Former Manchester United goalkeeper Fabien Barthez managed to finish in a respectable 30th place in the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race on Sunday.
The 42-year-old has turned his hand to motor racing since retiring as a footballer and drove his Ferrari 458 Italia to an impressive finish with the help of Team Sofrev.
Former Formula One driver Mark Webber also took part in the race but didn’t have quite the same level of success as there was not enough pace in his team’s Porsche to stave off the marauding number two Audi as a series of quick laps from Andre Lotterer ate into Timo Bernhard’s lead and eventually saw them overhaul their long-standing adversaries.
But then it was reliability, always likely to be the Achilles heel of a team who have not raced here under current specifications, that played its part.
Webber replaced Bernhard but the ex-Red Bull Formula One driver was helpless as he was left coasting around the circuit with less than two hours remaining.
Once in the pits, the Porsche did not return and the sister car, piloted by Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb, soon followed suit, returning with just three minutes remaining to secure 11th place, one spot ahead
of their stricken number 20 car.
At the top, Audi stayed the course to secure a one-two finish in a thrilling Le Mans 24 Hour race which saw all three main rivals suffer setbacks as they appeared to be in line to claim victory at different stages.
Heading into the weekend slower than Toyota and with the threat of the returning Porsche marque, Audi will have been delighted to secure their 12th victory at Le Mans in the last 14 years as the trio of Marcel Fassler, Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer took the win – three laps ahead of their sister number one car.
Toyota had to settle for third as a great recovery drive from Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Nicolas Lapierre following an early shunt earned them a place on the podium.
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