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Audi versus Peugeot

As sportscar racing's big guns prepare to go head to head again at Le Mans, AUTOSPORT assesses how they match up going into the legendary 24 Hours

Gary Watkins Jun 10, 2009, 4:44 PM

Would the favourite for victory in this year's Le Mans 24 Hours please take a step forward? Pose that question to any of the leading players from Audi and Peugeot, and there'll be blank looks all around and a slight backwards shuffling. Of course, no one wants the pressure that comes with the tag of pre-race favourite, yet no one is predicting that this year's race will be anything other than a closely-fought thriller.

"We are not the favourite, that is for sure," says Peugeot Sport boss Olivier Quesnel. Meanwhile, Audi driver Allan McNish, last year's winner with Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello, is predicting that Peugeot "will have the faster car" once again.

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Author Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.