2000 24 Hours of Le Mans

2000 24 Hours of Le Mans

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Le Mans in 2000

The 2000 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 68th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 17 and 18 June 2000.

Pre-race

After the 1999 race, most of the manufacturers in the top classes went in different directions. BMW and Toyota went into Formula One, while Mercedes-Benz left sportscar racing after the CLR accidents, returning to the DTM. Nissan also left due to financial difficulties.

Other than the French privateers Pescarolo, Oreca and DAMS, only Audi and Panoz remained from the previous year, while newcomer Cadillac joined.

Race notes

Approximately 200,000 people attended the race. ^[1] The 1-2-3 finish of the Audi LMP900s marked the beginning of two dynasties, Audi's and Tom Kristensen's in the top-finishing Audi. ^[2]

The Oreca team's GTS class winning, seventh place overall, 333 lap finish with the Chrysler Viper was the best ever with that car. It faced serious competition within its class from Corvette Racing's new C5.R., ^[3] which would within the next two years top the Viper's distance record and establish itself as the car to beat among the GT classes.

Official results

Class winners are denoted in bold. ^{[4] [5]}

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Tyre	Laps
					Engine
1	LMP900	8	Audi Sport Team Joest	Frank Biela Tom Kristensen Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	M	368
					Audi 3.6 L Turbo V8
2	LMP900	9	Audi Sport Team Joest	Laurent Aïello Allan McNish Stéphane Ortelli	Audi R8	M	367
					Audi 3.6 L Turbo V8
3	LMP900	7	Audi Sport Team Joest	Christian Abt Michele Alboreto Rinaldo Capello	Audi R8	M	365
					Audi 3.6 L Turbo V8
4	LMP900	16	Pescarolo Sport	Olivier Grouillard Sébastien Bourdais Emmanuel Clérico	Courage C52	M	344
					Peugeot A32 3.2 L Turbo V6
5	LMP900	12	Panoz Motorsports	Johnny O'Connell Hiroki Katoh Pierre-Henri Raphanel	Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S	M	342
					Élan 6L8 6.0 L V8
6	LMP900	23	TV Asahi Team Dragon	Toshio Suzuki Masami Kageyama Masahiko Kageyama	Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S	M	340
					Élan 6L8 6.0 L V8
7	LMGTS	51	Viper Team Oreca	Dominique Dupuy Olivier Beretta Karl Wendlinger	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	M	333
					Chrysler 8.0 L V10
8	LMP900	22	TV Asahi Team Dragon	Keiichi Tsuchiya Akira Iida Masahiko Kondo	Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S	M	330
					Élan 6L8 6.0 L V8
9	LMGTS	53	Viper Team Oreca	David Donohue Ni Amorim Anthony Beltoise	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	M	328
					Chrysler 8.0 L V10
10	LMGTS	64	Corvette Racing	Franck Fréon Andy Pilgrim Kelly Collins	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	G	327
					Chevrolet LS7R 7.0 L V8
11	LMGTS	63	Corvette Racing	Chris Kneifel Ron Fellows Justin Bell	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	G	326
					Chevrolet LS7R 7.0 L V8
12	LMGTS	52	Viper Team Oreca	Tommy Archer Marc Duez Patrick Huisman	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	M	324
					Chrysler 8.0 L V10
13	LMGTS	57	Carsport Holland	Mike Hezemans David Hart Hans Hugenholtz	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	M	317
					Chrysler 8.0 L V10
14	LMGTS	60	Konrad Motorsport	Charles Slater Tommy Kendall Jürgen von Gartzen	Porsche 911 GT2	D	317
					Porsche 3.8 L Turbo Flat-6
15	LMP900	11	Panoz Motorsports	David Brabham Jan Magnussen Mario Andretti	Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S	M	315
					Élan 6L8 6.0 L V8
16	LMGT	73	Team Taisan Advan	Hideo Fukuyama Atsushi Yogo Bruno Lambert	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Y	310
					Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6
17	LMGT	82	Skea Racing International	Johnny Mowlem David Murry Sascha Maassen	Porsche 911 GT3-R	P	304
					Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6
18	LMGT	76	Seikel Motorsport	Max Cohen-Olivar Michel Neugarten Anthony Burgess	Porsche 911 GT3-R	D	302
					Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6
19	LMP900	3	DAMS	Éric Bernard Emmanuel Collard Franck Montagny	Cadillac Northstar LMP	P	300
					Cadillac Northstar 4.0 L Turbo V8
20	LMP900	6	Mopar Team Oreca	Didier Theys Jeffrey van Hooydonk Didier André	Reynard 2KQ-LM	M	292
					Mopar 6.0 L V8
21	LMP900	1	Team Cadillac	Franck Lagorce Butch Leitzinger Andy Wallace	Cadillac Northstar LMP	P	291
					Cadillac Northstar 4.0 L Turbo V8
22	LMP900	2	Team Cadillac	Wayne Taylor Max Angelelli Eric van de Poele	Cadillac Northstar LMP	P	287
					Cadillac Northstar 4.0 L Turbo V8
23	LMGT	79	Perspective Racing	Thierry Perrier Jean-Louis Ricci Romano Ricci	Porsche 911 GT3-R	P	286
					Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6
24	LMGT	80	M1 Club-Renstal Excelsior	Philippe Verellen Rudi Penders Kurt Dujardyn	Porsche 911 GT3-R	P	285
					Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6
25	LMP675	32	Multimatic Motorsports	Scott Maxwell John Graham Greg Wilkins	Lola B2K/40	P	274
					Nissan-AER VQL 3.0 L V6
26	LMP675	36	Rachel Welter	Richard Balandras Yojiro Terada Sylvain Boulay	WR LMP	M	266
					Peugeot 2.0 L Turbo I4
27	LMGT	75	Manthey Racing	Michael Brockman Mike Lauer Gunnar Jeannette	Porsche 911 GT3-R	D	261
					Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6
NC	LMP900	10	Team Den Blå Avis	John Nielsen Mauro Baldi Klaus Graf	Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S	P	205
					Élan 6L8 6.0 L V8
DNF	LMGTS	59	Freisinger Motorsport	Wolfgang Kaufmann Yukihiro Hane Katsunori Iketani	Porsche 911 GT2	D	313
					Porsche 3.8 L Turbo Flat-6
DNF	LMGT	81	Haberthur Racing	Gabrio Rosa Michel Ligonnet Fabio Babini	Porsche 911 GT3-R	P	310
					Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6
DNF	LMP900	17	SMG Compétition	Philippe Gache Gary Formato Didier Cottaz	Courage C60	P	219
					Judd GV4 4.0 L V10
DNF	LMGTS	56	Team Goh	Walter Brun Toni Seiler Christian Gläsel	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	M	210
					Chrysler 8.0 L V10
DNF	LMGTS	54	Paul Belmondo Racing	Boris Derichebourg Guy Martinolle Jean-Claude Lagniez	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	D	180
					Chrysler 8.0 L V10
DNF	LMP900	15	Thomas Bscher Promotion	Thomas Bscher Geoff Lees Jean-Marc Gounon	BMW V12 LM	G	180
					BMW S70 6.0 L V12
DNF	LMP675	35	Gerard Welter	Xavier Pompidou Stéphane Daoudi Jean-Bernard Bouvet	WR LMP	M	169
					Peugeot 2.0 L Turbo I4
DNF	LMP900	21	Team Rafanelli SRL	Domenico Schiattarella Didier de Radiguès Emanuele Naspetti	Lola B2K/10	M	154
					Judd GV4 4.0 L V10
DNF	LMP900	24	Johansson-Matthews Racing	Stefan Johansson Guy Smith Jim Matthews	Reynard 2KQ-LM	Y	133
					Judd GV4 4.0 L V10
DNF	LMGT	72	Racing Engineering	Tomás Saldaña Jesús Diez Villaroel Giovanni Lavaggi	Porsche 911 GT3-R	D	78
					Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6
DNF	LMP675	34	ROC	Jordi Gené Jean-Christophe Boullion Jérôme Policand	Reynard 2KQ-LM	M	72
					Volkswagen HPT16 2.0 L Turbo I4
DNF	LMP675	33	ROC	Ralf Kelleners David Terrien Jean-Denis Délétraz	Reynard 2KQ-LM	M	44
					Volkswagen HPT16 2.0  Turbo I4
DNF	LMP900	20	Konrad Motorsport	Jan Lammers Tom Coronel Peter Kox	Lola B2K/10	D	38
					Ford-Roush 6.0 L V8
DNF	LMGT	77	Larbre Compétition	Patrice Goueslard Christophe Bouchut Jean-Luc Chéreau	Porsche 911 GT3-R	M	34
					Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6
DNF	LMGT	78	Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière	Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière Bernard Chauvin Angelo Zadra	Porsche 911 GT3-R	D	32
					Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6
DNF	LMP675	30	Didier Bonnet	Patrick Lemarié Jean-Francois Yvon Yann Goudy	Debora LMP2000	A	24
					BMW 3.2 L I6
DNF	LMGT	71	Michael Colucci Racing	Shane Lewis Cort Wagner Bob Mazzuoccola	Porsche 911 GT3-R	M	22
					Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6
DNF	LMP900	4	DAMS	Marc Goossens Christophe Tinseau Kristian Kolby	Cadillac Northstar LMP	P	4
					Cadillac Northstar 4.0 L Turbo V8
DNF	LMP900	5	Mopar Team Oreca	Yannick Dalmas Nicolas Minassian Jean-Philippe Belloc	Reynard 2KQ-LM	M	1
					Mopar 6.0 L V8
DSQ†	LMGT	83	Dick Barbour Racing	Dirk Müller Lucas Luhr Bob Wollek	Porsche 911 GT3-R	M	319
					Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6

† - #83 Dick Barbour Racing was disqualified for an illegally sized fuel tank in post-race inspection.

Statistics

• Pole Position — Allan McNish, #9 Audi Sport Team Joest - 3:36.124
• Fastest Lap — Allan McNish, #9 Audi Sport Team Joest - 3:37.359
• Distance - 5007.99 km
• Average Speed - 207.00 km/h
• Highest Trap Speed — Audi R8 - 337 km/h (race)

References

1. "Audi 1-2-3 at Le Mans" (Press release). Audi MediaCenter. 18 June 2000. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
2. "It's twenty years since Audi's first 24 Hours of Le Mans win". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
3. Panighini, Philippe (18 June 2000). "GTS : le grand chelem des Chrysler" [GTS: the Chrysler grand slam]. Ouest-France (in French). Archived from the original on 19 September 2000. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
4. "2000 24 Hours of Le Mans". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
5. "2000 Le Mans 24 Hours". Motor Sport . Retrieved 19 February 2024.