Le Mans: Aussie David Brabham Wins Le Mans 24 Hour in Diesel Peugeot 908 HDI FAP

[caption id="attachment_34362" align="aligncenter" width="555" caption="L-R: David Brabham, Pedro Lamy, Marc Gene."][/caption]

WITH MARK WEBBER in Formula 1, Daniel Ricciardo in F3, Marcos Ambrose in NASCAR and David Brabham in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (after stints in other codes), Australia is well represented in the international racing scene.

Now, we can add the 43 year-old Brabham's first place Le Mans finish with Peugeot this weekend to the national trophy case - a win which also marks Peugeot's first win in the classic endurance race since 1993, and its third ever.

After placing a dismal 13th at the Spa-Francorchamps 1000km race in early May, the diesel-powered No.9 Peugeot 908 HDI FAP of David Brabham, Marc Gene and Alexander Wurz led the race almost flag to flag.

The No.7 of Nicolas Minassian, Pedro Lamy and Christian Kliencar rounded off Peugeot's dream weekend, finishing sixth after fighting back from a pit lane incident early in the race.

“I think it might take a few days for this to sink in – it’s all quite unbelievable. What can I say?” Brabham said.

"It's such a great feeling to have won."

Brabham's car marked a race record on the weekend, finishing with 382 laps of the 13.6km track, for a total of 5206km.

“Peugeot Sport did a tremendous job; they really did," Brabham said in response to the record.

“It's a great team – they gave us a 100 percent reliable car and the three of us drove a faultless race.”

Brabham's win comes in the year of the 50th anniversary of his famous father Sir Jack Brabham's first Grand Prix victory, while his brother Geoff also won Le Mans in 1993 - coincidentally the same year as Peugeot's last Le Mans victory.

Peugeot Sport Director, Olivier Quesnel believed the team faced a huge challenge ahead of the event.

“We were here as challengers, and our mission was to try to topple the favourites, and that is exactly what we did – essentially by steering clear of the different potential pitfalls in our path.

“It turned out to be a terrific race, and Peugeot Sport is a truly magnificent team.

“I am so proud of all the people who were involved in this project – this win is Peugeot Sport's win," Mr Quesnel said.

Bruno Famin, Technical Director, Peugeot Sport, said of the diesel Peugeots:

"We didn't have any technical problems this weekend; just a few racing incidents which upset certain gameplans.

“The Peugeot 908 HDi FAP has demonstrated its reliability by winning against Audi which has been an invincible force here for practically a decade.

“This is the result of not just one, but four years' hard effort."