It was difficult to know what to congratulate Romain Dumas for first: his recent marathon run in less than 3h15m, his top-three finish on the French Championship’s Rallye de Lyon-Charbonnières or his fastest time during Sunday’s test day at Le Mans. The Frenchman has effectively notched up three impressive sporting performances in as many weekends…

“The toughest one was the marathon! I felt really sick at the 38km mark; I even vomited and the last few kilometres were interminable. I’ve still got a bad back. The following weekend’s rally probably didn’t help matters, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself in my Porsche which was ideal for the stages. We came third, behind two WRC cars…”

On Easter Sunday, Romain Dumas produced the quickest run of the morning’s session, a 3m 27.9s which he posted on the N°1 Audi R18 TDi’s 40th lap. The Frenchman left La Sarthe with the magnificent trophy awarded by the ACO for any winner of the Volant Elf young driver grooming scheme (he won it in 1994) who goes on to claim victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

One driver who has probably lost count of the cups he has won at Le Mans is Tom Kristensen. The Dane was accredited with last Sunday’s fastest lap (3m 27.687s) in the Audi R18 TDi. The previous day, he correctly predicted that lap times would probably get beneath the 3½-minute mark.

“I had a clear run, but a quick time wasn’t really our objective. The main thing was that we succeeded in improving the handling of our new car during the day. It’s the first time I have driven a closed-cockpit prototype since my race for Bentley in 2003. Visibility isn’t ideal, but the Audi R18 is comfortable and easy to drive. It was a good test for us.”

24 Hours of Le Mans, Audi, Romain Dumas, Tom Kristensen