Team Goh win Le Mans

Audis came second and third for a scoop of the podium places as they did in 2000, 2001 and 2002. The German constructor said it would enter official cars for the next three years following Sunday's success.

"What can I say, it's incredible," 36-year-old Kristensen said. "I want to thank the team, the other drivers, the mechanics, Japan, everybody who made this possible. This is the race I love most on earth."

He also gave a nod to the man whose record he had equalled. "Jacky Ickx was the first. When I was a kid he was the man and he will remain the man," he told reporters.

The last two hours of the event were close between the two leading cars, Kristensen and company edging out Britons Johnny Herbert, Jamie Davies and Guy Smith in their Audi R8 which finished on the same lap as the winner.

Herbert had a big fright seven minutes from the flag when he left the track and unwittingly took a shortcut through a sandy patch on the side of the circuit.

The Briton attacked until the end but was held coolly at bay by Ara and had to be content with finishing 27 seconds behind. Herbert was chasing his second win in 14 years and led from the start but mechanical problems in the morning forced a pit stop and probably cost him victory.

"I'm deeply disappointed. The cars were very close and it was down to a mechanical problem in the end. It's a big frustration," Herbert said.

Fellow former Formula One driver, Finland's JJ Lehto, took third in another Audi R8 entered by American team Champion Racing. He was teamed with Italian Emmanuele Pirro and German Marco Werner.

A fourth Audi finished fifth despite spending most of the race with only two drivers when doctors banned Scot Allan McNish from driving after a collision with Lehto on Saturday. The accident was the main incident in a rather quiet edition.

Ex-world rally champion Colin McRae, in his first Le Mans, finished a respectable ninth in a Ferrari 550. "It's very hard, I liked it but it's very hard," he said. "I'm very proud, it's the biggest race in the world."