page_title: 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans
section_title: Race
hierarchical_section_title: 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans / Race / Race
caption_attribution_description: English: The No. 2 and No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattros cross the finish line to win the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans
context_page_description: The 82nd 24 Hours of Le Mans was an automobile endurance racing event for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 11 to 15 June 2014 at the Circuit de la Sarthe at Le Mans, France. It was the 82nd running of the event, as organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest since 1923. The race was the third round and the premier event of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship, with half of the race's fifty-five entries contesting the championship. Approximately 263,000 spectators attended the event, the largest crowd since 1989.
  The race was won by the No. 2 Audi driven by Swiss Marcel Fässler, German André Lotterer, and Frenchman Benoît Tréluyer, who previously won Le Mans as a trio in 2011 and 2012. This victory was Audi's thirteenth since the company debuted at the race in 1999. The Audi team took the lead after the No. 7 Toyota came to a stop after leading half the race distance, but were challenged by Porsche when two Audi cars required turbocharger replacements. The No. 1 Audi of Tom Kristensen, Marc Gené and Lucas di Grassi finished in second place, three laps behind the race winners, while Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Nicolas Lapierre's No.
context_section_description: The weather at the start was dry and sunny. The air temperature throughout the race ranged from 12.5–25 °C (54.5–77.0 °F) with a track temperature between 15.5–47 °C (59.9–116.6 °F). Approximately 243,000 spectators attended the event, the largest crowd since 1989. The race began at 15:00 Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00), with two-time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso having the honour of waving the French Tricolour to start the race. The 54-car field was led by Wurz's Toyota, who maintained the position for most of the opening hours, followed by Lapierre in the second Toyota and the trio of Audi cars driven by Lotterer, Bonanomi and Kristensen; the two Porsche entries of Bernhard and Jani fell back from the leaders. The experimental Nissan ZEOD RC driven by Wolfgang Reip came to a rest on the side of the circuit at the Porsche Curves on the sixth lap after suffering a failure related to its gearbox, and became the first retirement of the race after a request by the team to recover the car was rejected by the ACO. Meanwhile, Lapierre fell from second place after spinning exiting a Mulsanne chicane and bringing out the race's first slow zone procedure.
  Rain fell across parts of the circuit in the second hour of the race and several cars were caught out by the change in conditions. The KCMG Oreca-Nissan driven by Richard Bradley, which had been trading the LMP2 lead with Jota Sport, hydroplaned into the first Mulsanne chicane and impacted the tire barriers heavily, while further up the Mulsanne Straight several contenders in multiple classes were involved in a heavy accident. A group of LMGTE cars as well as the No. 3 Audi were slow on the course when they were approached by the No. 8 Toyota of Lapierre at a high rate of speed. Aquaplaning under braking, Lapierre spun amongst the group of cars and impacted the barriers head on. This was followed by Bird in the LMGTE Am-leading AF Corse Ferrari who drove into the rear of Bonanomi. The accident led to a safety car intervention, during which Lapierre was able to limp the Toyota back to the pit lane for repairs that lasted for nearly an hour. Bonanomi and Bird were unable to get their cars moving again and retired. Bradley was able to drive back to the pit lane for repairs and kept second place in LMP2.
  Rain returned to the circuit only fifteen minutes after the race resumed green flag conditions and more chaos ensued; Chandhok of Murphy Prototypes and Michael Munemann of Greaves Motorsport collected one another while spinning exiting Tertre Rouge corner, bringing out the safety cars for the second time. As the rain tapered off and racing resumed once more, the remaining Toyota and pursuing Porsche cars were now on different pit stop sequences, allowing Bernhard and later Hartley to briefly take the overall race lead before Sarrazin in the No. 7 reclaimed the top spot by the fourth hour. Further down the field changes in lead were also happening in other categories. Wet weather tyre strategy from the Dempsey-Proton Porsche failed to pay off as the No. 98 Aston Martin took command in LMGTE Am from the slower Porsche. After the damaged KCMG car relinquished the lead in LMP2, Franck Mailleux's No. 34 Race Performance Oreca and Signatech driver Paul-Loup Chatin traded off the category lead before later being joined by the No. 35 OAK Ligier driven by Alex Brundle. The LMGTE Pro lead became a multi-car battle between representatives of each of the four manufacturers, with the lead sometimes changing several times per lap. The Porsche 919 Hybrid also suffered its first major problems as the No. 14 of Marc Lieb went to the garage with fuel pressure problems, dropping the car to 51st place before it recovered to sixth.
  As night fell on the circuit, Toyota's lead extended to over a minute from the two remaining Audi entrants, while the OAK Ligier took over the LMP2 lead and ran away to nearly three minutes over the duelling Race Performance Oreca and Signatech Alpine. LMGTE Pro continued to be a close battle between Giancarlo Fisichella in the No. 51 Ferrari, Darren Tu
caption: The No. 2 Audi leads the No. 1 Audi in formation over the finish line to win Le Mans
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