Race
This race marked the first Le Mans win for a diesel engined sports car, the Audi R10 TDI, and the second time that a diesel-powered sports car won a major international motorsports event, following the Audi R10 TDI's win at the 2006 12 Hours of Sebring. However, in touring car racing, a diesel BMW 320d had won the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 1998.
Tom Kristensen could not extend his streak of 6 wins in a row, as his #7 car was less reliable than the winning #8 sister car, even though it had been fastest in practice and race. World Rally champion Sébastien Loeb scored a remarkable second place with the Pescarolo Sport team.
This race also marked the first time since the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans that Porsche (or a Porsche powered prototype) did not win at least one class. A Panoz Esperante was successful in upsetting the contingent of Porsches in the GT2 class.
Read more about this topic: 2006 24 Hours Of Le Mans
Famous quotes containing the word race:
“When at last in a race a new principle appears, an idea—that conserves it; ideas only save races.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Our character is not so much the product of race and heredity as of those circumstances by which nature forms our habits, by which we are nurtured and live.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“And Zeus will destroy this race of mortal men too, when they, at their birth, have grey hair on their temples.”
—Hesiod (c. 8th century B.C.)