Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela in the sister Audi R10 TDI meanwhile were unable to replicate the success of Luhr and Werner after a tussle in the opening laps forced them to retire in the latter stages of the race. However the Audi R10 had completed enough laps to be classified and wound up 24th overall and 2nd in the LMP1 class.
"I think the performance of our car was quite good," declared Biela after the race.
"After having chosen the harder tyre compound for qualifying, it looked like a disadvantage. But the pace in the race was okay. Unfortunately, I got involved in a tangle at the beginning of the race. When we came in for full service, I was quite optimistic.
"But then we had to change the rear wing which has been damaged in the collision. This was the beginning of the end. But the most important thing is the other car scored a win."
Pirro echoed his team-mates satisfaction with the overall pace of the Audi R10 TDI but acknowledged that it was disappointing to have lucked out in the race.
"It was a debut which was half good and half bad," mulled Pirro. "We had a lot of bad luck. But when you read between the lines, we were really fast in the race. We had a very good car which was proven by the fastest overall race lap we've achieved.
"But every time we had a problem, we were trapped in it. Unfortunately, everything which could go wrong did go wrong. But our speed was good so we look forward to the next race."
