LE MANS: Top Three ILMC Races Of 2011

Le Mans / ALMS

LE MANS: Top Three ILMC Races Of 2011

SPEED.com looks back at the top-three races from the seven-round Intercontinental Le Mans Cup season...

John Dagys | Posted December 19, 2011 Chicago, IL

Audi's historic win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans was undoubtedly one of the highlights from the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup season. (Photo: Audi Sport)

1. 24 HOURS OF LE MANS — While two of its cars were wiped out in dramatic early race accidents, Audi’s lone-remaining bullet pulled through to take a thrilling victory at Le Mans. On a slowly deflating tire, Andre Lotterer nursed his No. 2 Audi R18 TDI home to a narrow 13.420-second victory over the No. 9 Peugeot 908 of Simon Pagenaud.

The 79th running of the world’s greatest endurance race had it all, including two frightening accidents, first by Allan McNish in the opening hour and then Audi teammate Mike Rockenfeller at night, both of which triggered by GT traffic. Miraculously, both drivers escaped serious injury, but put the pressure on No. 2 entry of Lotterer, Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer, which delivered Audi’s only victory of the ILMC season.

2. TWELVE HOURS OF SEBRING — The Intercontinental Le Mans Cup season-opener delivered its share of upsets, including a first-time overall winner in Team ORECA Matmut, which outlasted and outpowered the factory diesels from Audi and Peugeot. The other surprise of the race was the fairy tale run for Highcroft Racing, in what ended up being the first - and last - race for its mighty HPD ARX-01e.

The Hugues de Chaunac-led ORECA squad of Olivier Panis, Nicolas Lapierre and fellow Frenchman Loic Duval, the star of the race, had a flawless run in their 2010-spec Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP, while all four factory diesels suffered setbacks, including a collision between Audi’s Dindo Capello and the Peugeot of Marc Gene.

While the Audi vs. Peugeot battle wasn’t the closest fight seen during the ILMC season, it still proved to be an epic fight that went in favor of the underdogs.

3. SILVERSTONE — The Six Hours of Silverstone Peugeot’s Sebastien Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud take a dominant victory and inch closer to the French manufacturers’ second consecutive ILMC title. But it was an early race fight between Bourdais and Audi’s Allan McNish, that separated this race from the rest of the epic Audi vs. Peugeot battles seen all year.

Bourdais and McNish swapped the lead multiple times before the Audi made contact with a GTE-class car while going through traffic. The incident cost McNish and Tom Kristensen six laps and continued their bad luck string of collisions with other cars. Audi’s sister entry also suffered similar misfortune but recovered to finish second.

With an Audi and Peugeot each running into trouble, OAK Racing scored a remarkable third place finish overall, the team’s first-ever podium in the LMP1 ranks following an incident-filled race.

John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at

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