Peugeot take first Le Mans win in 16 years

LE MANS (Reuters) - Peugeot clinched their first victory since 1993 in the Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar race with a one-two finish at the Circuit de la Sarthe that ended Audi's five-year reign on Sunday.

Spaniard Marc Gene, Australian David Brabham and Austrian Alexander Wurz completed 382 laps to give the French manufacturer the win in front of a 250,000 home crowd.

Brabham succeeded his elder brother Geoff, who was at the wheel of the winning Peugeot 905 16 years ago.

"I would have had my brother still saying that he is the only one in the family to have won Le Mans, so I'm glad to have gotten that opportunity," Brabham told reporters.

"But obviously it is really all about Peugeot to be honest. The one-two result is an amazing feat by the team."

Another Peugeot, driven by Frenchmen Sebastien Bourdais, Stephane Sarrazin and Franck Montagny took second place one lap behind.

Peugeot sports director Olivier Quesnel told reporters: There was great expectation from the public and also from Peugeot ...it was a huge challenge and we took it up.

"Everything went off as if in a dream."

Eight times champion Tom Kristensen of Denmark, driving the Audi number one, was third six laps behind with team mates Rinaldo Capello of Italy and Briton Allan McNish, one year after the trio prevailed in France.