergers	Ferrari F430 GT2	D	280
						Ferrari 4.0 L V8
Not Classified
33	11	GT2	75	Endurance Asia Team   Perspective Racing	Darryl O'Young   Philippe Hesnault   Plamen Kralev	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	D	186
						Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6
Did Not Finish
34	5	LMP2	5	Navi Team Goh	Seiji Ara   Keisuke Kunimoto   Sascha Maassen	Porsche RS Spyder Evo	M	339
						Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8
35	4	GT1	64	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin   Olivier Beretta   Marcel Fässler	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	M	311
						Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8
36	6	LMP2	25	RML	Thomas Erdos   Mike Newton   Chris Dyson	Lola B08/86	M	273
						Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I4
37	12	GT2	87	Drayson Racing	Paul Drayson   Jonny Cocker   Marino Franchitti	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2	M	272
						Aston Martin 4.5 L V8
38	13	GT2	76	IMSA Performance Matmut	Patrick Pilet   Raymond Narac   Patrick Long	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	M	265
						Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
39	7	LMP2	39	KSM	Hideki Noda   Jean de Pourtales   Matthew Marsh	Lola B07/46	D	261
						Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I4
40	16	LMP1	009	Aston Martin Racing	Stuart Hall   Harold Primat   Peter Kox	Lola-Aston Martin B09/60	M	252
						Aston Martin 6.0 L V12
41	17	LMP1	10	Team Oreca Matmut AIM	Stéphane Ortelli   Bruno Senna   Tiago Monteiro	Oreca 01	M	219
						AIM YS5.5 5.5 L V10
42	18	LMP1	17	Pescarolo Sport	Simon Pagenaud   Jean-Christophe Boullion   Benoît Tréluyer	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	M	210
						Peugeot HDi 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)
43	8	LMP2	35	OAK Racing   Team Mazda France	Matthieu Lahaye   Guillaume Moreau   Karim Ajlani	Pescarolo 01	D	208
						Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L I4
44	9	LMP2	30	Racing Box	Andrea Piccini   Thomas Biagi   Matteo Bobbi	Lola B08/80	M	203
						Judd DB 3.4 L V8
45	14	GT2	80	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Jörg Bergmeister   Darren Law   Seth Neiman	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	M	194
						Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
46	15	GT2	89	Hankook Team Farnbacher	Dominik Farnbacher   Allan Simonsen   Christian Montanari	Ferrari F430 GT2	H	183
						Ferrari 4.0 L V8
47	19	LMP1	6	Team LNT	Lawrence Tomlinson   Richard Dean   Nigel Moore	Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S	M	178
						Zytek ZG408 4.0 L V8
48	20	LMP1	2	Audi Sport North America	Marco Werner   Lucas Luhr   Mike Rockenfeller	Audi R15 TDI	M	104
						Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V10 (Diesel)
49	10	LMP2	41	GAC Racing Team	Karim Ojjeh   Claude-Yves Gosselin   Philipp Peter	Zytek 07S/2	M	102
						Zytek ZG348 3.4 L V8
50	16	GT2	70	IMSA Performance Matmut   Team Felbermayr-Proton	Michel Lecourt   Horst Felbermayr   Horst Felbermayr Jr.	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	M	102
						Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
51	5	GT1	72	Luc Alphand Aventures	Luc Alphand   Stéphan Grégoire   Patrice Goueslard	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	D	99
						Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8
52	11	LMP2	26	Bruichladdich-Bruneau Team	Pierre Bruneau   Marc Rostan   Tim Greaves	Radical SR9	D	91
						AER P07 2.0 L Turbo I4
53	12	LMP2	40	Quifel ASM Team	Miguel Amaral   Olivier Pla   Guy Smith	Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S/2	D	46
						Zytek ZG348 3.4 L V8
54	17	GT2	77	Team Felbermayr-Proton	Marc Lieb   Wolf Henzler   Richard Lietz	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	M	24
						Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6
55	6	GT1	68	JLOC	Atsushi Yogo   Yutaka Yamagishi   Marco Apicella	Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT	Y	1
						Lamborghini 6.0 L V12

• Fastest Lap – #7 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP – 3:24.352
• Best speed – Peugeot 908 HDi FAP – 341 km/h
• Distance – 5206.28 km

 

On Monday, 8 June, following scrutineering and approval of the Audi R15 TDI by the ACO, Peugeot Sport director Olivier Quesnel stated that the team may file a protest over the legality of certain elements of the R15 TDI's design. This protest was officially filed two days later, immediately before the start of practice. Peugeot believes that the R15 features aerodynamic elements on the front of the car which violate the ACO's regulations about devices which may increase the amount of front downforce. Peugeot, as well as fellow competitors Aston Martin Racing and Oreca, initially questioned these aerodynamic elements at the 2009 12 Hours of Sebring in March, but were assured that the ACO would evaluate them prior to Le Mans.^[25][26]

Later that night, Peugeot received a response from the ACO stating that it would not uphold the protest. The ACO stated that they have the ability through their own regulations to determine if an aerodynamic element's sole purpose is to create downforce. Peugeot responded within an hour by appealing this decision.^[27][28] A decision on this appeal however would not be made until after the race had taken place, thus allowing Audi to continue to compete.^[29] Audi stated that they believed the matter was between Peugeot and the ACO, and that their car was legal.^[26]

Following the race, Peugeot announced that they were withdrawing their appeal of the scrutineer's decision. Peugeot cited a planned increase in communication between manufacturers and the ACO as their reasoning for the withdrawal.^[30]

 

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