That was such a dominant finish for Audi, but somehow my memory is failing me; without looking it up, I thought that last year Audi finished in both 1st and 2nd, yet I caught a quick audible of one of the announcers' (foreign) saying that Peugeot took the top honors in the last race. As I look it up now, seems I got the two teams mixed up (or am perhaps thinking of an even earlier race).
Regardless, I have just been floored at how well Audi's run in this last decade has been. It's what you might refer to as a 'dynasty'.
The only thing that irks me with these more advanced races is that all the fame and glory (95% of it) goes to the Prototype machines, when this race used to be about the grand old rivalries of the Grand Touring, established body automobiles. Maybe I'm just wanting to recapture nostalgia, but the GT1 and 2 results for this year were markably horrendous. I think only about a half dozen of the competitor's in those two classes actually managed to complete their trials, and for those cars that did, they got awarded with a trophy.
(The days when the GT class held more prestige was probably before the mid-80s, if not earlier.)
Maybe it's just the first time I'm noticing how much of a game of attrition the Sarthe Circuit is to all teams, especially coupled with a handful of another few dozen competitors' zooming by you over nonstop, winding and grueling hours.
You got it right, though: if you manage to finish the race, most likely you will be rewarded handsomely by your prowess and endurance to hold on.
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As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves. —Mohandas K. Gandhi
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