Minassian: Second hard to take

The Frenchman and his Peugeot co-drivers Marc Gene and Jacques Villeneuve hauled themselves back on to the lead lap with a few hours to go after battling back from a precautionary pit-stop during the night that lost them top spot amid fears of overheating.

"It's difficult to take that," Minassian told autosport.com. "Because the car was mega - Peugeot have built a rocket, and they've made it reliable too.

"We need to just work on all the little bits and pieces and put them together for next time. That's what Audi do. They've been going for so many years and they just keep it going every time."

Minassian closed to within two minutes of the lead by the start of the final hour and kept on closing in on slick tyres - resisting calls from his team to change to intermediate tyres following a late rain shower.

But a heavier shower that came with only 10 minutes left did result in him changing to treaded rubber, and the former Pescarolo driver admitted that it was at this stage when his victory hopes vanished and he was forced to settle for second place.

"Right at the end, the team decided to put me on wets to try something, because I was running out of time," Minassian added. "But it was dry, so it was a disaster. That's how it goes though.

"It's especially difficult because to win at Le Mans makes you a legend. To come second means you're not anybody"

The Frenchman praised the work done by Peugeot over the past 12 months, and believes they are right on course to win the event next year.

"Peugeot said the first year is to learn and second year was to try to win, so from that point of view, we're very much on target. Maybe next year. Now, in one way it's a bit painful, but on the other hand I'm very happy to finish second," he added.

And Peugeot's Motorsport chief Michel Barge paid tribute to the job Minassian did late in the race, adding that he had performed admirably on slicks in the wet final hour.

"We took a gamble with the slick tyres," he said. "We had been trying for hours to pass the leading Audi. It didn't pay off, but we still finished second and I am very proud of the team and the performance of our cars over the past week.

"Also I must pay tribute to our drivers, who were very brave in some very difficult conditions - especially Nicolas, who was outstanding."