Long renowned as a race that offers drama throughout its mighty challenge, the 82nd edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours presented a script of twists and turns that ebbed and flowed across the Circuit de la Sarthe with gleeful abandon. Very pleasingly, at its heart there was a classic motor racing fable.

Audi, dominant here for so long, found themselves in the unusual position of being billed as the tortoise, to the hares of Toyota and Porsche. With all three manufacturers adopting different approaches to energy recovery systems that have cut fuel usage by up to 30% this year, the latter had the edge in pace but when the 24 hours had counted down it was for the 13th time in 16 years an Audi that crossed the line in first place.

The No2 R18 e-tron quattro of Benoît Tréluyer, Marcel Fässler and André Lotterer completed 379 laps to take the flag, the crews’ third win after victories in 2011 and 2012, a remarkable honour they share with Leena Gade, who in 2011 became the first female race engineer to win the 24. They were followed home by the No1 Audi of Tom Kristensen, Lucas di Grassi and Marc Gene, a feat in itself for a car that had been entirely rebuilt after Wednesday’s practice session, when it had been left in pieces after a huge accident with Loïc Duval at the wheel at the Porsche Curves.

“It was a race of the kind you can only experience at Le Mans,” said Audi’s head of motorsport, Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. “In Porsche and Toyota we had two really strong rivals who, as expected, did not make life easy for us.”

Indeed they did not and it was a one-two of which the team will be extraordinarily proud, especially given the quality of the opposition – with all three manufacturers holding the lead at various periods throughout the race – and one that reinforces the simple fact of modern endurance competition, that to win this race you have to beat Audi to the line. A salutary lesson from the tortoise team, who showed a never-say-die attitude and a fair turn of pace by the end, despite fine efforts from both Toyota and Porsche.

It was the Toyota TS040 that was expected to dominate and for the initial period of the race it appeared the Japanese marque would take the honours. The No8 of Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre and Sébastien Buemi had won the first two rounds of the World Endurance Championship, at Silverstone and then Spa, and looked to be the form car but it was the pole-sitting No7 of Alex Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima who looked the most likely victor.

The No8 car had been badly damaged during the short-lived but extremely heavy rain that peppered the first two hours of racing. La Pierre lost control on Mulsanne, touching a slower GT car that subsequently took out the No3 Audi. It cost the Toyota eight laps for repairs from which a determined recovery drive would ultimately yield third place. A fine effort but one that for Davidson, who finished second last year and dearly wants to win this title, was a disappointment.

The sister car had no such drama and, although the racing was gripping at the front, had maintained its lead from pole, exchanging it only twice with the No20 Porsche 919 of Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard, who made the right tyre choices during the rain. While the early fast-charge from the sister No14 Porsche was curtailed when it was forced to pit with a fuel flow problem and dropped nine minutes. A gearbox failure shortly before 1pm on Sunday later ended its race.

As night fell and on into the early hours, Nakajima put in quick, flawless stints to draw out a lead. But despite all the new technology their charge was ultimately stymied by the old-school technology of an electrical failure in the loom. The car came to a halt at Arnage and was retired 14 hours into the race. The team will be very disappointed, in this their third year of top-end prototype racing, as they really had the car to do the job.

It was not to be. The waiting Audis were ready to pounce and did so with alacrity, the No2 car taking the lead. Never written off as contenders but behind the eight ball in terms of pace before the start, Audi were coming back.

Then, in a twist of a kind to which the formidably reliable German marque is not entirely accustomed, the leader was forced to pit to change the turbo charger just before 7am. They did so in only 23 minutes and 18 seconds but it handed the lead to the rebuilt sister car, with Kristensen gunning for a remarkable 10th Le Mans victory.

Yet their potential fairytale story was scuppered, too, when lightning struck twice and just after 11am Kristensen, now two laps up on the chasing Porsche, was also forced to pit to change the turbo charger. Despite doing so in an extraordinary 17-minute 36-second stop, Webber’s 919 was now in the lead.

The Australian driver, having never competed in the race itself before, was in a position to take a victory at his first attempt and even more remarkably the possibility was on for Porsche’s own fairytale – that they might just win the big one after a 16-year absence from the top end of the sport.

Webber himself climbed in for the final two and a half hours and, with the chasing No2 car set to catch him within the final hour, a battle to the finish was on the cards for the 263,300 spectators thronging the circuit.

But then, of course, there was one final heartbreaking twist for Porsche, as on lap 345 the 919 slowed and was forced to pit with a powertrain problem that ultimately ended their race. Lotterer took back the lead and 34 laps later Audi once again stood astride the Circuit de La Sarthe, reminding their competitors that for another year they remain but the understudies on endurance racing’s ultimate stage.