1. Due to Audi Sport North America already earning two entries, their third automatic entry was passed to the next team in the championship.

2. Due to Corvette Racing already earning two entries, their third automatic entry would have been passed to the next team in the championship. However, no team had run enough ALMS races to be counted towards the GT1 championship, leaving the invitation unassigned.

3. Vitaphone Racing initially turned down their automatic invitation due to their Maserati MC12 not complying with ACO rules. The team however reapplied for a legal Aston Martin DBR9 in the same class at a later date.

Official entry list

On 19 February, the ACO published their full list of fifty-five entries plus eight reserves, chosen from a total of 88 applications. The fifty-five main entries were required to appear at the Le Mans test day in order to compete.

Reserve entries

Eight cars were granted reserve entries. If any selected team from the main entry list withdrew, a reserve entry would take their place. On April 10, the #81 Tafel Racing Ferrari withdrew and was replaced by the #4 Saulnier Pescarolo-Judd. Although several teams withdrew their reserve entries, none of the remaining reserve entries were promoted to the primary entry list. On Tuesday, June 10, Racing Box's Lucchini-Judd failed official scrutineering and was withdrawn. The first remaining reserve, Epsilon Euskadi's second entry, was allowed to take its place at the start of Wednesday qualifying.

Test session

Drivers, team, and equipment for fifty-five cars arrived at the Circuit de la Sarthe on June 1 to participate in a mandatory test session. Drivers who had not been to the circuit in the past three runnings of the 24 Hours, or had never participated before, were required to complete ten laps of the circuit during the session, while other drivers were allowed to concentrate on setting their cars up for the race two weeks away. Two sessions were held running four hours each, with an hour break for lunch.

Rain dominated the weather during the two sessions, with the track drying out only for brief periods of time before heavy rains dampened the circuit once more. Stéphane Sarrazin, in the #8 Peugeot, was able to set the fastest lap during a brief dry period in the second session, recording a time of 3:22.222. By the end of the test day, Sarrazin's time remained unbeaten, and was in fact nearly four and a half seconds ahead of the second fastest lap, set by the #9 Peugeot. Several hundredths of a second slower still was the #1 Audi, third fastest overall. The fastest car not running a diesel engine was the #17 Pescarolo, recording a time of 3:33.939, over eleven seconds behind the overall leader. In the LMP2 class, the five cars set lap times within three seconds of one another, the Van Merksteijn Porsche setting a 3:42.191 lap time to lead the class and place fourteenth overall in the standings. The other Porsche RS Spyder of Team Essex was second fastest, followed by the Barazi-Epsion Zytek in third.

The Grand Touring categories were lead by the previous year's winner in GT1 class, the factory Aston Martin squad. The #009 DBR9 set a lap time of 3:53.531, fast enough for 25th place overall. Larbre Compétition's Saleen set the second fastest lap in the class, nearly two seconds behind. The two factory Corvettes were third and fourth, with the #64 team a few tenths faster than the #63. For the GT2 class, American teams lead the session. Risi Competizione's #82 Ferrari set a 4:05.561 lap time, only three one thousandths of a second ahead of the Flying Lizard Porsche. BMS Scuderia Italia's Ferrari completed the top three in the class, a second slower than the top two.

During the eight hours of testing, practice had to be halted four times for accidents around the circuit. During the first session, the JMB Ferrari spun and hit a wall at Arnage, requiring it to be towed from the track. The Ferrari did however return to the track several hours later after repairs. Shortly after the beginning of the second test session, the Risi-Krohn Ferrari also had a spin, impacting the wall at the Ford Chicane, leading to driver Tracy Krohn being briefly hospitalized. Less than an hour later, Marc Gené in the #7 Peugeot spun in the Karting curve and his 908 became airborne, impacting the wall heavily. Gené was hospitalized with an injured toe, and the car had to be replaced by a new chassis. The final stoppage of practice occurred in the final hour when Joey Foster impacting the wall at the Dunlop Chicane with his Embassy-Zytek.

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on 11–12 June, with two individual two-hour sessions being held each day. The first sessions were held at early dusk, while following an hour break, the second sessions ran into the darkness of night. All drivers were once again required to set a minimum of laps to prepare themselves for the circuit; three laps required in the first session, and another three laps in the night session. The best lap time from all four combined determined the starting grid.

Wednesday

Following a wet test day, qualifying began under dry conditions. The Peugeot lapped under 3:20 min, lap times reminding of that of the Porsche 917 records set in 1971, when the track had almost no chicanes, and was 120m shorter.

Thursday

The second day of qualifying will determine the final grid.

Qualifying times

Class leaders and the fastest lap time in each class on each day are in bold. The fastest lap for each car is in gray.

Pos	Team	Class	Day 1	Day 2
1	#8 Team Peugeot Total	LMP1	3:18.513	3:20.566
2	#9 Peugeot Sport Total	LMP1	3:18.682	3:24.966
3	#7 Team Peugeot Total	LMP1	3:20.451	3:21.490
4	#2 Audi Sport North America	LMP1	3:24.105	3:23.847
5	#3 Audi Sport Team Joest	LMP1	3:24.287	3:26.432
6	#10 Charouz Racing System	LMP1	3:34.211	3:25.158
7	#1 Audi Sport North America	LMP1	3:27.580	3:25.289
8	#11 Dome Racing Team	LMP1	3:29.352	3:26.928
9	#16 Pescarolo Sport	LMP1	3:28.533	3:32.407
10	#5 Team Oreca-Matmut	LMP1	3:30.490	3:32.176
11	#17 Pescarolo Sport	LMP1	3:30.618	3:30.905
12	#12 Charouz Racing System	LMP1	3:31.910	3:31.135
13	#6 Team Oreca-Matmut	LMP1	3:31.243	3:33.139
14	#34 Van Merksteijn Motorsport	LMP2	3:34.078	3:32.301
15	#21 Epsilon Euskadi	LMP1	3:41.526	3:32.939
16	#31 Team Essex	LMP2	3:33.441	3:38.621
17	#20 Epsilon Euskadi	LMP1	3:39.158	3:34.281
18	#18 Rollcentre Racing	LMP1	3:35.450	3:35.020
19	#32 Barazi-Epsilon	LMP2	3:35.344	3:44.555
20	#33 Speedy Racing Team Sebah	LMP2	3:35.401	-
21	#14 Creation Autosportif	LMP1	3:35.994	3:39.638
22	#24 Terramos	LMP1	3:37.560	3:40.318
23	#19 Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport	LMP1	3:38.024	3:43.492
24	#45 Embassy Racing	LMP2	3:39.926	3:49.019
25	#25 Ray Mallock Ltd.	LMP2	3:44.188	3:40.027
26	#40 Quifel ASM Team	LMP2	3:41.193	3:44.074
27	#4 Saulnier Racing	LMP1	3:46.666	3:42.162
28	#35 Saulnier Racing	LMP2	3:42.545	4:10.588
29	#41 Trading Performance	LMP2	3:46.773	3:43.148
30	#26 Team Bruichladdich Radical	LMP2	3:47.935	3:46.631
31	#63 Corvette Racing	GT1	3:49.406	3:47.668
32	#23 Autocon Motorsports	LMP1	3:56.108	3:47.695
33	#50 Larbre Compétition	GT1	3:50.920	3:47.761
34	#44 Kruse Schiller Motorsport	LMP2	3:47.802	-
35	#64 Corvette Racing	GT1	3:50.766	3:48.539
36	#009 Aston Martin Racing	GT1	3:52.266	3:48.994
37	#007 Aston Martin Racing	GT1	3:52.527	3:49.060
38	#55 IPB Spartak Racing	GT1	3:52.175	3:53.000
39	#72 Luc Alphand Aventures	GT1	3:53.990	3:52.993
40	#59 Team Modena	GT1	3:58.193	3:53.031
41	#22 Tōkai University YGK	LMP1	3:52.143	-
42	#53 Vitaphone Racing Team	GT1	3:57.371	3:53.475
43	#73 Luc Alphand Aventures	GT1	3:55.736	3:58.025
44	#76 IMSA Performance Matmut	GT2	4:00.793	3:58.152
45	#77 Team Felbermayr-Proton	GT2	4:02.517	3:59.072
46	#96 Virgo Motorsport	GT2	4:01.293	3:59.820
47	#80 Flying Lizard Motorsports	GT2	4:00.106	4:02.799
48	#90 Farnbacher Racing	GT2	4:05.098	4:01.464
49	#82 Risi Competizione	GT2	4:01.598	4:02.412
50	#97 BMS Scuderia Italia	GT2	4:02.080	4:03.109
51	#99 JMB Racing	GT2	4:03.293	4:14.033
52	#85 Snoras Spyker Squadron	GT2	4:05.096	4:03.641
53	#78 AF Corse	GT2	4:05.660	4:03.810
54	#83 Risi Competizione	GT2	4:07.978	4:04.515
55	#94 Speedy Racing Team	GT2	4:11.564	4:08.284

Race

The race began at 3:00 pm local time (GMT+1), with the French tricolour flag being waved by a group of astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The three Peugeot 908s led the field into the first chicane, but Allan McNish overtook the #7 Peugeot of Nicolas Minassian at the exit of the Dunlop Chicane. Minassian retook the position on the Mulsanne Straight, and the Peugeots maintained the top three positions at the end of the first lap.

In the early hours, the Peugeot #8, Pole setter and only car to set a fast race lap under 3:20, by black flag had been ordered into the pits to repair the headlights. This car trailed the other Diesels by several laps. The GT2 class saw drama for the two Porsches which had been battling for the class lead, as #80 collided with the Pole setting Porsche #76. Only #77 could continue after lengthy repairs.

The situation after 12 hours was as follows: Peugeot #7 was leading, with the first five being within 2 laps, with Audi #2 in 2nd, followed by Peugeot #9, and the Audi #3 and #1. Due to the fast pace and close competition, and despite a 34 minute safety car period , the leaders had completed 200 laps after 12 hours, a pace that might have topped the laps and distances covered in 1971 and 1988 despite the track now having chicanes. In the LMP2 class, the leader was 10th overall, the two Porsches being within a lap, leading the next car by nine laps. In GT1, the leader was 15th overall, the Aston Martins and Corvettes racing head to head less than a minute apart, with six cars being within six laps. In the GT2 class, the leading Ferrari was 26th overall, with no less than five Ferraris battling for the class win which was to be expected after the two class leading Porsches had collided, and five other GT2 cars were already out.

The second half of the race was under wet conditions. In the end, Audi and Kristensen won once again, with the highest placing Peugeot being in the same lap, but not in reach for overtaking. The six factory-entered diesels dominated the LMP1 class, having no major problems. The Porsche RS Spyders dominated the LMP2 class, posting faster lap times than several LMP1 cars. In the GT1 class, the Aston placed 13th overall, prevailing over a Corvette which also covered 344 laps, with three more GT1 entrants chasing them. Of the five Ferraris which had led the GT2 class, three made it to the finish ahead of the remaining Porsches which had been lapping slightly faster. Of the 35 cars still running after 24 hours, only one failed to cover 70% of the 381 laps of the winner. Despite the conditions, the distance record on the current track layout, 380 laps, set in 2006, was beaten by one lap by both the #2 Audi and the #7 Peugeot.

Results

Class winners are marked in bold. Cars finishing the race but not completing 70% of the winner's distance or cars not finishing the race at the end of 24 hours (marked as DNF; regardless of distance) are listed as NC (Not Classified).

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Tyre	Laps
					Engine
1	LMP1	2	Audi Sport North America	Allan McNish Rinaldo Capello Tom Kristensen	Audi R10 TDI		381
					Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)
2	LMP1	7	Team Peugeot Total	Nicolas Minassian Marc Gené Jacques Villeneuve	Peugeot 908		381
					Peugeot HDi 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)
3	LMP1	9	Peugeot Sport Total	Franck Montagny Ricardo Zonta Christian Klien	Peugeot 908		379
					Peugeot HDi 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)
4	LMP1	3	Audi Sport Team Joest	Mike Rockenfeller Lucas Luhr Alexandre Prémat	Audi R10 TDI		374
					Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)
5	LMP1	8	Team Peugeot Total	Stéphane Sarrazin Pedro Lamy Alexander Wurz	Peugeot 908		368
					Peugeot HDi 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)
6	LMP1	1	Audi Sport North America	Frank Biela Marco Werner Emanuele Pirro	Audi R10 TDI		367
					Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)
7	LMP1	17	Pescarolo Sport	Christophe Tinseau Benoît Tréluyer Harold Primat	Pescarolo 01		362
					Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V10
8	LMP1	5	Team Oreca-Matmut	Soheil Ayari Loïc Duval Laurent Groppi	Courage-Oreca LC70		357
					Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V10
9	LMP1	10	Charouz Racing System Aston Martin Racing	Jan Charouz Tomáš Enge Stefan Mücke	Lola B08/60		354
					Aston Martin 6.0L V12
10	LMP2	34	Van Merksteijn Motorsport Equipe Verschuur	Peter van Merksteijn Jeroen Bleekemolen Jos Verstappen	Porsche RS Spyder Evo		354
					Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8
11	LMP1	18	Rollcentre Racing	João Barbosa Stéphan Grégoire Vanina Ickx	Pescarolo 01		352
					Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V10
12	LMP2	31	Team Essex	Casper Elgaard John Nielsen Sascha Maassen	Porsche RS Spyder Evo		347
					Porsche MR6 3.4 L V8
13	GT1	009	Aston Martin Racing	David Brabham Antonio García Darren Turner	Aston Martin DBR9		344
					Aston Martin 6.0 L V12
14	GT1	63	Corvette Racing	Johnny O'Connell Jan Magnussen Ron Fellows	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R		344
					Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8
15	GT1	64	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta Max Papis	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R		341
					Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8
16	GT1	007	Aston Martin Racing	Heinz-Harald Frentzen Andrea Piccini Karl Wendlinger	Aston Martin DBR9		339
					Aston Martin 6.0 L V12
17	GT1	72	Luc Alphand Aventures	Luc Alphand Guillaume Moreau Jérôme Policand	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R		335
					Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8
18	LMP2	35	Saulnier Racing	Pierre Ragues Mathieu Lahaye Cheng Cong Fu	Pescarolo 01		333
					Judd DB 3.4 L V8
19	GT2	82	Risi Competizione	Gianmaria Bruni Mika Salo Jaime Melo	Ferrari F430 GT2		326
					Ferrari 4.0 L V8
20	LMP2	40	Quifel ASM Team	Miguel Amaral Olivier Pla Guy Smith	Lola B05/40		325
					AER P07 2.0 L Turbo I4
21	GT1	73	Luc Alphand Aventures	Jean-Luc Blanchemain Laurent Pasquali Patrice Goueslard	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R		325
					Chevrolet LS7.R 7.0 L V8
22	GT2	97	BMS Scuderia Italia	Matteo Malucelli Paolo Ruberti Fabio Babini	Ferrari F430 GT2		318
					Ferrari 4.0 L V8
23	GT2	90	Farnbacher Racing	Pierre Ehret Pierre Kaffer Lars-Erik Nielsen	Ferrari F430 GT2		317
					Ferrari 4.0 L V8
24	LMP1	14	Creation Autosportif	Stuart Hall Johnny Mowlem Marc Goossens	Creation CA07		316
					AIM (Judd) YS5.5 5.5 L V10
25	GT2	99	JMB Racing Aucott Racing	Ben Aucott Alain Ferté Stéphane Daoudi	Ferrari F430 GT2		312
					Ferrari 4.0 L V8
26	LMP1	4	Saulnier Racing	Jacques Nicolet Marc Faggionato Richard Hein	Pescarolo 01		311
					Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V10
27	GT2	77	Team Felbermayr-Proton	Horst Felbermayr, Sr. Alex Davison Wolf Henzler	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR		309
					Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6
28	GT1	50	Larbre Compétition	Christophe Bouchut David Smet Patrick Bornhauser	Saleen S7-R		306
					Ford 7.0 L V8
29	LMP2	32	Barazi-Epsilon	Michael Vergers Juan Barazi Stuart Moseley	Zytek 07S/2		304
					Zytek ZG348 3.4 L V8
30	GT1	59	Team Modena	Terry Borcheller Christian Fittipaldi Jos Menten	Aston Martin DBR9		302
					Aston Martin 6.0 L V12
31	LMP2	26	Team Bruichladdich Radical	Marc Rostan Gunnar Jeannette Ben Devlin	Radical SR9		297
					AER P07 2.0 L Turbo I4
32	GT2	80	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Jörg Bergmeister Johannes van Overbeek Seth Neiman	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR		289
					Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6
33	LMP1	11	Dome Racing Team	Tatsuya Kataoka Yuji Tachikawa Daisuke Ito	Dome S102		272
					Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V10
34 NC	GT1	55	IPB Spartak Racing Reiter Engineering	Peter Kox Mike Hezemans Roman Rusinov	Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT		266
					Lamborghini L535 6.0 L V12
35 NC	LMP1	24	Terramos	Yojiro Terada Hiroki Katoh Kazuho Takahashi	Courage LC70		224
					Mugen MF408S 4.0 L V8
36 DNF	GT2	96	Virgo Motorsport	Rob Bell Tim Mullen Tim Sugden	Ferrari F430 GT2		289
					Ferrari 4.0 L V8
37 DNF	LMP1	16	Pescarolo Sport	Emmanuel Collard Jean-Christophe Boullion Romain Dumas	Pescarolo 01		238
					Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V10
38 DNF	LMP1	23	Autocon Motorsports Creation Autosportif	Bryan Willman Michael Lewis Chris McMurry	Creation CA07		224
					Judd GV5 5.0 L V10
39 DNF	LMP2	45	Embassy Racing	Warren Hughes Jonny Kane Joey Foster	Embassy WF01		213
					Zytek ZG348 3.4 L V8
40 DNF	LMP2	33	Speedy Racing Team Sebah Automotive	Steve Zacchia Andrea Belicchi Xavier Pompidou	Lola B08/80		194
					Judd DB 3.4 L V8
41 DNF	LMP1	20	Epsilon Euskadi	Ángel Burgueño Miguel Ángel de Castro Adrián Vallés	Epsilon Euskadi EE1		189
					Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V10
42 DNF	LMP1	22	Tōkai University YGK Power	Toshio Suzuki Haruki Kurosawa Masami Kageyama	Courage-Oreca LC70		185
					YGK YR40T 4.0 L Turbo V8
43 DNF	LMP1	21	Epsilon Euskadi	Shinji Nakano Stefan Johansson Jean-Marc Gounon	Epsilon Euskadi EE1		158
					Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V10
44 DNF	LMP1	6	Team Oreca-Matmut	Marcel Fässler Olivier Panis Simon Pagenaud	Courage-Oreca LC70		147
					Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V10
45 DNF	LMP2	44	Kruse Schiller Motorsport	Jean de Pourtales Hideki Noda Allan Simonsen	Lola B05/40		147
					Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I4
46 DNF	LMP1	12	Charouz Racing System Team Cytosport	Greg Pickett Klaus Graf Jan Lammers	Lola B07/17		146
					Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V10
47 DNF	GT2	78	AF Corse	Thomas Biagi Toni Vilander Christian Montanari	Ferrari F430 GT2		111
					Ferrari 4.0 L V8
48 DNF	LMP2	25	Ray Mallock Ltd. (RML)	Andy Wallace Mike Newton Thomas Erdos	MG-Lola EX265		100
					MG (AER) XP21 2.0 L Turbo I4
49 DNF	LMP1	19	Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport	Bob Berridge Gareth Evans Amanda Stretton	Lola B06/10		87
					AER P32C 4.0 L Turbo V8
50 DNF	GT1	53	Vitaphone Racing Team Strakka Racing	Peter Hardman Nick Leventis Alexandre Negrão	Aston Martin DBR9		82
					Aston Martin 6.0 L V12
51 DNF	GT2	94	Speedy Racing Team	Andrea Chiesa Iradj Alexander Benjamin Leuenberger	Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R		72
					Audi 4.0 L V8
52 DNF	GT2	85	Snoras Spyker Squadron	Ralf Kelleners Alexey Vasilyev Peter Dumbreck	Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R		43
					Audi 4.0 L V8
53 DNF	GT2	76	IMSA Performance Matmut	Raymond Narac Patrick Long Richard Lietz	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR		26
					Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6
54 DNF	LMP2	41	Trading Performance	Karim Ojjeh Claude-Yves Gosselin Adam Sharpe	Zytek 07S/2		22
					Zytek ZG348 3.4 L V8
55 DNF	GT2	83	Risi Competizione Krohn Racing	Tracy Krohn Nic Jonsson Eric van der Poele	Ferrari F430 GT2		12
					Ferrari 4.0 L V8

Statistics

• Fastest Lap - #8 Peugeot 908 HDI - 3:19.394
• Average Speed - #2 Audi R10 TDI - 216.3 km/h

References

1. Untitled Document
2. Untitled Document
3. 12 hours
4. Untitled Document

External links

• Official website of the 24 Hours of Le Mans
• Spotter Guides - 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans