Casper Elgaard – Team Essex (Porsche RS Spyder) – 1st LMP2

“After claiming second last year we are absolutely over the moon with our victory today. This is a huge success for our Danish team, which only began competing in long distance racing last year.”

Emmanuel Collard – Team Essex (Porsche RS Spyder) – 1st LMP2

“The key to success was the RS Spyder. We didn’t have the slightest technical problem and turned fast and steady laps.”

Kristian Poulsen – Team Essex (Porsche RS Spyder) – 1st LMP2

“Our crew did a super job. I would like to thank the team and mostly Casper and Emmanuel. They did most of the work.”

Hartmut Kristen – Porsche Head of Motorsport

“We’re proud that in customer hands the RS Spyder not only confirmed its high speed and reliability again but also won the environmental classification. It’s such a great pity that the second RS Spyder retired. NAVI Team GOH put in an immaculate performance and really would have deserved to secure second.”

Jonny Kane – Speedy Racing Team Sebah (Lola Judd) – 2nd LMP2

“It is fantastic! It is the first time that I finish the 24 Hours and it’s in second position. I took much pleasure at the wheel. I do not carry out yet the range of this result! The team does what it was necessary when it was necessary it that it is in the stands or on the level of the strategy.”

Benjamin Leuenberger – Speedy Racing Team Sebah (Lola Judd) – 2nd LMP2

“It is a great emotion for me, it was fantastic to stand on the podium with all this crowd. It is like a dream which becomes reality. It was my birthday Thursday, so this second place is very a nice gift! Thank you to all the team which made a remarkable work all the week.”

Xavier Pompidou – Speedy Racing Team Sebah (Lola Judd) – 2nd LMP2

“Enormous! It is really an enormous trick for me to climb to the second time on the Le Mans 24 Hour podium, eleven years after my first (2nd LMP1 in 1998). Team SPEEDY RACING TEAM SEBAH is young in prototype and now is part of Le Mans legend, it is a great reward for the people and the partners who support this programme.”

Jacques Nicolet – OAK Racing (Pescarolo Mazda) – 3rd LMP2

“This is a childhood dream come true. I am extremely proud for the whole team and it is a just reward for the huge amount of work that we have undertaken alongside Pescarolo Sport, Mazda and Dunlop this winter. We are a privateer team and the 2009 programme has handed a lot of responsibility to our drivers and partners. I am delighted our team was able to put a Pescarolo, with a Mazda engine, Dunlop tyres and three very passionate drivers on the podium.”

Richard Hein – OAK Racing (Pescarolo Mazda) – 3rd LMP2

“Our objective was always to finish the race. We came here full of ambition but we were determined to enjoy ourselves at the same time. OAK Racing, Mazda and Dunlop gave us a reliable car which allowed us to finish the race without any problems.”

Jean-François Yvon – OAK Racing (Pescarolo Mazda) – 3rd LMP2

“It is great to score a third place finish. OAK Racing is a fantastic team and everybody worked hard to achieve this result. The chassis was perfect during the race and even in the morning the car felt good to drive. It’s a pleasure to drive for this team, which possess a real human spirit and terrific work ethic.”

Seiji Ara – NAVI Team GOH (Porsche RS Spyder) – Retired

“I had no chance. Two wheels hit the oil that I couldn’t see while braking. It’s a bitter end of a great race. I’m pleased that the RS Spyder is not only fast, but also safe.”

Thomas Erdos – RML (Lola Mazda) – Retired

“Everything was going so well, and the engine was pulling strongly and felt very good. We’d been able to run at a competitive pace throughout the race, and we were still in contention for a podium right up until the moment the engine let go. Until the lap before the engine let go, I was feeling really chuffed with the way the car was going. To be running so strongly at such a late stage in the 24 Hours is always a special feeling, and we were beginning to think we might make it. Setting aside the enormous disappointment I feel now, we have to be encouraged by how much we’ve achieved. After the problems we’ve had previously this season in the Le Mans Series, if the engine had failed after just two or three hours, that would effectively have been the end of our season. Now we must consolidate, think through our strategy for the rest of the year, and see where we go from here.”

Matthieu Lahaye – OAK Racing (Pescarolo Mazda) – Retired

“The race started well for us. We were competitive and the chassis was exceptional in all the fast corners. Unfortunately, in the early hours of the morning we started to have some concerns with the engine. We had the potential to make the podium again, and that makes me confident for the rest of the season, and I am also delighted for my team-mates in the #24 car.”

Karim Ojjeh – G.A.C. Racing Team (Zytek) – Retired

“I did my three stints without any problems despite the difficulties in cutting my way through traffic. When I handed over to Claude-Yves Gosselin we were in fifth place.”

Olivier Pla – Quifel ASM Team (Ginetta Zytek) – Retired

“The team and Zytek made such a great deal of effort to get ready for Le Mans. The hard work of several months has not been rewarded. It is hard to put up with it, but this is the way motorsport is. We had a very competitive car that is confirmed by the third race time. We knew that we had a good card to play, but that’s just the way it is.”

Cécile Bonardel