LE MANS, France -- Audi won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the fourth straight year Sunday and dedicated its victory to Allan Simonsen of Denmark -- the first driver to die in the showcase endurance race since 1997. Tom Kristensen, Allan McNish and Loic Duval of Audi No. 2 finished one lap ahead of Toyota No. 8 driven by Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Stephane Sarrazin. "This one is for Allan Simonsen," a tearful Kristensen said after taking the checkered flag. "A fantastic driver. This is for him." The 34-year-old Simonsen was taken to the hospital after his Aston Martin spun out at high speed Saturday only 10 minutes into the race. He skidded into the barrier at the Tertre Rouge corner, where cars typically reach speeds of up to 105 mph. Simonsen died at the hospital soon after arrival, organizers said. "Obviously, this horrible incident dampens the joy about another great Le Mans victory for Audi," Ullrich said on the teams website. "We were all completely shocked by the news of Allan Simonsens death. This is the first fatal accident weve had to witness in 15 Le Mans years. I hope itll remain the last." After Simonsens accident, Aston Martin Racing stayed in the race at the request of his family. Sebastien Enjolras lost his life during pre-qualifying at Le Mans in 1997. The last driver fatality during the race itself was Jo Gartner in 1986. The worst crash in Le Mans history occurred when Pierre Leveghs Mercedes flew into the crowd in 1955, killing more than 80 spectators. This was Duvals first victory at Le Mans but the third for McNish and the ninth for Kristensen, who extended his record for most titles by a driver. Audi earned its 12th title at Le Mans, four shy of Porsches record. The winning trio completed 348 laps in 24 hours on the 8.5-mile Circuit de la Sarthe. "It was a complicated race," Duval said. "Its a reminder that its a dangerous sport, even though we dont often think about it. It was very emotional. Tom lost his father in March and now hes losing a friend. Thats rough." Fifty-six cars started in the 81st edition of Le Mans, but 13 failed to finish and one car didnt complete a sufficient number of laps to be classified. In the 12th hour, but Canadian driver Tony Burgess managed to walk away from a crash. "The conditions were very tough," said Wolfgang Ullrich, head of Audi Motorsport. "We had to make the right decisions at the right time." At the wheel of Audi No. 3, Oliver Jarvis, Marc Gene and Lucas Di Grassi took third place, one lap off the pace. Although Audi was much quicker than its Japanese rival, Toyota hoped fuel consumption and tire management could be decisive. But the strategy was thwarted by the changing weather and numerous safety car periods. The safety car came out 11 times, holding up the race for more than five hours. Toyota now has four runner-up finishes at Le Mans but has never won. The only Japanese manufacturer to win was Mazda in 1991. Audi had the top three spots on the grid while Toyota started from fourth and fifth. Toyota briefly hit the front when the Audis pitted in the second hour. But the German manufacturer started dominating the race, regaining the top three spots in the third hour under pouring rain. However, speed is no guarantee of victory. Reliability matters just as much in a competition won by the team that completes the most laps in 24 hours, with up to three drivers alternating. Just when Audi looked irresistible on a track that was drying out, two of its cars faced reliability issues in the seventh hour. Benoit Treluyers Audi No. 1 was stuck in the garage for more than 40 minutes because of technical trouble to fall out of contention, finishing fifth. The Audi No. 3 driven by Jarvis had a puncture and later had his front bodywork changed. Jarvis Audi No. 3 overtook Nicolas Lapierres Toyota No. 7 in the 22nd hour to make the podium. In the next-to-last hour, Lapierre made a mistake, skidding off the slippery track at the Porsche curves to crash into the tire barrier. But Lapierre limped back into the garage and finished fourth. In the 12th hour, Burgess HVM Status GP No. 30 shattered into pieces in a crash. "It was obviously a great relief when we saw him walk away from the accident," HVM Status GP technical director Rob Arnott said. "Many of the components are completely destroyed but the safety cell and everything else stood up to the impact incredibly well and it all absorbed the impact." Martin Plowman, Ricardo Gonzalez and Bertrand Baguette finished seventh overall in Morgan-Nissan No. 35 but topped the LMP2 class. Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz and Romain Dumas won the GTE-Pro class in Porsche No. 92, while Raymond Narac, Christophe Bourret and Jean-Karl Vernay finished first in the GTE-Am category at the wheel of Porsche No. 76. Canadas Kuno Wittmer and his Viper team finished 32nd while Paul Dalla Lana and his Aston Martin team finished 48th. cheap jerseys . The team says the Spain international has a muscle pull in his right leg. Barcelona hosts third-division side Cartagena in the return leg of their round-of-32 tie after winning their first meeting 4-1. cheap nfl jerseys . Having already announced that the race will start May 9 with three stages in Northern Ireland and Ireland and finish in Trieste on June 1, the rest of the route was unveiled Monday. http://www.cheapauthenticjerseysnflchina.net/ . Newcastle dominated in the early stages but City weathered the storm and then raised its game in extra time. Negredo broke the deadlock from close range after a simple move in the 99th minute before Dzeko took the ball round goalkeeper Tim Krul to seal the victory in the 105th. cheap jerseys usa .S District Court against Major League Baseball, the Office of the Commissioner and his own union, the MLBPA. jerseys from china . -- On the field, it was business as usual for Jameis Winston and No. There has never been any question about both Arsenal and Manchester City having style, but the debate over whether they have the substance to be Premier League champions continues to rage.Despite owning the last two Champions League spots in the table, both Arsenal and Manchester City have armed critics with plenty of skepticism over whether either or both can possibly overtake Chelsea by seasons end heading into Sundays crunch clash of these top-four teams at the Etihad.Much of it has to do with the flowing style of play both employ, a direct contrast to the blood-and-thunder mantra of the Premier League. English fans have long favoured the crunching physical tackle and the challenge of 50/50 balls in the air over the one-touch passes designed to open up defences to exploit via through balls.While Arsene Wenger has built up some capital in his two decades on the Arsenal touchline to deflect barbs and criticisms, it is the arrival of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City (10-3-3) that has added fire to this debate throughout the club backrooms and pubs of England.Wenger took to Guardiolas defense ahead of the midweek matches this week, after Guardiola claimed he wasnt a coach for the tackles, so I dont train the tackles after Manchester Citys 3-1 loss at Leicester City. Its not surprising given the two share a kindred spirit in how they construct offencesPep Guardiola, like myself, we are for offensive football. And when you dont win, people question that. And thats as simple as that, the Gunners boss said. Overall, I think what he wanted to say is that he promoted a game that is positive and I agree with him on that. You respect him for that.At first, it looked like Guardiola was every bit the genius tipped by supporters upon his takeover of City from Bayern Munich -- the team stormed out of the gate to win their first 10 matches in all competitions, including their Champions League playoff to enter the group stages.But that swagger has given way to a City side struggling to find its defensive identity as Guardiola tinkers with his backline on a match-to-match basis. As well as a shift in opponents philosophy to simply let the Citizens pass the ball around the middle of the pitch and then dare them to pile drive through two banks of defenders in the final third.Their 2-0 home win over Watford on Wednesday was more persistence than panache -- defender Pablo Zabaleta finished off a nice cross from Kevin De Bruyne in the first half, and David Silva sealed the three points with a goal on 86 minutes as City struck on the counter as Watford threw numbers forward in search of an equaliser.The victory, though, came at a high price as Guardiola lost Ilkay Gundogan to a torn ACL, a season-ending injury that puts a gaping hole in the midfield for both Citys Premier League title hopes as well as their Champions League aspirations come the knockout stages in February.It is so, so difficult for him, its sad for him, were going to miss him a lot, its unlucky, but thats football, Guardiola told the teams official website.Now we need him to feel we are there and wait and come back safe. Hes going to be operated (upon) and be back as soon as possible.Gundogan will be the fourth key regular out for this match for Guardiola. Defender and talisman Vincent Kompany remains sidelined due to injury while forward and top scorer Sergio Aguero and midfielder Fernandinho continue to serve their four and three-match bans, respectively, for their rooles in a brawl at the end of their 3-1 loss to Chelsea on Dec.dddddddddddd3.On the plus side, Yaya Toure has excelled in the midfield since returning to Guardiolas good graces last month. There is still plenty of quality in the attack with De Bruyne, Silva, and Raheem Sterling in the midfield. It will be interesting to see if Guardiola opts for a solo striker approach again after using Nolito atop a 4-1-4-1 formation versus Watford and leaving Kelechi Iheanacho on the bench.You know the reason why he was out in the first part of the season, Guardiola said about Toure. Now he is playing like he can be, like I met him at Barcelona. Theres no doubt about his quality.Wenger is no stranger to the criticisms that come with his style of play, and some seasons they are louder than others given Arsenals fixture in the top four of the table while not winning any Premier League titles since last lifting the trophy in 2004.But the all-too familiar questions were being asked again after a 2-1 defeat at Everton on Wednesday dropped the Gunners (10-4-2) into third -- behind Liverpool on goal difference, one point better than Manchester City and six adrift of rampaging Chelsea.The Toffees took the match to Arsenal in the second half, utilising that physical style of play Arsenal rarely answer. Wenger felt rightly aggrieved by an error by referee Mark Clattenburg that resulted in an Everton corner that led to Ashley Williams eventual match-winner on 86 minutes, but he also noted his team seemed to back down as Everton grew in the ascendancyWe lost the game because I feel we started well and after that maybe we lost a bit of urgency because we were a bit too comfortable and then Everton made it very physical. Overall, I believe that from then on it disturbed our game and we created less flow going forward.We didnt create too many but we had clear-cut chances in the game we didnt take. After that you can be caught away from home on a corner like that.Like Guardiola, Wenger is dealing with some key absences due to injury, most notably central defender Shkodran Mustfai and holding midfielder Santi Carzola. Denny Welbeck, Aaron Ramsey and Per Mertesacker continue to be long-term injury absences. Wenger also again addressed the issue of contract extensions for Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, both of whom have 18 months remaining on their respective deals.You waste your time because these players have 18 months on their contracts and I dont see why there is any urgency in every press conference to have that question, Wenger mused. Maybe you lack a bit of creativity in the newspapers and you always come up with the same subject. I dont see why that should turn up in every press conference.Arsenal took four points in the two games between the teams last season, posting a 2-1 victory at the Emirates and scrambling from a pair of one-goal deficits to forge a 2-2 tie at the Etihad. Olivier Giroud scored in both matches, and Sanchez scored the equaliser in the corresponding fixture. De Bruyne and Aguero netted the two goals for City.The Gunners are unbeaten in their last five (2-3-0) against City but also have just two wins in their last nine trips (2-2-5) to the blue side of Manchester. Arsenal have won 23 of the 38 all-time Premier League matches between the teams, while all six of Citys wins have come since 2006. Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jersyes Cheap Basketball Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '