2013 24 Hours of Le Mans: Audi's Twelfth Win After a Fatal Crash

The 81st Le Mans was the premier round of the 2013 World Endurance Championship. Audi's No. 2 R18 e-tron quattro, driven by Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Loic Duval, won it, while the race was overshadowed by the death of Allan Simonsen in LMGTE Am.

It was the first Le Mans fatality since Sebastien Enjolras died during pre-qualifying in 1997. The event continued after the accident, and the organisers later introduced changes to the circuit and to the way safety cars were used.

What was the 2013 race and where was it held?

Approximately 245,000 spectators watched the event at the Circuit de la Sarthe, near Le Mans, France, which ran from 19 June to 23 June 2013. It was the 81st annual edition, and it was moved forward by one week after a request from the FIA to harmonise the motor racing calendar.

The race was the third of eight endurance races in the 2013 WEC. Going into the race, the Audi Sport Team Joest crew of Lotterer, Fassler and Treluyer led the drivers' championship on 44 points, one ahead of their teammates McNish, Kristensen and Duval. Toyota was third through Davidson, Sarrazin and Buemi, and Audi led the manufacturers' championship by 20 points.

An Audi win at Le Mans, shadowed by the first fatality at the event since 1997.

How was the field filled?

The Automobile Club de l'Ouest granted 56 invitations from 71 applications received by the deadline on 16 January. The entries were split between LMP1, LMP2, LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am. Automatic entries were earned by class winners and series champions, and the list was announced on 14 November 2012. JMB Racing and Conquest Racing declined their automatic invitations because they were not running in any series that season.

The field changed during the spring. Extreme Speed Motorsports withdrew its Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 on 1 March after switching to the American P2 category, and the No. 98 Aston Martin was promoted and moved into LMGTE Pro. Sebastien Loeb Racing withdrew its Oreca 03-Nissan for financial reasons, and Starworks Motorsport, the defending LMP2 champion, withdrew its HPD-Honda on 9 April because sponsors had not provided funding.

The Garage 56 slot was also in doubt. GreenGT had been granted the entry for 2013, but it withdrew three weeks before the race, citing a lack of time to finish tuning its hydrogen fuel cell system. Prospeed Competition's Porsche 911 GT3 RSR replaced it, and by the start only one reserve had not been promoted.

What changes were made to the balance of performance?

The FIA Endurance Committee adjusted the balance of performance in three of the four categories. Hybrid and petrol LMP1 cars received an additional 3 L of fuel capacity, so the Toyota TS030 Hybrid ran a 76 L tank while the Rebellion and Strakka cars ran 80 L tanks. Porsche was allowed a 0.3 mm larger air restrictor in both GTE classes.

Aston Martin had 10 kg of ballast added to its LMGTE Pro Vantage, and the Chevrolet Corvette C6.R lost 25 kg. The Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 and the SRT Viper GTS-R were left unchanged.

How did the practice sessions go?

A test day was held on 9 June with all 56 entries taking part in eight hours of track time. Audi set the fastest time of the day, a 3:22.583 lap by Duval, and Lucas di Grassi was second. Duval damaged the No. 2 Audi's windscreen and front in a wall at Tertre Rouge when an unidentified object struck it, and several other sessions were stopped by crashes involving Tracy Krohn, Giancarlo Fisichella and Dominik Kraihamer.

Two days later Audi and Signatech held half-hour sessions on the Bugatti Circuit in wet weather to check their components. The official practice on 19 June saw the full 56-car field on track for four hours. Audi again led, and Duval set a fastest lap of 3:25.514. In LMP2 Bertrand Baguette's car was fastest at 3:42.813, and Richard Lietz's Porsche led LMGTE Pro. Krohn had a high-speed accident at the Dunlop Esses, which launched his car into a gravel trap and ended practice early.

How was qualifying decided?

The first qualifying session began on Wednesday night. Duval's lap of 3:22.349 gave the No. 2 Audi provisional pole, with Gene's No. 3 second and Lotterer's No. 1 third. The two Toyotas were fourth and sixth, separated by the leading privateer Rebellion. The Thursday session was disrupted by a downpour, and the lap times were slower than on Wednesday.

In the third session the track dried, but Lotterer and di Grassi could not beat Duval's time, and the No. 2 Audi kept pole. It was the first Audi top three lockout on the Le Mans grid since 2002. Sarrazin improved in the final seconds to start the best Toyota fourth, and Nakajima's No. 7 car qualified fifth.

In LMP2 OAK Racing's Olivier Pla took pole with 3:38.621, and in LMGTE Pro Makowiecki's Aston Martin set 3:54.635 to retake the position. Simonsen improved his own provisional pole in LMGTE Am to 3:57.776, going more than a second faster than the Proton Porsche in second.

How did the race start?

The race began at 15:00 Central European Summer Time, when Grand-Am founder Jim France waved the French tricolour. The start was damp and overcast, with an air temperature from 12.8 to 18.3 C and a track temperature between 15.5 and 21.8 C. Lotterer moved past McNish for the lead, and Davidson overtook di Grassi for second.

Nine minutes into the race, Simonsen's Aston Martin lost traction on a kerb leaving Tertre Rouge. As he tried to correct the car it veered left into a barrier at a near head-on angle. He was extricated and taken to the infield medical centre, and he was declared dead there. His partner asked Aston Martin Racing to carry on, and the safety cars stayed on track for 58 minutes.

When racing resumed, Davidson and the Audi duo of McNish and di Grassi passed Lapierre, and Davidson briefly led on pit stop rotation because of Toyota's better fuel economy. Later in the first hours Lieb and Turner fought for the LMGTE Pro lead, and at the start of the third hour Lapierre passed Lotterer for second.

What happened in the middle hours?

At the close of the third hour Gibon's Porsche lost a left-rear tyre, and Gibon lost the LMGTE Am lead. In the sixth hour Gommendy's Signatech Alpine's left-rear tyre disintegrated as he hit the barrier at Tertre Rouge, and the safety cars were used for 15 minutes to clear debris.

After the safety cars were recalled, Heinemeier Hansson's OAK Nissan collided with Duval's No. 2 Audi in the Porsche Curves and spun, which handed the LMP2 lead to Rusinov's G-Drive car. Kraihamer's Lotus shed its rear bodywork on the Mulsanne Straight, and the safety cars were needed again. Jarvis's No. 3 Audi was punctured after contact in traffic, and Treluyer's No. 1 Audi spent 43 minutes in the garage for a failed crankshaft position sensor, which dropped it to 24th.

The safety cars were deployed a fourth time after Graves spun the Delta-ADR car into the barriers at the Porsche Curves. Kristensen increased his lead to three minutes and seven seconds over Sarrazin, and Krohn later crashed his Ferrari at the same corner and retired. An event record seventh safety car period followed when Howard Blank damaged an AF Corse Ferrari and the catchfencing at Dunlop and Tertre Rouge.

How did the night and morning go?

Through the night the lead changed hands among the Audis, Toyotas and Porsches. At the close of the 14th hour Kane spun the Strakka into the gravel at the Ford Chicane, and the car rejoined. Lapierre and Buemi swapped second place again after the rain returned, and Luhr's Jota Zytek bowed out of a battle for third in LMP2 after a wheel bearing failure.

In the 16th hour Lietz pitted for new brake discs, which took four minutes and handed the LMGTE Pro lead to Senna's Aston Martin. Timo Bernhard's Porsche moved into second. Auberlen's Aston Martin later emitted smoke and dropped oil down the Mulsanne Straight, which brought out another safety car period. Belicchi's No. 13 Rebellion also struck a barrier, forcing an extended repair.

Rain returned with about five hours and fifteen minutes to go. Makowiecki's Aston Martin crashed head-on into a barrier after the second Mulsanne chicane and was retired, which left Lieb in the lead of LMGTE Pro. The Audi of Lotterer aquaplaned into a gravel trap on the Mulsanne Straight during the 21st hour, but it was able to rejoin.

Who won the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans?

The No. 2 Audi of Kristensen, Duval and McNish took the win by leading the closing 248 laps. For Kristensen it was a ninth and final overall victory, while McNish gained his third and Duval his first. The result gave Audi its twelfth Le Mans victory since its first in 2000.

Buemi was unlapped in the final half-hour but dropped back a lap to avoid completing an extra one at the finish, and the No. 8 Toyota of Davidson, Sarrazin and Buemi finished second. The No. 3 Audi of di Grassi, Jarvis and Gene completed the podium in third. The Strakka HPD of Kane, Watts and Leventis took the privateer LMP1 category in sixth overall, after the retirement of the Rebellion cars.

OAK Racing won LMP2 with the No. 35 Morgan of Baguette, Gonzalez and Plowman, and the team's second car finished a lap behind in second. John Martin's G-Drive Oreca finished third in class, but the car was disqualified because its fuel tank exceeded the mandated 75 L limit. That promoted the Greaves Zytek of Mardenborough, Krumm and Ordonez to the class podium.

In LMGTE Pro, Porsche Manthey Racing won on the Le Mans debut of the new 991-generation race car. The No. 92 car of Lieb, Lietz and Dumas took the win, with the sister No. 91 car second. Porsche also took LMGTE Am with the No. 76 IMSA Performance Matmut car, which brought Porsche its 100th class win at Le Mans. Of the 56 qualifying cars, 13 did not finish and one did not complete enough distance to be classified.

How did the event honour Simonsen and change the circuit?

On the podium the Danish flag was flown at half-mast in Simonsen's memory, and the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Kristensen dedicated the victory to him, and there was no champagne spraying. A memorial foundation was set up by the Danish Automobile Sports Union, and the funeral took place in his home town of Odense on 2 July.

After the race the Automobile Club de l'Ouest announced improvements to several parts of the circuit in December 2013. Tertre Rouge was reprofiled, with new barriers and tyre walls at its exit onto the Mulsanne Straight. Run-off areas at the Corvette corners were enlarged, TecPro barriers were added behind the tyre walls at the Porsche corners, and large kerbs were placed at the second Ford chicane to stop cars cutting it.

The most significant change was a new slow-zone system. It allowed safety vehicles to intervene on a particular section of the circuit without neutralising the whole race, and cars were required to hold 60 km/h (37 mph) through a marked zone.

What did the 2013 race change in the standings?

Kristensen, McNish and Duval moved to the top of the drivers' championship on 94 points. Lotterer, Fassler and Treluyer fell to second, 30 points behind their teammates. Davidson, Sarrazin and Buemi stayed third, while di Grassi, Gene and Jarvis rose from sixth to fourth. Wurz and Lapierre completed the top five.

In the manufacturers' championship Audi kept its lead on 102 points, but its advantage over Toyota grew to 35 points with five rounds left in the season.

What were the class results?

What did the race mean for the sport?

The race is remembered for Simonsen's death, which was the first fatality at Le Mans since 1997. The result still belonged to Audi, which led 248 laps in the closing stages and kept its title as the strongest manufacturer in the field. The safety changes that followed showed how the organisers responded to the accident.