Photo : Pierre Barrau - ACO/Nikon

2/24 - Thursday, December 2 - Romain Dumas' power 24

It had been eleven years since a French driver had won at Le Mans. After the victory for Peugeot in 2009, Romain Dumas has joined this year's winners Yannick Dalmas, the previous French winner in 1999.

On Sunday, 13th June at 7:02. There was a thunderbolt on 24 Hours 2010. A jet of flame burst from the Peugeot of Franck Montagny, who eventually stopped on the edge of the rack. A wake-up for the deadline newsroom just emerging from its slumber, and a new leader with a little less than eight hours of racing, the Audi R15 of Mike Rockenfeller, Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas.

For Dumas, his tenth participation was a good one. With his two teammates, he even achieved a new record for overall distance: 5410 km covered at 225 km/h average speed, they bettered the Porsche 917 of Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep , winners in 1971.

Aged 33, Romain Dumas has a superb track record makes him one of the benchmarks of endurance racing today. Besides the 12 Hours of Sebring 2008 and three consecutive wins at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring (2007, 2008 and 2009), Romain Dumas won in 2010 at both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Spa. A feat accomplished previously by Luigi Chinetti in 1949. Only 24 Hours of Daytona is still missing in his list of conquests. A win in Florida would give Romain Dumas a quadruple crown unique in four key events of the 24 hours. We can be sure he is already thinking about it...

Jean-Philippe Doret

Photo: LE MANS, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, June 13, 2010. After 11 attempts, the success of Yannick Dalmas in 1999 was repeated and Romain Dumain ibecame the latest Frenchman to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans.