LE MANS (France), June 15: Denmark’s Tom Kristensen won the Le Mans 24 Hours race for a record eighth time on Sunday, leading Audi to a thrilling victory over favourites Peugeot in the battle of the diesels.

Kristensen, who was already the only driver with seven victories in the endurance classic, celebrated with team-mates Dindo Capello of Italy and Britain’s Allan McNish in the number two Audi.

The trio completed 381 laps and won by four minutes 31 seconds from the number seven Peugeot driven by Frenchman Nicolas Minassian, Marc Gene of Spain and Canada’s 1997 Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve.

France’s Franck Montagny brought home the number nine Peugeot in third place, and two laps down, as Audi claimed an eighth win in the last nine years and a hat-trick of victories in a diesel powered car.

Peugeot started the race as hot favourites after filling the first three places in qualifying and having beaten Audi in the first three Le Mans Series (LMS) races this year.

The French car manufacturer dominated the first half of the race, despite some technical problems, as the 258,000-strong crowd enjoyed the sunshine.

But the outcome of the 76th running of Le Mans turned when rain hit the La Sarthe track during the night leaving the 13.629km-long circuit in a treacherous state.

Kristensen, with the conditions better suited to his R10, overturned a 40-seconds deficit to Villeneuve while the Peugeots struggled with visibility problems.—Reuters