2008

Audi once again became successful in 2004 and chained four consecutive victories following the coronation of Bentley in 2003. Peugeot, which had returned to endurance racing the previous year, entered three cars in 2008 to match the German manufacturer's three prototypes. The duel certainly did not disappoint and the gap between the two cars leading the race was never any greater than two laps. 

The success is all down to the diesel engine since the six cars which came equipped with this technology finished in the first six places. Unfortunately for Peugeot it was an Audi R10 that won in spite of them being ahead by some distance. Two French cars completed the podium.

It was an eighth victory at Le Mans for the German manufacturer, as well as for the Danish driver Tom Kristensen, who inscribed his name that little bit further as a legend of the race.

The Automobile Club de l'Ouest asked three astronauts present on the starting line and two others by video conference from the International Space Station to jointly get the Le Mans 24 Hours under way as a commemoration of the centenary of the Wright brothers' first flight in Europe at the Hunaudières site in 1908.

The Sisters of the Order of Providence was given some land from the religious authorities to build a school for girls which welcomed its first pupils from 1864 in a fully developed district where the station was also introduced ten years earlier.

The neo-Romanesque facade of the chapel makes it very original because the majority of religious buildings built in the Sarthe during this period are in neo-Gothic style. In this respect, it recalls the Romanesque facade of the Saint-Julien cathedral in the historic heart of Le Mans.