McNish ends a ten-year wait at Le Mans and proves he's the raining champ

The rain started, his surefooted Audi took charge and 11 long, nervous, near-faultless hours later the supreme crown of endurance motor sport was his again.

Jubilation for the Scot, 10 years on from his only other win at the Le Mans 24-hour race. History for his team-mate Tom Kristensen's record-extending eighth title. Victory No 3 for Italy's Dindo Capello, completing the triumphant trio.

Winners: Alan McNish with Audi motor sports chief Wolfgang Ullrich and co-drivers Rinaldo Capello of Italy and Tom Kristensen of Denmark

Who could begrudge McNish glory after a series of hard luck stories and near-misses?

There was his oil-induced 170mph spin four years back. And 12 months ago, while eating breakfast, he saw his car lose a seemingly unassailable three-lap lead when a wheel worked loose.

'A magic moment,' declared the 38-year-old Dumfries veteran after a marathon 381 laps of the 8.7mile circuit, watched by 70,000 Brits in a 258,000 crowd. 'We're very, very pleased and extremely proud. We had one chance — in the rain — and we took it. We did everything perfectly against such strong competition.'

It was a vintage year, with two big-spending manufacturers hell-bent on beating each other. The Peugeots held the clear performance advantage, lapping three seconds quicker than the Audis in the dry.

But would Audi's reliability and know-how prove decisive?

Would Peugeot wilt in the wet?

McNish rightly predicted both might come to pass. A puncture, a faulty light which required a new nose, a gearbox problem and an overheating glitch exposed Peugeot's fragility, only for their raw speed to propel them back to the front.

Happy crowd: Tom Kristensen celebrates with his mechanics after crossing the finish line of the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race

Then, in the 13th hour, rain fell. It was 4am and two cars were battling it out for victory: McNish' s No 2 against Peugeot's No 7, driven by 1997 Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve, Marc Gene and Nicolas Minassian.

The French marque were 42sec ahead when the first drops landed. But McNish's Danish team-mate Kristensen was closing fast in the wet. At 5.20am, the two cars pitted together, with Kristensen coming out first. He proceeded to open up a 30sec gap.

The die was cast.

McNish took over at the wheel of the silver and red diesel R10 at 6.11am and continued to pull ahead in the drizzle, banging in one big lap after another.

By 9.31am, his advantage was approximately one lap — three minutes plus. It was his last in-car involvement, leaving it to his partners to finish the job.

He could only nibble on food at the Audi hospitality area and watch from the garage as time stood still for the remaining five-and-a-half hours.

The track dried, playing to Peugeot's strengths, before rain revisited with 75 minutes left. But no late scare could stop Audi's eighth win in nine years.

'It was the hardest race I have ever lived through,' added McNish.

'I knew we could not make a mistake and instead put Peugeot under pressure by being aggressive from the start.

'We did it with our backs against the wall. I didn't expect to be here now but we managed it. I hope the next one's not 10 years down the line.'