The Noughties are over - which was the best race?

[Gingers4Justice]

Look at the winners list, and the noughties look pretty dull: Audi won all but two of the races this decade, and one of those two was one with what was effectively an Audi engine. And it looks dull because, well, largely it was!

2000 was the year that kicked the decade off - I was only 6 at the time, but I do remember everybody banging on at the time how sad it was that there were no coupes. And I could still appreciate how dull it was that BMW, Mercedes, Toyota and Nissan had quit, and that Porsche hadn't returned from their two year "break". And crikey, didn't Audi dominate!

3 years of utter domination followed, until, predictably, with little opposition, Joest pulled out, leaving Bentley to take a pretty much unchallenged victory in 2003.

With Bentley acheiving their goal, it was no Le Mans in 2004 for them. Ofcourse, we knew that year that an Audi had already won it before the race began - the entry was so poor, that the Prodrive Ferrari was 4th on Sunday evening! It was very close that year in the end, but it was a shame it wasn't between two works teams.

I still don't understand how Pescarolo didn't win in 2005. Nothing else to say there!

Then Audi returned, this time deciding it would be a good idea to put some Lorry engines in their cars. In terms of racing, it was very sad to see Audi come back to dominate again - especially with a Petrolhead's nightmare.

Then the Pugs came with their Lorries, did about as expected in '07, and then in '08 made a cracker of a race with Audi - but lost.

And 2009, for me, will forever go down as the year that Audi cocked it up - racing with a car with two fundamental design flaws (not being a coupe and allowing the muck to travel through the car and block the radiators), and were blown off the track.

I'm so grateful, and realise how lucky I am, so see every race this decade. But I know, it wasn't like the like the 80s, 60s, 50s or pre-war era, but it was still Le Mans.

And my question is, which race was the best this decade?

[isynge]

Interesting question - although the historian in me suspects it might be too early to really be conclusive about the decade.

Were the '00s classics like some of the decades you mention? Probably not, but by the same token we never plumbed the sort of depths we found in the 1990s, or the 1970s (but then we exclude the 917 wins, and would we want to do that?).

This decade for me has seen me be able to properly watch the race in TV (long story I'm happy to bore anyone about re the 1999 race, but that's for a more social surrounding) and happily when I first actually got to go and see it in the flesh. Yes it's been typified by Audi domination but we've never been short of drama up and down the grid, and throughout there's been a feeling of health about the race that wasn't there in the 1990s.

I mistakenly voted for 2008 - yes I think history will echo my comments, but now thinking and writing 2005 does it for me. The slick Pescarolo squad building up properly, dominating testing and qualifying, and being built utterly for Le Mans, their self immolation in the first hours, the fight back, and then resigned capitulation still lives with me, and it's a real shame the official DVD doesn't capture just how dramatic it was.

[Cougar]

2009 for me.. Just because I was there and it was my 1st one

[PascaLM]

I voted 2009, the first halt to the domination of VAG.

[Gingers4Justice]

Forgot to say I voted 2004. It was a poor entry that year, but it was 2 weeks after my grandmother passed away, and me and my dad needed a break desperately.

[Mal]

2008 for me - probably the greatest single team / driver performance of the decade to overcome a car which was up to 5secs per lap faster. It was a fascinating race which was decided over until the last couple of hours.

[Andy77]

I am with Mal there - voted 2008

[gucom]

I think 2008 was the best race with 2 major manufacturers going flat out and being extremely competitive, and a very exciting finish.
That said, the 2009 race was close behind the '08 race because it was such a sudden show of (comparative) strength by Peugeot.
2005 was the best privateer year, and it gave us our first taste of the awesome Aston / Vette battles, so it's not far behind '08 and '09.

[Aysedasi]

08 wins hands down. A great race.

[johntt]

2008 - one of the best LMs ever, was glad that I stayed up for all 24 Hours of it

[Gingers4Justice]

I'm a bit surprised that 2004 hasn't more votes!

[undoz]

2008, my first LM and what a race..

[Dani Filth]

as a race .. 2008
as a result .. 2009

[cmk]

2008. What an incredible race. There have been some good ones over the years (especially up and down the classes). None gives such a shiver just thinking about the drama. TK in the middle of the night when the rains came, that feeling you can get even an ocean away, the one where you know that the next 30 minutes are going to change the complexion of the whole race...

2007 was the heartbreak year. A dominant drive from the race's best driver lineup in the fastest car, and all that brilliance gone to naught.

[Bentley03]

I'd agree entirely with the majority, 2008 was easily the best race for the overall.

But, Dindo's pitlane drama late in the 2004 edition brought perhaps the most gripping climax to any race in the last decade.........just a pity it was Audi vs Audi!

And, 2006 (what I refer to as the 'hybrid year') could have been the best of all. If only.......

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by cmk

2007 was the heartbreak year. A dominant drive from the race's best driver lineup in the fastest car, and all that brilliance gone to naught.

Correction: that brilliance gone to nut

[The Badger]

Yeah ..... an awful bloody shame that Pescarolo didnt get the win that year .

I suspect that a Pescarolo Sports win would have been even more popular in France that a Pug win . And now we will never see that happen cuz Pescarolo Sports doesnt exist anymore .

[Danny_GT2]

2008 was my 1st Le Mans but it was a good un!