This month in history: 24 Hours of Le Mans

Peugeot, backed by Total, wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans!

With the 2024 version of the PEUGEOT 9X8 having just made its début at this year’s Le Mans, the team’s top crew finishing eleventh despite the large, high-quality Hypercar field, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to go back to the end of the 2000s and particularly to Peugeot’s first return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2007, where it competed in a Total-backed, diesel-powered 908 HDi FAP. In 2007, whilst pace was clearly not an issue as Stéphane Sarrazin secured pole position for the team, Peugeot had to settle for second place in the race as Stéphane and his team-mates Sébastien Bourdais and Pedro Lamy were beaten to the overall win by Audi. It was nonetheless a promising start.

In 2008, Sarrazin claimed pole again, the Frenchman very clearly adept at the tricky exercise of qualifying on the highly demanding Le Mans track. However, ultimately, Peugeot came away with the same result as in 2007, as the Audi R10 TDI driven by Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish got the better of the 908 HDi FAP driven by Marc Gené, Nicolas Minassian and Jacques Villeneuve during the night, meaning the Peugeot crew had to settle for second place. It was a case of third time lucky for Peugeot Sport and Total: in 2009, the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP was supremely dominant. With a third consecutive pole position taken by Stéphane Sarrazin, confidence was high that the all-French crew formed with Sébastien Bourdais and Franck Montagny would finally claim Peugeot’s long-awaited third victory at Le Mans. However, whilst leading, their car was hampered by a brake issue. The number 7 Peugeot collided with 908 run by the Pescarolo team in the pit lane and suffered a puncture as a result, leaving the number 9 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP driven by Marc Gené, Alexander Wurz and David Brabham to move into the lead. It stayed there all the way to the chequered flag, winning the race ahead of the sister car of Sarrazin, Montagny and Bourdais, who had managed to catch and pass the no. 1 Audi late on Sunday morning to grab the runner-up spot.

To record it for posterity in a great team photo, the three Total-backed factory 908 HDi FAPs crossed the line together to take the chequered flag. Austrian driver Alex Wurz clinched his second victory at Le Mans after winning in 1996 as a rookie. Marc Gené became the first Spaniard to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, whilst David Brabham matched the feat of his elder brother Geoff, who won at Le Mans sixteen years earlier, also in a Peugeot. Time will tell whether Peugeot can add to their record of wins at Le Mans...