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Le Mans, June 13, 1999 at 16:00 - The Chrysler Viper Team ORECA have won the Le Mans 24 hour race for the second time in succession with an emphatic victory at the world`s greatest motor race. Reigning FIA GT Champion Olivier Beretta, sharing his car with Karl Wendlinger and Dominique Dupuy, raced to a seven-lap victory in the toughest circuit race in the world. Chrysler`s win was made all the more sweet as Tommy Archer, Justin Bell and Marc Duez followed their team-mates over the line.
Chrysler Vipers filled the top six places with the customer teams also bringing their cars home in a demonstration of the reliability and speed of the Chrysler Viper GTS-R model. ``It doesn`t matter to us who wins, as long as it is a Chrysler Viper,`` said Lou Patane, Vice President of Motorsport Operations, DaimlerChrysler Motors Corporation. ``For us it is not about the money. We sell equipment to our customers with which they can compete with us, competitively in class.
``One of the customer teams out-qualified us, which was fantastic. It showed that we sell equal equipment. I am really delighted with this result, not because it was a works team who won, but because we also have a customer team on the podium at Le Mans.``
This is the second year that the American car manufacturer recorded a 1-2 finish, and were so close to filling all three podium positions. David Donohue, Jean-Philippe Belloc and Soheil Ayari were running a comfortable second position when their car stopped without warning by Mulsanne Corner, and the engine refused to re-start.
It was not a worry-free 24 hour race for the Chrysler Viper Team ORECA. Gear selection problems caused the team to change a gearbox on the number 52 car, that of Bell, Duez and Archer, on Sunday morning. The winning car, number 51, also suffered gear selection problems, but the drivers were able to cope.
``Since midnight already we were not using fifth gear,`` said an ecstatic Wendlinger. ``I changed to fifth and didn`t like the sound of it so we stopped using it, changing from fourth to sixth and back to fourth again. The problem did not get any worse and from that point on I thought that nothing else would happen to stop us.``
The team are due to begin a new project in two weeks when the ORECA squad tackle the American Le Mans series race at Mosport, Canada, with champion drivers Karl Wendlinger and Olivier Beretta. David Donohue and Jean-Philippe Belloc will also contend the race, the team`s first this season. ``It may be optimistic, but I want to win both championships this year,`` said Patane.
Hugues de Chaunac, Team Manager of ORECA, said: ``This is the second time that we have won here, and I am really pleased for the team, for the drivers and for Chrysler. And we had a customer team on the podium too, which helped to make the day especially satisfying. Everyone has put in so much hard work to make this happen. I could not be more pleased.``
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