Japan wins Audi war

Ara was under particular pressure because he was racing for the Japanese Goh team, which is also celebrating its first win at Le Mans. Ara crossed the line a mere 41 seconds ahead of Johnny Herbert, who kept him more than honest throughout the last stint.

"I did feel a lot of pressure at the end," said Ara. "Especially with Tom and Dindo being the winners from 2003! I was also struggling with a lot of understeer at the start of my last stint. It was a lot of pressure and I feel lucky to finish."

Italian Dindo Capello recorded his second straight success after winning for Bentley last year, and explained how an early mishap almost cost the team any chance of victory.

"It was very hard at the beginning," said Capello. "Something happened in the brake balance after three laps - it all went to the rear and I couldn't stop the car going into the gravel trap.

"I didn't want to risk damaging the engine so I waited to get pulled out. It was all a very bad moment. But in the next stint we fixed the brake problem and then the car was perfect for the rest of the race."

Tom Kristensen was the backbone of the effort, metronomically churning out top-notch lap times whenever he was in the car.

"The most difficult part was during the night. The car was really well-balanced, with a bit more downforce than the other Audis, but I was trying to put pressure on the Herbert car and we had a few engine worries which we sorted out later.

"It was a fantastic race and a fantastic competition. We never knew where we were and we were always getting things thrown at us. Let's say thank you to Kazumichi Goh, to Dindo and to Seiji."