Audi swept the first three places in the 24-hour endurance race in Le Mans on Sunday, with driver Tom Kristensen of Denmark winning a record-tying sixth victory.
Audi controlled the event from start to finish. But for nearly 15 hours, Kristensen's No. 5 didn't look like a winner.
The team's No. 88 car, driven by Britain's Johnny Herbert, Jamie Davies and Guy Smith, ran at the front. Even after Kristensen's car took the lead Sunday morning, another setback hit -- the vehicle burst into flames during a pit stop.
Audi, which won the endurance race from 2000 to 2002, recaptured a title it lost to Bentley last year.
Kristensen, who partnered Seiji Ara of Japan and Italy's Rinaldo Capello, completed a record 379 laps in 24 hours, eclipsing the previous mark of 377 laps set by Bentley in 2003.
Kristensen thanked his chief mechanic and his team after the race.
"We had luck this time but we worked hard for it," he said. "It is a team effort."
Capello was driving when the car was engulfed by flames in the Audi garage about three hours from the finish. Ara held off a late challenge by Herbert in the closing laps.
Herbert finished second, 41 seconds adrift.
Audi's No. 2 car, piloted by J.J. Lehto of Finland, Germany's Marc Werner and Italian Emmanuele Pirro, crossed the line in third position, 11 laps behind the winner.
The other teams were unable to match the power of Audi's prototypes on the 13.65km French circuit.
The No. 5 car snatched the lead on Sunday morning after the No. 88 car was forced to make a pit stop because of a rear suspension problem.
Davies, who started from pole position after his co-driver Herbert clocked the best lap time in qualifying Thursday, kept the top spot for nearly 15 hours.
Davies built a 23-second lead over Scottish Allan McNish's Audi No. 8 car after one hour of racing.
The No. 88 car then benefited from Capello's driving error on the eighth lap and from a collision between two Audi cars after two hours to secure a significant advantage.
Capello got off to a bad start as he dumped his No. 5 car in a gravel trap after 26 minutes and slipped to 24th.
But he pushed hard to recover lost ground and grab second place after three hours.
Meanwhile, McNish's No. 8 car collided with Lehto's No. 2 car on the 29th lap and both bounced into the tire barrier.
"The explosion of an engine left oil traces on the tarmac and that's why we collided," Lehto said.
The crash cost the cars precious time as they were brought back to the pits for repairs.
Both Audi cars managed to get back in the race, but McNish, who collapsed in the Audi garage following his accident, did not return to the wheel on the advice of doctors. His German co-drivers Frank Biela and Pierre Kaffer took over and finished fifth, 29 laps behind Kristensen.
The crash gave outsiders a chance to move up two spots. The Pescarolo Judd's No. 18 car, driven by Frenchmen Soheil Ayari, Erik Comas and Benoit Treluyer, occupied the second spot for a while but could not foil Capello's comeback.
Racing champion Colin McRae finished ninth on a Ferrari 550.
American car manufacturer Corvette placed sixth and eighth. Dome Judd with the seventh spot and Porsche with the tenth place completed the top-10 rankings.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS