Mark Webber in his Porsche 919 Hybrid competes during the Le Mans 24 hours race. Picture: AFP Source: JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / AFP
MARK Webber is already looking ahead to 2015 after a surprisingly pacy performance in the Le Mans 24-hour race that left him just two hours short of a upset victory.
Australia's race favourite was battling toe-to-toe with the Audi team that eventually scored its 13th win in the French endurance classic when things came undone for his rookie Porsche squad.
The engine in Webber's 919 hybrid failed and he was pushed away into the garage, but still with a giant smile and his head held high.
"We had a crack. We led. We had a sniff," Webber told News Limited afterwards.
"We got within a couple of hours of a pretty special result. We had a great day out there."
Webber went into the race without a single race lap at the gruelling 13.6-kilometre French course and, after a steady start, he and his co-drivers Tim Bernhard and Brendon Hartley got better as the race went on.
They were helped by the retirement of the pace-setting Toyota TS 040 of Alex Wurz, which was poleaxed by an electrical fire and a mechanical problem on the lead Audi of Tom Kristensen.
Webber prepares for the warm-up session in Le Mans, France. Source: Getty Images
When things got serious on Sunday morning, with only six hours to the flag, Webber was at the wheel and pushing hard for victory. He kept up incredible pressure on the benchmark Audi team despite a front-end problem that slowed his Porsche and made it tough to drive, and was typically frank in his race wrap.
"I'm a better Le Mans driver than I was yesterday. I learned a lot," he said.
"There were just no F-ups anywhere. In the end, close. Very, very close. But Audi and Toyota knocked seven bells out of each other. They actually knocked each other out."
But it was Audi which, typically, pulled on its vast reserves of talent and experience to take a 1-2 ahead of the remaining Toyota.
It was the third time that Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler had combined for the win, and also the third time that Audi had claimed the race with a hybrid R18 e-tron quattro.
Webber said he will be stronger as a driver in 12 months and predicts that Porsche will be serious contenders from the start.
"We just learned. That was a pretty decent crack. We made our presence felt," he said.
"You've got to graft. We'll be back next year, give it a big go, be right there."
Watch the entire Le Mans 24 Hours LIVE on SPEED this weekend!
Paul Gover is on Twitter: @paulwardgover
Drivers take the start at the 82nd Le Mans endurance race. Source: AFP
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