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The Battle of the Diesels: Why Audi beat Peugeot at Le Mans

After years of dominating the annual race at Le Mans, Audi came into this year's 24-hour event as the underdog, with Peugeot touted as the sure winners. Yet Audi came on top, winning one of the most thrilling races in recent history. Steven English returns from La Sarthe with insight and analysis on why the battle was won and lost

Peugeot lost the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours. They went into the race as favourites with a considerable pace advantage over Audi and a band of top-line drivers recruited to end the German marque's dominance of the event. Instead, it was the underdogs that overhauled the Peugeots and added another chalk mark to their blackboard back in Ingolstadt.

To say that Peugeot lost the race should take nothing away from Audi, who did everything they possible could have done to help their chances, and even then it came down to the last hour. The reality was that Audi needed to do everything flawlessly and still rely on a little bit of luck, but that's exactly what transpired.