Oxford driver Andy Wallace earned praise from Le Mans legend Derek Bell after helping Bentley to a podium finish at this weekend's rain-lashed 24-Hour Race on the company's first appearance for 71 years.

Bell, who won the famous endurance test five times between 1975 and 1987, is a consultant for the Bentley team and his advice clearly paid off as Wallace brought his car home in a magnificent third place.

The performance was all the more creditable as the team, with a total of only 20 days testing behind them, had no idea what to expect from the car in the wet weather which wreaked havoc in the event.

But although the rain caused some gear-shifting problems that forced Martin Brundle's car to be retired, the other Bentley succeeded where 28 of the 48 starters failed by running strongly to the end of the gruelling contest.

"My thoughts before the race were that all we needed to do was finish to make the project seem worthwhile," said 59-year-old Bell, whose partnership with Jacky Ickx is one of the greatest in the history of Le Mans.

"Then the car went so well in testing that I thought maybe the podium wasn't out of the question.

"But you have to be realistic and at the start of the race, to finish in the top five would have been unbelievable.

"For Martin Brundle to lead in the first hour and Andy to finish third is beyond my wildest dreams."

Brundle had made a stunning start as an early shower played right into the astute tactician's hands, the ITV F1 commentator making a timely pit-stop for wet-weather tyres while others slid off the greasy circuit.

However, it was not long before the Audis, who filled the top three places last year and have dominated sportscar racing ever since, were back at the top of the leaderboard and they stayed there for the rest of the event.

The winning trio from 2000 were successful again, with Tom Kristensen victorious for the third time as he joined Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro at the top of the rostrum.

Only two factory Audis competed on this occasion but second place for Laurent Aiello, Rinaldo Capello and Christian Pescatori kept intact the perfect record of the German team's over the last two years.

Johnny Herbert, driving an Audi privately, looked capable of pushing the works cars when he held third position.

But when the ex-F1 star handed over to teammate Didier Theys, a transmission problem arose and the Belgian had to pull out.

Result: 1 Biela, Kristensen & Pirro (Infineon Audi R8) 321 laps, 2 Aiello, Capello & Pescatori (Infineon Audi R8), 1 lap behind, 3 Wallace, Leitzinger & van de Poele (Bentley) 15 laps.