LE MANS, France — When the last minute of the last lap finally ticked off the clock, there was a collective sigh of relief throughout the Audi pit area as the team could finally relax and sip a little victory champagne.

But until the race finally did end and Audi was named the winner of the 75th 24 Hours of Le Mans, no members of the team was ever fully sure what card the gods of racing might deal them.

From the very first hour of the race the Audi team basically stepped on the neck of the Peugeot team (in Tiger Woods fashion if I can mix my sports just for a moment) and waited for it to respond.

The Peugeot was never really able to respond with an agressive move and virtually fell off the pace with the big red machine running first, second, and third midway through the race.

But then the real racing started to happen.

This is a classic response from a champion to a challenger. During most of the week Peugeot had stolen the thunder of Audi by taking the pole position of the race. The qualifying coo put a spring into the step of the Peugeot team — a certain

Audi number three hit a patch of oil and spun into the wall. Even with a herculean effort by the driver to get the car back to the garage it was damaged beyond driveability and it was out.

Late in the race, Audi number two had a freak racing accident when a rear tire left the axle mysteriously and the car went into the tire barrier putting it out of the race.