Peugeot finally broke Audi's recent stranglehold at Le Mans with a comfortable one-two in the famous 24-hour race.

Marc Gene, Alexander Wurz and David Brabham led home the sister factory car of Stephane Sarrazin, Franck Montagny and Sebastien Bourdais by one lap in front of a crowd of 250,000.

"It's a magical feeling to finally win Le Mans, we had a perfect race, no problems whatsoever. I'm overjoyed to win the world's biggest race," said Brabham, the son of triple Formula One world champion Sir Jack Brabham.

Scotland's Allan McNish, bidding for a second consecutive Le Mans triumph, briefly held the lead in the opening hour but had to settle for third in his diesel Audi.

McNish and co-drivers Tom Kristensen and Dindo Capello were six laps behind the winning Peugeot after suffering suspension and electronics problems with three hours remaining.

They finished three laps clear of the Lola Aston Martin of Jan Charouz, Thomas Enge and Stefan Mucke, the first petrol-engined car.

"Audi will bounce back, of that there is no question," said McNish. "We have enjoyed phenomenal success here at Le Mans and will come back again stronger."

Frenchman Benoit Treluyer (Peugeot), Switzerland's Harold Primat (Lola Aston Martin) and Japan's Seiji Ara (Porsche), each escaped serious injury after crashing in separate incidents.

Treluyer in particular was lucky to emerge unscathed after his heavy crash in the number 17 Pescarolo-run 908.

The Frenchman crashed in the Esses after the Dunlop Bridge during the 14th hour of the race, forcing the safety car to take to the track.
The ferocity of the accident left the car a write-off while Treluyer was taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks.

Team boss Henri Pescarolo later confirmed his driver had been given a clean bill of health, saying: "I was with him in the medical centre and I have spoken to him and he is okay. But the car is completely destroyed.

"It seems that he lost it on a bump in the Esses. We don't know why and we haven't found anything on the telemetry. So it seems that he lost it and I don't know why.

"It is very bad, but that's racing - sometimes good, sometimes bad."

The number 17 car had earlier clashed with a factory-run 908 in the pit lane after Pedro Lamy was released early from his pit box during the first hour.

Elsewhere, the number 31 Team Essex Porsche RS Spyder of Casper Elgaard, Emmanuel Collard and Kristian Poulsen posted victory in the LMP2 class ahead of the Speedy Racing Sebah Lola Judd Coupe of Jonny Kane, Benjamin Leuenberger and Xavier Pompidou.

The number 63 works Corvette of Johnny O'Connell, Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia took the honours in the GT1 class while the number 82 Risi Competizione F430 of Jaime Melo Jr, Mika Salo and Pierre Kaffer claimed the win in GT2.