Audi has won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race for the tenth time, extending their dominance of last decade's race into the new one.

Since 2000, Audi has taken ten out of the 12 Le Mans, including the most recent. The daylong endurance race always provides some moments of excitement, and this one was no different - although it was a bit dangerous for the drivers.

Poor weather conditions meant that there were several crashes early on. Audi flirted dangerously close to conceding the race altogether when their first and third cars both crashed, leaving the "2" car all by itself. Audi's TDI diesel propelled the car to the front of the pack, but it was challenged strongly by Peugeot, which still had all three of its cars in the race very close to the lone Audi.

The four cars traded the lead back and forth, but in the end it was the Audi that was able to hold off the three Peugeot cars, which occupied second through fourth.

"It was a fantastic triumph of Audi ultra-lightweight technology in extreme conditions," said Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Management Board for Audi. "After we celebrated a record victory last year primarily thanks to reliability and efficiency, we not only had the most reliable but also the quickest car this year."