Webber certain penalty did not cost Le Mans win

Mark Webber refuses to believes his car's stop-go penalty in the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours ultimately cost him a shot at victory, insisting the race winning sister #19 Porsche was simply too quick.

Twelve months after his much publicised Le Mans return with the Porsche team, the Australian enjoyed a far more positive experience, Webber - along with Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard - leading for much of the opening quarter.

However, it would drop out of contention in the eighth hour when it was handed a one minute stop-go penalty for exceeding limits during an earlier slow zone.

From here the #17 Porsche couldn't recover to get back into the lead fight, but stayed out trouble to finish in second place, completing Porsche's fine 1-2 sweep behind the #19 car.

Though slightly disappointed to just miss out on the top step, the former F1 driver was full of praise for the race winning Nico Hulkenberg, Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber, insisting their pace would have been good enough to win even without his penalty.

"We just weren't quick enough, simple as that. The guys in #19 did a great job, all three were exceptional for 24 hours. We had the penalty, but I don't think we've have been quick enough even if we didn't have that, especially in the night the #19 was operating quickly. We had a smooth race. Brendon and Timo did a great job and we are very proud for a double victory. If we can't win, we want to be inside the team that does.

Reflecting on the cause of the penalty, which occurred during Hartley's stint, Webber shrugged off the mistake, insisting the slow zones can be difficult.

The slow zones are a heavy feature in the race and we had many slow zones. We saw the #8 Audi get the entry wrong, so it is easy to get it wrong on the way in and on the way out because there are lot of lights and traffic...

"Brendon maybe missed a light, it is so easily done. In an LMP1 car visibility is extremely limited and we got a penalty for exceeding the speed limit in the slow zone. I don't think it would have made a difference to the victory [challenge]"