This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2017) |
|
The 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 63rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 17 and 18 June 1995 in one of the wettest races in the event's history with about 17 hours of steady rain. The race was won by the #59 McLaren F1 GTR driven by JJ Lehto, Yannick Dalmas and Masanori Sekiya entered in the GT1 category. This was the first Le Mans win for a driver from Finland and for a driver from Japan. [1] It was also McLaren's first win, at its first attempt - Ferrari had accomplished the same feat with its two cars in 1949, but other manufacturers like Jaguar, Porsche, Ford or Audi achieved their first Le Mans win only after 2, 3 or more attempts. [2] As well as its outright win, the strength of the F1 GTR in the race was underlined by it ultimately filling four of the first five places.
The car was already well known for dominating the BPR Global GT Series with customer teams, but the car that won was actually the initial GTR prototype. This was on loan to Lanzante Motorsport, and prepared by McLaren's Unit 12 and overseen by McLaren's Chief Engineer James Robinson to run it on behalf of Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing. Mario Andretti's Courage finished second, having been the sentimental favourite of many in the run-up to the race. However the reliability of the production-based McLaren helped it defeat the much faster Le Mans prototypes, although in an interview 20 years [3] later Graham Humphrys (former Spice technical director [4] ), who engineered the race winning car, attributed the win to the rain which fell on the circuit overnight, which eased the stress on the car's relatively fragile transmission, and which also saw a remarkable performance by Lehto, who was as much as 30 seconds a lap faster than his rivals at times. Humphrys also managed to identify the source of the gear selection problems which the Kokusai car and the other McLarens in the race suffered from, working out that the exposed gear linkage mechanism was filling with water and dirt from the wet conditions, and solved the problem by filling the affected area with WD-40 at every pit stop. [1]
The top three spots in GT2 were taken by Honda NSX and two Callaway Corvettes. The class was now showing manufacturer diversity unlike previous year dominated by the Porsche 911 derivatives since the mid-1970s.
With the ongoing good working relationship with IMSA, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) phased out its LM P1 category, instead drawing up regulations based closely on IMSA's World Sportscar (WSC) class. In return, IMSA agreed to allow turbo-engined cars into WSC, given the number of Group C chassis still in circulation. [5] The LM P2 class was left as is; however, the other classes had the following restrictions, some revised from the previous year: [5]
The previous year's "one-off model" rule, controversially exploited by Porsche in the 1994 race with the Dauer 962 Le Mans, stayed in place for GT1. However, GT2 cars had to be based on cars in series production since February 1995.
As before, these regulations generated a huge amount of interest, and the ACO received 99 entries. In response, the ACO built 2 further pit bays to increase capacity to 50 cars. They granted 20 well-performing teams an automatic entry, then chose a further 50 to go through qualification for the remaining 30 spots on the grid. It aimed to keep a balance between the WSC and over-represented GT classes, although the lines were now blurring a bit in GT1.
Sportscar specialists Courage, Kremer, WR and Debora returned in WSC/P2, along with the first Ferrari prototype (the 333SP) seen at Le Mans for 23 years, which had been running in the American IMSA championship. Commissioned off Ferrari for the WSC by Giampiero Moretti of Momo Racing.
The Japanese returned in force in the GT1 class with Toyota, Nissan, Mazda and Honda all sending works, or works-supported, teams. But the biggest splash came from McLaren: its new F1 GTR supercar had won 6 of the 7 races in the 1995 BPR Global GT series to date. Six of the McLarens from that series arrived, and even the original T-car was hastily prepared for a new Japanese team desperate to be involved. The McLaren was the fastest road car in the world and a natural choice for Le Mans; Gordon Murray's carbon-fibre design conforming to the minimum weight (1000 kg), minimum size and maximum power-to-weight ratio (with the 6.1L BMW S70 V12 engine) that a good race-car always has. The ACO's air restrictors limited its engine to 636 bhp, just 9 more than the road-going version. [2]
Other returning marques in GT1 included Jaguar, Ferrari and Porsche, with single works entries also from Venturi and Lister. In GT2, the ubiquitous Porsche 911s were up against Callaway, Honda and newcomers Marcos.
Qualifying proved to be one of the greatest days for the small French Welter Racing team, rivaling its 400 km/h speed record on the Mulsanne straight in 1988. Ever the builder of small, nimble and very fast prototypes, Gérard Welter's latest version, the WR LM95, was no exception: both cars, driven by William David and Patrick Gonin locked out the front row of the grid for the great race. David was the first driver to take pole on debut. Curiously, it was also the first time that two single-seaters had been on the front row at Le Mans since the 1967 French F1 GP that was run there. [6]
Behind them were the three Courages of van der Poele, Wollek and Lagorce, although the van der Poele car was then disqualified from starting for being found 17 kg underweight after an engine change. [2] [7] The Wollek/Andretti/Hélary Courage was the only car in the field where all three drivers lapped in under 4 minutes in practice.
Fifth on the grid was the Stuck/Boutsen/Bouchut Kremer K8, then came the first of the GT1 cars: three Ferrari F40s, headed by the Ennea Ferrari Club #41 of Ayles/Monti/Mancini, shocking the McLaren teams by beating out the Kokusai McLaren and the works Venturi. The EuroMotorsport Ferrari prototype was kept out of most of the qualifying while the ACO argued with the team about checking the maximum engine revs - in the end it was 17th on the grid. [8]
Fastest in the GT2 class was the best of the Agusta Callaways, in 23rd, well up the grid from the Swiss Porsche of Enzo Calderari in 32nd, and the private Japanese Honda NSX. Back of the grid was the private American team in their overweight Corvette ZR1 in GT1, nearly 20 seconds slower than the Callaway Corvette pole in GT2.
This was one of the wettest Le Mans on record, but at the start of the race the weather was clear. Five cars, including Boutsen's Kremer, the Giroix Jacadi McLaren (running on a synthetic-alcohol fuel distilled from beets [9] ) and Kunimitsu Honda in GT2, had to start from the pit-lane because of last minute issues. At flag-fall the two WR's, and Wollek's Courage, took off and quickly put distance to the rest of the field - nearly half a lap at the end of the first hour. Because of the ACO equivalency regulations, their laps were nearly 30 seconds off Eddie Irvine's quickest laps in his Toyota in 1993. John Nielsen in the #49 Dave Price McLaren, and Henri Pescarolo in the #11 Courage led that pursuit battling for fourth. Massimo Sigala in the Ferrari prototype had made rapid progress from its lowly starting position, even passing Nielsen into 4th until stone damage stopped the engine at Arnage on only lap 7.
The rain arrived at the end of the first hour. It stayed all night and well into Sunday morning, with scattered showers right to the finish. Many cars spun or skated off, caught out on their slick tyres. Both the WRs pitted losing time with faulty windscreens, proving again to be fast but fragile. Worse was to follow in the 5th hour when Gonin aquaplaned off at speed and somersaulted at the Mulsanne kink into a big accident. He was taken to hospital with 4 broken ribs and a broken shoulder-blade [10] [11] and bringing out the safety cars for 37 minutes.
In the heavy rain, the WSC cars lost their power advantage and upon the restart four of the McLarens were dueling with Wollek's Courage. But when Mario Andretti tangled lapping a Kremer in the Porsche curves and crashed (taking 30 minutes and losing 6 laps to get repaired) it appeared to be a GT1 benefit with a McLaren 1-2-3. The Ferrari was out, Pescarolo's Courage had stopped at Arnage with a flat battery, and the Kremer was proving diabolical to drive in the wet (even regenmeister Hans-Joachim Stuck put it in the wall at the first chicane). The Larbre team's Porsche 911 Evos were both running well, keeping up with the McLarens and getting up to fourth. Terrific driving from Toshio Suzuki had got his Nissan Skyline up to an excellent 7th overall until the car's gearbox broke at 11pm. Both Honda GT1s were out: one with a broken clutch and the other crashed heavily in the rain, needing extensive repairs. In GT2, the Kremer and Stadler Porsches had pulled out a 3-lap lead over the Callaways and the Lister.
Going into the night, the leading WSC car - the other Kremer, driven by Lässig/Konrad/de Azevedo - was running down in 11th. The Dave Price McLarens alternated the lead according to pit-stops. The rival Gulf Racing McLarens, dominant in the BPR series had been having many problems: series-leader and team-owner Ray Bellm had had an earlier off, losing 7 laps. Worse luck was his teammate Philippe Alliot, who was leading when he got punted off into the barriers by a GT2 Porsche he had just overtaken.
Bad luck also dogged the Larbre Compétition GT1 Porsches: In the early evening the car, of the team-owner Jack Leconte, had gone off into the Arnage gravel trap. Both Jesús Pareja and Emmanuel Collard had successively got their cars up into 4th overall, but both crashed out into retirement before midnight. The latter crash also took out the GT2-leading Stadler Porsche when Andreas Fuchs misjudged his braking at Mulsanne corner, hitting Collard. Meanwhile, the PC Automotive Jaguar was shadowing the McLarens; from starting 22nd on the grid it had moved up to 4th, chased by the Downing Kudzu-Mazda, Stuck's Kremer and Wollek's Courage making a spirited recovery. With the demise of the Porsches, the GT2 race was now between the three Callaways (that became two when Thyrring crashed the 'works' car at the first Mulsanne chicane at 1am) and the private Porsche of Jean-François Veroux that started second to last, but now only a lap behind.
At 3am, after 9 hours contesting the lead (with a broken window-wiper), the Nielsen/Mass McLaren pitted with a slipping clutch that ultimately proved terminal. The sister car of Andy Wallace and the Bells (father & son) inherited the lead. Wallace did some incredible stints in the rain - some of it on slick tyres. Meanwhile, the dark horse Kokusai team had been inexorably moving up the board. While others spun or pitted, it never missed a beat, and through the night JJ Lehto and Dalmas put in a hard chase getting up to 2nd. The Jaguar gave up with a broken crankshaft at 5am by which time the Courage was back up to third (but 4 laps down), the Jacardi McLaren 4th and Bellm's remaining Gulf McLaren in 5th.
As dawn broke the rain finally eased off and the Courage started to get very fast, gradually pulling back laps on the McLarens. When Wallace had to pit for fresh brakepads, the lead dropped to less than a minute to the Kokusai McLaren. But then the 53-year-old, 5-time winner, Derek Bell showed why he is considered one of the world's best sports-car racers - with the pressure on, he matched and then beat Lehto's very rapid lap times. The three surviving WSC cars - the Courage, Kremer and Kudzu were chasing.
Overshadowed by the McLarens, all the Ferrari F40s had had troubled races after promising so much. However Stéphane Ratel's Pilot Racing Ferrari had been holding 8th position overall for six hours when, just before midday, Michel Ferté connected with Blundell's Gulf McLaren and skidded on debris at the Dunlop chicane, beaching it in the gravel trap. Extracting it took 5 minutes and lost it three places. In GT2, after losing 6 laps at the start, the Kunimitsu Honda had run like clockwork and now its better fuel economy was paying dividends as it overtook the Callaways and settled into the top 10 overall.
With just 2 hours to go, the McLaren's feared delicate transmission struck the leading DPR McLaren which pitted with gear-selection problems. After a 5-minute delay in the pits, Bell Snr slammed it into 6th and rejoined the race. That was all Dalmas needed to take the lead and from there they were never headed. With less than an hour to go, Andretti passed the ailing Harrods McLaren for second place, and soon after overtook Lehto to get onto the lead lap. Handing over to Bob Wollek, they chased hard but in the end just came up short, barely 3 minutes behind. Wallace nursed the DPR McLaren home a lap further behind, five laps ahead of the Gulf and Giroix Jacadi McLarens, and the remaining two WSC cars: the Kremer and Kudzu-Mazda.
In GT2, despite starting from the pitlane, the Kunimitsu Honda came home in front, in 8th overall, comfortably two laps ahead of the Jelinski Agusta Callaway, itself two laps ahead of its sister car. The new Porsche 993 GT2 customer car, despite winning 10 of the 12 BPR races this year, came away empty-handed from Le Mans.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)The Mercedes-Benz CLR was a prototype race car developed by Mercedes-Benz in collaboration with in-house tuning division AMG and motorsports specialists HWA GmbH. Designed to meet Le Mans Grand Touring Prototype (LMGTP) regulations, the CLRs were intended to compete in sports car events during 1999, most notably at the 24 Hours of Le Mans which Mercedes had last won in 1989. It was the third iteration in Mercedes' 1990s sports cars, succeeding the Mercedes-Benz CLK LM, which in turn was born of the CLK GTR. Similar to its predecessors, CLR retained elements of Mercedes-Benz's production cars, including a V8 engine loosely based on the Mercedes M119 as well as a front fascia, headlamps, and grille inspired by the then new Mercedes flagship CL Class.
The 2005 24 Hours of Le Mans was a non-championship 24-hour automobile endurance race held from 18 to 19 June 2005, at the Circuit de la Sarthe near Le Mans, France, for teams of three drivers each entering Le Mans Prototype and Grand Touring cars. It was the 73rd running of the event, as organised by the automotive group, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) since 1923. A test day was held two weeks prior to the race on 5 June. Approximately 230,000 people attended the race.
The 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans was a non-championship 24 hour automobile endurance race held from 12 June to 13 at the Circuit de la Sarthe near Le Mans, France, for teams of three drivers each fielding Le Mans Prototype and Grand Touring cars. It was the race's 72nd edition, as organised by the automotive group, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) since 1923. A test day was held eight weeks before the race on 25 April. Approximately 200,000 people attended the race.
The 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 66th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 6 and 7 June 1998.
The 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 64th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 15 and 16 June 1996. It was won by a Tom Walkinshaw-Porsche prototype run by Joest Racing with drivers Davy Jones, Manuel Reuter and Le Mans rookie Alexander Wurz completing 354 laps. While not being the fastest car on track, it hit the front in the first hour and aside from several pit-stop overlaps, was never headed as other teams hit mechanical troubles during the race. This was Reuter's second Le Mans victory, and the first for Jones and Wurz, who, at 22 years old, became the youngest ever Le Mans overall winner.
The 1994 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 62nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 18 and 19 June 1994.
The 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 52nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 16 – 17 June 1984. It was also the third round of the 1984 World Endurance Championship. There were two big stories going into the race weekend: the absence of the Porsche works team and their drivers, and the return of Jaguar. Bob Tullius had commissioned the new Jaguar XJR-5 to run in the IMSA series and entered two for Le Mans. Earlier in the year, FISA had announced abrupt changes to the fuel regulations to bring them more in line with IMSA. Porsche and Lancia objected strongly because of their strong investment in the existing rules. In the absence of dominant Porsche works team, the race was left wide open between Lancia and the number of strong Porsche customer teams.
The 1981 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 49th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 13 and 14 June 1981. It was also the eighth round of the World Endurance Championship of Drivers, and the fifth round of the World Championship for Makes.
The 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 47th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 9 and 10 June 1979. With no other major works cars this year, the Porsche team were the strong favourites to win. Their competition would be from Cosworth-powered Mirages and Rondeaus and a swarm of Group 5 and IMSA-class Porsche 935s. The other big talking point was the presence of Hollywood actor Paul Newman, driving for Dick Barbour Racing.
The 1975 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 43rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 14 and 15 June 1975. Colloquially called the “Le Mans Economy Run”, stringent refuelling regulations were put in place. Unable to match the requisite 7mpg fuel economy the manufacturer teams from Ferrari, Alfa Romeo withdrew and Matra had retired from the sport at the end of 1974. Therefore, this only left Gulf and Ligier as front-running works-teams.
The 1973 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 41st Grand Prix of Endurance and took place on 9 and 10 June 1973. It was the eighth round of the 1973 World Championship of Makes.
The 75th 24 Hours of Le Mans was a 24-hour automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype and Grand Touring cars, which took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, near Le Mans, France, from 16 to 17 June 2007. It was the 75th edition of the event, as organised by the automotive group, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) since 1923. Unlike other events, it was not a part of any endurance motor racing championship. A test day was held two weeks prior to the race on 3 June. The event was attended by 250,952 spectators.
The McLaren F1 GTR is the racing variant of the McLaren F1 sports car first produced in 1995 for grand touring style racing, such as the BPR Global GT Series, FIA GT Championship, JGTC, and British GT Championship. It was powered by the naturally aspirated BMW S70/2 V12 engine. It is most famous for its overall victory at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans where it won against faster purpose-built prototypes in very wet conditions. The F1 GTR raced internationally until 2005 when the final race chassis was retired.
The 1998 Petit Le Mans was the seventh race for the 1998 IMSA GT Championship season, then known as the Professional SportsCar Racing series. It also served as a prelude to the first American Le Mans Series race held at Sebring in 1999. Don Panoz's American Le Mans Series was developed with the backing of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), the ruling body of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It took place on October 11, 1998.
The Porsche WSC-95 was a Le Mans Prototype originally built by Tom Walkinshaw Racing. It was modified by Porsche from the original Group C Jaguar XJR-14 from which it derived, and run by Joest Racing. Originally intended to race in the IMSA World Sportscar Championship, the WSC-95 saw very little race action even though it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in both 1996 and 1997 without being acknowledged as a factory supported project. It was later upgraded to the Porsche LMP1-98 before being retired. Only two cars were ever built.
The 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 76th Grand Prix of Endurance, taking place on 14–15 June 2008 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The test day was on June 1. The race was attended by 258,000 spectators. The Audi team's progress and victory was documented in the 2008 film Truth in 24.
The 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 77th Grand Prix of Endurance, an endurance auto race run over 24 hours. It took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, and was organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) over 13–14 June 2009 and was started by Fiat and Ferrari chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo at 15:00 local time. A test day was initially scheduled for 31 May that year, but was canceled by the ACO due to economic concerns. The race was attended by 234,800 spectators.
The 2009 1000 km of Okayama was the inaugural event of Automobile Club de l'Ouest's (ACO) Asian Le Mans Series. It was held at the Okayama International Circuit, Japan and featured two 500 km races held on 30 October and 1 November 2009. The winning teams in each of the four categories earned an automatic invitation to the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans. A second Asian Le Mans Series event, scheduled for the Shanghai International Circuit, China, on 7 and 8 November was cancelled by the ACO due to economic circumstances. The race weekend is being shared with the World Touring Car Championship's Race of Japan.
François Hubert Marie Perrodo is a French billionaire businessman, racing driver, and car collector. He is the chairman of Perenco, an oil and gas company with operations in 14 countries, which was founded by his father. In October 2023, Forbes estimated his family to be worth US$10 billion.