![2003 Bentley Speed 8](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/2003_Bentley_Speed_8.jpg)
The 71st 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: 71
e 24 Heures du Mans, link=no) was a non-championship 24-hour
automobile endurance race held for
Le Mans Prototype
A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were create ...
and
Grand Touring
A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving, due to a combination of performance and luxury attributes. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either a ...
cars from 14 to 15 June 2003 at the
Circuit de la Sarthe
The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe (after the 1906 French Grand Prix triangle circuit) located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport race course, chiefly known as the venue for the 24 Hou ...
close to
Le Mans, France
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
before approximately 220,000 people. It was the 71st edition of the 24 Hour race, as organised by the automotive group, the
Automobile Club de l'Ouest
The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (English: Automobile Club of the West), sometimes abbreviated to ACO, is the largest automotive group in France. It was founded in 1906 by car building and racing enthusiasts, and is most famous for being the organ ...
(ACO) since
1923
Events
January–February
* January 9 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory).
* January 11 – Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, t ...
. A test day was held seven weeks prior to the race on 4 May.
A
Bentley Speed 8
The Bentley Speed 8 (developed from the Bentley EXP Speed 8) was an Autosport Award Winning Le Mans Prototype race car that was designed by Peter Elleray. The EXP Speed 8 debuted in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2001 and won the race in 2003. I ...
shared by Dane
Tom Kristensen
Tom Kristensen (born 7 July 1967) is a Danish former racing driver. He holds the record for the most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine, six of which were consecutive (from 2000 to 2005). In 1997, he won the race with the Joest Racing te ...
, Italian
Rinaldo Capello
Rinaldo "Dindo" Capello (born 17 June 1964) is an Italian professional racing driver. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Bentley in 2003 and Audi in 2004 and 2008. Capello is a two-time American Le Mans Series champion, ...
and Englishman
Guy Smith started from
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
after Kristensen set the fastest overall lap time in the second qualifying session. The team won the race, two laps ahead of the sister Bentley of
Mark Blundell
Mark Blundell (born 8 April 1966) is a British racing driver who competed in Formula One for four seasons, sports cars, and CART. He won the 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans. He was a Formula One presenter for the British broadcaster ITV until the ...
,
David Brabham
David Brabham (born 5 September 1965) is an Australian professional racing driver and one of the most successful and experienced specialists in sports car racing. He has won three international Sports Car series and is one of four Australians t ...
and
Johnny Herbert
John Paul "Johnny" Herbert (born 25 June 1964) is a British former racing driver and current television announcer for Sky Sports F1. He raced in Formula One from 1989 to 2000, for seven different teams, winning three races and placing 4th in t ...
in second place. It was Capello and Smith's first Le Mans victory and Kristensen's fifth. This was the sixth overall victory for Bentley, and their first since the
1930 edition. The overall podium was completed by
Champion Racing
Champion Racing was a sports car racing team based in Pompano Beach, Florida, USA. Founded in 1994 by Dave Maraj, a former rally driver from Trinidad, as the motorsport wing of the Champion Motors car dealership, the team has campaigned variou ...
's
Audi R8
The Audi R8 is a mid-engine, 2-seater sports car, which uses Audi's trademark quattro permanent all-wheel drive system. It was introduced by the German car manufacturer Audi AG in 2006.
The car is exclusively designed, developed, and manufactu ...
of
JJ Lehto
Jyrki Juhani Järvilehto (; born 31 January 1966), better known as "JJ Lehto", is a Finnish racing driver. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice, in 1995 and 2005. He is also a former Formula One driver.
He was a protégé of Finnish 1982 Formula ...
,
Emanuele Pirro
Emanuele Pirro (born 12 January 1962) is an Italian racing driver who has raced in Formula One, touring cars and in endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans which he has won a total of five times. Two times Italian Karting Champion (19 ...
and
Stefan Johansson
Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson (born 8 September 1956) is a Swedish racing driver who drove in Formula One for both Ferrari and McLaren, among other teams. Since leaving Formula One he has won the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and raced in a number o ...
, which won the Le Mans Prototype 900 (LMP900) category from
Audi Sport Japan Team Goh's entry driven by
Seiji Ara
Seiji Ara (荒 聖治; Ara Seiji) (born May 5, 1974 in Chiba, Japan) is a Japanese race car driver.
He was the winner of the 24-hour Le Mans race in 2004, driving an Audi R8. In the same year he also raced in the Le Mans Endurance Series and Ja ...
,
Jan Magnussen
Jan Ellegaard Magnussen (born 4 July 1973) is a Danish professional racing driver and was a factory driver for General Motors until the end of the 2020 season. He has competed in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), NASCAR, the FIA Formula ...
and
Marco Werner
Marco Werner (born April 27, 1966 in Dortmund) is a professional racer from Germany. He is a winner of the Triple Crown in endurance racing.
In his early career, Werner finished runner-up in the Formula Opel Euroseries in 1989 and runner-up in t ...
.
A Noël del Bello Racing
Reynard
Reynard the Fox is a literary cycle of medieval allegorical Dutch, English, French and German fables. The first extant versions of the cycle date from the second half of the 12th century. The genre was popular throughout the Late Middle Ages, as ...
2KQ-LM driven by
Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière
Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière (born 22 February 1943) is a French racing driver
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition.
Auto racing has exis ...
, Christophe Pillon and
Didier André
Didier André (born 3 September 1974) is a race car driver born in Lyon, France. In the late 1990s he competed in Indy Lights, driving in the Indy Racing League in 2001 and Nissan World Series from 2003 until the present day. During 2006 he dr ...
won the Le Mans Prototype 675 (LMP675) class, 32 laps ahead of the second-placed RN Motorsport
DBA4 03S-
Zytek
Gibson Technology is an automotive and motorsport company based at Repton, Derbyshire, England. It was founded by Bill Gibson as "Zytek Engineering" in 1981.
In 1981 Gibson founded the "Zytech Group" with two main divisions: Zytek Automotive, b ...
car of
John Nielsen,
Casper Elgaard
Casper Elgaard (born 5 April 1978) is a Danish auto racing driver. He has competed several times in the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 2001, as well as regular drives in the Le Mans Series. In 2008 he finished second in the LMP2 class of Le Mans for ...
and
Hayanari Shimoda
Hayanari Shimoda (下田隼成; Shimoda Hayanari) (born July 16, 1984) is a Japanese race car driver, born in Tokyo.
His career started in 1997 in karting, Shimoda moving up to Italian Formula Renault in 2001. Happy to travel the world to furthe ...
. The
Veloqx Prodrive Racing team of
Jamie Davies
Jamie Davies (born 16 February 1974, in Yeovil) is a British racing driver.
Career
Single-seaters
Davies began his career competing in karting, winning the South West Championship in 1988, the British Junior Championship in 1989 and the Brit ...
,
Tomáš Enge
Tomáš Enge (; born 11 September 1976) is a Czech former professional racing driver who has competed in many classes of motorsport, including three races in Formula One. He has twice been sanctioned professionally for drug offences.
Career
Born ...
,
Peter Kox
Peter Kox (born 23 February 1964 in Eindhoven) is a racing driver from the Netherlands.
Kox began racing in karts in 1978, winning five titles until 1982. In 1983 he moved to automobiles, winning the Marlboro Formula Ford Challenge and was sec ...
won the Le Mans Grand Touring Sport (LMGTS) class in a
Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello
The Ferrari 550 Maranello (''tipo'' F133) is a front-engine V12 2-seat grand tourer built by Ferrari from 1996 to 2001. The 550 Maranello marked Ferrari's return to a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout for its 2-seater 12-cylinder model, 23 ye ...
, securing Ferrari its first GT win since the
1981 race.
Corvette Racing
Corvette Racing is an American auto racing team established in 1999 by General Motors and Pratt & Miller for the purposes of competing in sports car racing internationally. Corvette Racing is an official racing program for General Motors and th ...
completed the category podium positions a further ten laps behind in second and third with their two
C5-Rs.
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
took the first six positions in the Le Mans Grand Touring (LMGT) category with an
Alex Job Racing
Alex Job Racing is a former professional sports car racing team based in the United States. The team, which is noted for its long-time association with Porsche, has competed in the American Le Mans Series, the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge series, and the ...
(AJR)
911-GT3 RS of
Sascha Maassen
Sascha Maassen (born 28 September 1969 in Aachen, Germany) is a veteran sports car driver.
Early career
Maassen began his career in karts, and moved to cars in 1989, in Formula Ford 1600. During the early 1990s, he raced in the German Formula 3 s ...
,
Emmanuel Collard
Emmanuel Collard (born 3 April 1971) is a French professional racing driver. He is a former member of the Porsche Junioren factory team, but also drives for other marques.
Born in Arpajon, Essonne, Collard is the winner of the Le Mans Series f ...
and
Lucas Luhr
Lucas Luhr (born 22 July 1979) is a German BMW factory racing driver, currently competing for BMW and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the GTLM category of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship.
Early career
Born in Mülheim-Kärlich, Luhr ...
winning on the team's debut appearance at Le Mans.
Background and regulation changes
The 2003
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...
was the 71st edition of the race and took place at the
Circuit de la Sarthe
The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe (after the 1906 French Grand Prix triangle circuit) located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport race course, chiefly known as the venue for the 24 Hou ...
road racing circuit close to
Le Mans
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
, France, from 14 to 15 June. The race was first held in
1923
Events
January–February
* January 9 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory).
* January 11 – Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, t ...
after the automotive journalist
Charles Faroux, the
Automobile Club de l'Ouest
The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (English: Automobile Club of the West), sometimes abbreviated to ACO, is the largest automotive group in France. It was founded in 1906 by car building and racing enthusiasts, and is most famous for being the organ ...
(ACO) general secretary Georges Durand and the industrialist Emile Coquile agreed to hold a test of vehicle reliability and durability. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is considered one of the world's most prestigious motor races and is part of the
Triple Crown of Motorsport
The Triple Crown of Motorsport is an unofficial motorsport achievement, often regarded as winning three of the most prestigious motor races in the world in one's career:
* the Indianapolis 500 (first held in 1911 Indianapolis 500, 1911)
* the 24 H ...
.
After the
2002 race, the ACO reduced the overall amount of horsepower for the Le Mans Grand Touring Prototype (LMGTP), Le Mans Prototype 900 (LMP900), Le Mans Prototype 675 (LMP675), Le Mans Grand Touring Sports (LMGTS) and LMGT (Le Mans Grand Touring) categories by 10 per cent. It allowed carbon fibre chassis to be introduced in the LMGTS class and permitted original
automatic and
semi-automatic gearboxes to be retained in a homologated road vehicle entered in the LMGTS and LMGT categories.
Air restrictors were installed on every engine and
boost pressures were altered in an attempt to create a parity of performance within all four categories. Drivers were told at a public meeting that they were barred from putting two wheels of a car over the white line denoting the boundaries of the circuit and onto the
kerbing; otherwise, they would incur a stop-and-go penalty that would increase in severity if the transgression was repeated.
Entries
The ACO received 72 applications (31 for the Prototype classes and 41 for the Grand Touring categories) by the deadline for entries on 20 February 2003. It granted 50 invitations to the race and entries were divided between the LMP900, LMGTP, LMP675, LMGTS and LMGT classes.
Automatic entries
Six automatic entry invitations were earned by teams of two cars that won their class in the 2002 24 Hours of Le Mans or in the
2002 American Le Mans Series
The 2002 American Le Mans Series season was the 32nd season for the IMSA GT Championship, and the fourth under the American Le Mans Series banner. It was a series for Le Mans Prototypes (LMP) and Grand Touring (GT) race cars divided into 4 class ...
(ALMS) season-closing round, the
Petit Le Mans
The Petit Le Mans ( French for ''little Le Mans'') is a sports car endurance race held annually at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, USA. It uses the rules established for the 24 Hours of Le Mans by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which a ...
at
Road Atlanta
Road Atlanta (known for sponsorship reasons as Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta) is a road course located just north of Braselton, Georgia, United States. The facility is utilized for a wide variety of events, including professional and amateur spo ...
, designated a qualifying race by the ACO as part of an agreement with the ALMS. As entries were designated for teams, the squads were not allowed to change their cars from the previous year to the next. They were permitted to change category provided there was no change in the make of car and the ACO consented to the switch.
The teams who received an automatic entry based on victory in their class at the 2002 24 Hours of Le Mans were
Audi Sport Team Joest
Joest Racing is a sports car racing team that was established in 1978 by former Porsche works racer Reinhold Joest. Their headquarters are in Wald-Michelbach, Germany.
Early years
As a combined driver/team owner, Reinhold Joest first began to ...
in both of the LMP categories,
Corvette Racing
Corvette Racing is an American auto racing team established in 1999 by General Motors and Pratt & Miller for the purposes of competing in sports car racing internationally. Corvette Racing is an official racing program for General Motors and th ...
for the LMGTS class and
The Racer's Group
The Racer's Group, or TRG, is a WeatherTech SportsCar Championship racing team located in Petaluma, California, owned by Kevin Buckler and his wife Debra. TRG has competed professionally in road racing since 1995. The team formerly competed in NA ...
(TRG) in the LMGT category. Audi Sport North America and Corvette also earned berths for securing victories in their respective classes at the Petit Le Mans and
Alex Job Racing
Alex Job Racing is a former professional sports car racing team based in the United States. The team, which is noted for its long-time association with Porsche, has competed in the American Le Mans Series, the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge series, and the ...
in the LMGT category.
[ However, Audi chose not to accept its automatic invitations after the manufacturer announced the withdrawal of its factory operations and forwent its defense of the overall victory.
]
Entry list
On 25 March 2003, the selection committee of the ACO announced the full 50-car entry list for Le Mans, plus six reserves. The field was composed of an equal number of Prototype and GT cars, representing 22 different makes of car (14 in the GT classes and 8 in the Prototype categories). After a protest was raised by Larbre Compétition
Larbre Compétition is a French auto racing team founded in 1988 by Jack Leconte. Based at the Circuit du Val de Vienne in Le Vigeant, Larbre has had considerable success in the Porsche Carrera Cup, French GT Championship, and international FI ...
owner Jack Leconte and alpine skier Luc Alphand
Luc Alphand (born 6 August 1965) is a former FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer from France. He specialized in the speed events and later became a auto racing, race car driver.
Ski racing
Born in Briançon (Ha ...
over their respective teams being allocated one entry, Michel Cosson, the president of the ACO, said that entries selected appeared to be of high quality and the automotive group wanted the field to be heterogeneous. He stated it was not the right way to select entries for the race, but he disliked those who sought to spoil the excitement of the event.[
]
Bio-ethanol car
Team Nasamax, an operation based in Sittingbourne
Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...
, England, entered the first renewable-fuelled sports prototype racing car at the Le Mans event to increase awareness of renewable fuels. The car, called the Reynard 01Q, ran a Cosworth
Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...
V8 turbocharged engine on bio-ethanol fuel,[ which does not release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere because it is produced from crops.][ The car's fuel systems and inlet air system were modified to allow for the efficient combustion of fuel. An alternative ]exhaust system
An exhaust system is used to guide reaction exhaust gases away from a controlled combustion inside an engine or stove. The entire system conveys burnt gases from the engine and includes one or more exhaust pipes. Depending on the overall system ...
was built and the housing and vanes on the turbocharger were altered.
Testing
A mandatory pre-Le Mans testing day split into two daytime sessions of four hours each was held at the circuit on 4 May, involving all 50 entries as well as all six reserve cars. The weather was clear and dry. Bentley was fastest with a lap of 3 minutes, 34.820 seconds set by Tom Kristensen
Tom Kristensen (born 7 July 1967) is a Danish former racing driver. He holds the record for the most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine, six of which were consecutive (from 2000 to 2005). In 1997, he won the race with the Joest Racing te ...
in the 7 Speed 8 in the final minutes of testing. Jan Magnussen
Jan Ellegaard Magnussen (born 4 July 1973) is a Danish professional racing driver and was a factory driver for General Motors until the end of the 2020 season. He has competed in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), NASCAR, the FIA Formula ...
was the fastest of the privateer Audi R8s for Team Goh
Team Goh Motorsports is a Japanese auto racing team founded by Kazumichi Goh in 1996. They currently compete in the Japanese Super Formula Championship.
History
Initially competing in the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC), Team G ...
in second place and the No. 7 Bentley was third. The Audi Sport UK and the Champion Racing
Champion Racing was a sports car racing team based in Pompano Beach, Florida, USA. Founded in 1994 by Dave Maraj, a former rally driver from Trinidad, as the motorsport wing of the Champion Motors car dealership, the team has campaigned variou ...
entries were fourth and fifth. Late in testing, Frank Biela
Frank Stanley Biela (born 2 August 1964 in Neuss) is a German auto racing driver, mainly competing in touring cars and sportscar racing. He has raced exclusively in cars manufactured by the Audi marque since 1990.
Career
Biela started his care ...
lost control on a patch of oil laid by a Pagani Zonda
The Pagani Zonda is a mid-engine sports car produced by the Italian sports car manufacturer Pagani. It debuted at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show. By 2019, a total of 140 cars had been built, including development mules. Both 2-door coupé and roa ...
at the Porsche Curves, crashing into a barrier at and damaging the right-rear corner of the Audi Sport UK car. The No. 26 RN Motorsport DBA4 03S-Zytek
Gibson Technology is an automotive and motorsport company based at Repton, Derbyshire, England. It was founded by Bill Gibson as "Zytek Engineering" in 1981.
In 1981 Gibson founded the "Zytech Group" with two main divisions: Zytek Automotive, b ...
car led in LMP675 with a 3 minutes, 47.708 seconds lap, followed by the No. 29 Noël del Bello Racing Reynard 2KQ-LM and the No. 27 Intersport Racing
Intersport Racing is a former American auto racing team founded by Jon Field. The team was based in Dublin, Ohio. They previously operated two Oreca FLM09 sports cars in the American Le Mans Series. At current, the company has transitioned into ...
MG-Lola EX257
The MG-Lola EX257 (sometimes referred to as simply MG EX257) is a Le Mans Prototype built by Lola for the MG car company for their attempt to compete again at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in . The car has had many years of mixed success since its in ...
vehicles.[ ]Tomáš Enge
Tomáš Enge (; born 11 September 1976) is a Czech former professional racing driver who has competed in many classes of motorsport, including three races in Formula One. He has twice been sanctioned professionally for drug offences.
Career
Born ...
's No. 88 Prodrive
Prodrive is a British motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It designs, constructs and races automobile, cars for companies and teams such as Aston Martin, Bahrain Raid Xtreme and Team X44. Its advan ...
Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello
The Ferrari 550 Maranello (''tipo'' F133) is a front-engine V12 2-seat grand tourer built by Ferrari from 1996 to 2001. The 550 Maranello marked Ferrari's return to a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout for its 2-seater 12-cylinder model, 23 ye ...
recorded the fastest lap in LMGTS at 3 minutes, 57.180 seconds, the sister No. 80 car of Kelvin Burt
Kelvin Burt (born 7 September 1967 in Birmingham) is a British auto racing driver. After attending the Jim Russell Racing Drivers' School in 1987 he turned to Formula Ford racing, battling hard against David Coulthard for the championship. He wo ...
placed second and Jérôme Policand
Jérôme Policand (born 1 October 1964 in Grenoble) is a French racing driver.
He drove in Le Mans Series Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in GT1 class for the Team Luc Alphand Aventures. He is currently the team principal of French Bla ...
completed a top-three sweep of Ferraris in the class in the No. 72 Luc Alphand Aventures entry.[ ]Jörg Bergmeister
Jörg Bergmeister (born 13 February 1976, in Leverkusen) is a former racing driver from Germany and an ambassador of Porsche.
His late father, Willi Bergmeister, owned a workshop and dealership where Michael Schumacher learned his trade as a ...
's No. 81 TRG Porsche 911 GT3
The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a line of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS.
The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national ...
-RS led the LMGT category at 4 minutes, 8.636 seconds and the No. 93 Alex Job Racing
Alex Job Racing is a former professional sports car racing team based in the United States. The team, which is noted for its long-time association with Porsche, has competed in the American Le Mans Series, the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge series, and the ...
(AJR) car of Sascha Maassen
Sascha Maassen (born 28 September 1969 in Aachen, Germany) is a veteran sports car driver.
Early career
Maassen began his career in karts, and moved to cars in 1989, in Formula Ford 1600. During the early 1990s, he raced in the German Formula 3 s ...
was second.[
]
Qualifying
A total of eight hours of qualifying divided into four two-hour sessions were available to all the entrants on 11 and 12 June. During the sessions, all entrants were required to set a time within 110 per cent of the fastest lap set by the fastest vehicle in each of the four categories to qualify for the race. The weather was overcast and humid, and teams focused on car setup. Bentley led early on with a flying lap from Mark Blundell
Mark Blundell (born 8 April 1966) is a British racing driver who competed in Formula One for four seasons, sports cars, and CART. He won the 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans. He was a Formula One presenter for the British broadcaster ITV until the ...
's No. 8 car, followed by Kristensen and Johnny Herbert
John Paul "Johnny" Herbert (born 25 June 1964) is a British former racing driver and current television announcer for Sky Sports F1. He raced in Formula One from 1989 to 2000, for seven different teams, winning three races and placing 4th in t ...
, who went faster. Ultimately, Blundell went to the top with a lap of 3 minutes, 35.321 seconds. Kristensen's No. 7 vehicle was a quarter of a second slower in second and Jan Magnussen
Jan Ellegaard Magnussen (born 4 July 1973) is a Danish professional racing driver and was a factory driver for General Motors until the end of the 2020 season. He has competed in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), NASCAR, the FIA Formula ...
was the fastest Audi privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
in third. Jan Lammers
Jan Lammers (Johannes Antonius Lammers, Zandvoort, 2 June 1956) is a racing driver from the Netherlands whose most notable claim to fame is victory in the 1988 Le Mans 24 Hours for Silk Cut Jaguar/ TWR, next to a four-season spell in Formula One ...
' No. 15 Racing for Holland
Racing for Holland is a Dutch motor racing team started by Jan Lammers in 1999. The team is initially specialised in endurance races such as 24 hours of Le Mans and FIA sportscars series. The team also participated in the A1 Grand Prix as the A1 ...
Dome S101 improved on each of his timed laps to finish fourth,[ and ]JJ Lehto
Jyrki Juhani Järvilehto (; born 31 January 1966), better known as "JJ Lehto", is a Finnish racing driver. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice, in 1995 and 2005. He is also a former Formula One driver.
He was a protégé of Finnish 1982 Formula ...
of Champion Racing was fifth.[ John Nielsen carried RN Motorsport's DBA4 03S-Zytek car to provisional pole position in LMP675 with a time of 3 minutes, 45.243 seconds, eight seconds ahead of the Intersport and Automotive Durango SRL teams.][ A lap of 3 minutes, 55.613 seconds set with five minutes to go put ]Oliver Gavin
Oliver Benjamin Gavin (born 29 September 1972), is a British racing driver who joined Corvette Racing in 2002. He has won five American Le Mans Series class championships, five 24 Hours of Le Mans class wins, five 12 Hours of Sebring class win ...
's No. 50 Chevrolet Corvette C5-R
The Chevrolet Corvette C5-R is a grand touring racing car built by Pratt & Miller and Chevrolet for competition in endurance racing. The car is based on the C5 generation of the Chevrolet Corvette sports car, yet is designed purely for motorspo ...
at the top of the LMGTS category, demoting Enge's Prodrive Ferrari to second. Johnny O'Connell
Johnny O'Connell (born July 24, 1962) is the most successful GM factory racing driver from the United States. He currently drives for Cadillac in the Pirelli World Challenge, winning the 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 GT driver's championship.
Caree ...
's No. 53 car was third after setting a lap in the final ten minutes. AJR's Porsche of Maassen topped the timing charts in LMGT, almost three seconds faster than Timo Bernhard
Timo Bernhard (born 24 February 1981) is a former driver from Germany. He was a sports car driver from Porsche, but was seconded to Audi for selected events in 2009 and 2010. He is a winner of the Triple Crown in endurance racing. On 29 June 20 ...
's TRG car and another seven-tenths ahead of Marc Lieb
Marc Lieb (born 4 July 1980) is a former German Porsche factory motor-racing driver. He won the FIA GT Championship in 2003 and 2005, and the European Le Mans Series in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010. He won the 24 Hours Nürburgring four times, one t ...
's No. 87 Orbit entry. Separate spins from Chris McMurry, Kevin Buckler
Kevin Buckler (born c. 1959) is an American race car driver and entrepreneur. He founded Adobe Road Winery and currently owns The Racer's Group, a professional sports car racing team; TRG Motorsports, formerly a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team; and ...
, Peter Kox
Peter Kox (born 23 February 1964 in Eindhoven) is a racing driver from the Netherlands.
Kox began racing in karts in 1978, winning five titles until 1982. In 1983 he moved to automobiles, winning the Marlboro Formula Ford Challenge and was sec ...
and Andrew Bagnall
Andrew Bagnall is a motor racing driver born in Wellington, New Zealand on 14 February 1947.
Career
Bagnall raced in the Australian Touring Car Championship in the late 1980s, in the New Zealand Touring Car Championship in 1990, and in some ...
did not disrupt the session.
Wednesday night's qualifying session was held with lower asphalt temperatures and teams performed scheduled simulation runs to see how their cars would behave on heavy fuel loads and worn tyres under darkness in its final 75 minutes. A lack of slower traffic and better grip allowed Kristensen to displace Blundell as the fastest overall and twice improve the overall fastest lap to 3 minutes, 32.843 seconds, followed by David Brabham
David Brabham (born 5 September 1965) is an Australian professional racing driver and one of the most successful and experienced specialists in sports car racing. He has won three international Sports Car series and is one of four Australians t ...
's sister No. 8 Bentley in second and Biela's No. 10 Audi third. Emanuele Pirro
Emanuele Pirro (born 12 January 1962) is an Italian racing driver who has raced in Formula One, touring cars and in endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans which he has won a total of five times. Two times Italian Karting Champion (19 ...
put the No. 6 Audi fourth as Lammers fell to fifth.[ ]Marco Werner
Marco Werner (born April 27, 1966 in Dortmund) is a professional racer from Germany. He is a winner of the Triple Crown in endurance racing.
In his early career, Werner finished runner-up in the Formula Opel Euroseries in 1989 and runner-up in t ...
's Team Goh Audi ran into a gravel trap
A run-off area is an area on a motorsport race track used for racer safety. Run-off areas are usually located along a road racing circuit where racers are most likely to unintentionally depart from the prescribed course. There are different types ...
; he continued driving.[ In LMP675, Nielsen improved the RN Motorsport Zytek car's lap by a second to 3 minutes, 44.343 and increased its advantage over the Intersport team to almost ten seconds.] 75 minutes into the session, the Team Bucknum Racing Pilbeam-JPX MP91 car had an engine fault at Indianapolis corner and laid oil on the track. Marshals
Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...
took 20 minutes to dry the spilled oil and qualifying resumed.[ Enge's Prodrive Ferrari led from the start in the LMGTS class. He improved on Corvette Racing's lap from the first session to a 3 minutes, 53.278 seconds. Maassen in the AJR Porsche remained at the top of the LMGT category after a session-long battle with Bernhard.][ Bagnall lost control of the Seikel Motorsport Porsche and got beached in a gravel trap.][ David Warnock's PK Sport car sustained ]track rod
A tie rod or tie bar (also known as a hanger rod if vertical) is a slender structural unit used as a tie and (in most applications) capable of carrying tensile loads only.
It is any rod or bar-shaped structural member designed to prevent the separa ...
damage in a collision with a Prototype in the Dunlop Chicane
A chicane () is a serpentine curve in a road, added by design rather than dictated by geography. Chicanes add extra turns and are used both in motor racing and on roads and streets to slow traffic for safety. For example, one form of chicane is ...
.[
Thursday's first qualifying session was stopped after seven minutes because of an accident.] Jamie Campbell-Walter
Jamie Campbell-Walter is a British professional racing driver. He was born in Oban, Scotland on 16 December 1972. He won the FIA GT Championship in 2000 and took a World Endurance Championship title in 2013 as an Aston Martin Racing factory dr ...
spun a Lister Storm LMP
{{Racing car
, Car_name = Lister Storm LMP/Hybrid
, Image =
, Category = LMP900 & LMP1
, Constructor = Lister Cars
, Designer = Andy Thorby
, Team = Lister Racing
, Drivers = John Nielsen, Casper Elgaard, Jens Reno Møller, Jamie Campbel ...
car after hitting a bump on the exit of the Dunlop Esses. He crashed backwards against a left-hand side barrier at the Dunlop Curve at . The impact was measured at , and marshals and safety teams spent ten minutes extricating Campbell-Walter from the car, removing a section of carbon fibre bodywork trapping his legs and put him into an ambulance. The Lister Storm LMP car was later withdrawn due to a lack of spare parts.[ Later, ]Ian Khan
Ian Tarik Khan (born 12 May 1960) is an international racecar driver. He took part in the FIA GT and FIA GT3 Championships, as well as the British Touring Car Championship.
Racing career
In 1992 he won the BRDC British Saloon Car Championship ...
's Thierry Perrier
Thierry Perrier (born 16 April 1950, in Boulogne) is a French Auto racing, racing driver. He raced mainly in sportscars and GT.
24 Hours of Le Mans results
References
1950 births
Living people
French racing drivers
24 Hours of Le Mans d ...
Porsche engine failed and laid oil on the circuit at the Dunlop Chicane. Robin Liddell
Robin Liddell (born 28 February 1974) is a Scottish racing driver who currently competes in the Michelin Pilot Challenge.
Career
255px, Liddell in action at Road America in 2012
Liddell has two series championships to his name, winning the GT ...
was caught out, hit the oil and spun into a gravel trap. At the same time, Roland Bervillé spun, hit a barrier with his front-right hand corner and broke the rear wing
A spoiler is an automotive aerodynamic device whose intended design function is to 'spoil' unfavorable air movement across a body of a vehicle in motion, usually described as turbulence or drag. Spoilers on the front of a vehicle are often ca ...
on the T2M Motorsport car, temporarily stopping the session. Herbert's No. 8 Bentley led the session with a lap of 3 minutes, 35.126 seconds but remained second on the provisional grid. Magnussen used lower air temperatures to improve the Team Goh Audi's lap and pass Lammers for third at the close of the session. Lehto bettered the Champion Racing's entry to stay fourth. Although the RN Motorsport Zytek car did not better its lap, it remained on provisional pole in LMP675, while the Intersport Lola vehicle improved by more than five seconds to remain in second in class. Enge's lap from the second session kept him at the top of LMGTS as Darren Turner
Darren Turner (born 13 April 1974) is a British professional racing driver and owner of Base Performance Simulators. He races for Aston Martin Racing as a Factory-backed, factory driver and also works as a high performance test driver for Aston ...
in the sister Prodrive Ferrari overtook the No. 50 Corvette for second. AJR continued to lead the LMGT class due to its lap from the previous day.
The final session was used to test cars under race conditions and saw more incidents. Thomas Erdos
Thomas "Tommy" Erdos (born 30 October 1963) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He has raced for most of his career in Great Britain and Europe, where he currently resides in Buckinghamshire England with his partner Sheila. He has three childre ...
in the Graham Nash Motorsport Saleen S7-R
Saleen Automotive, Inc., commonly known as Saleen (/səˈliːn/), is an American manufacturer of specialty high-performance sports cars and high-performance automotive parts. Saleen is headquartered in Corona, California, US. On June 26, 2013 Sal ...
stopped on his out-lap in a gravel trap at the Dunlop Chicane, requiring recovery from trackside marshals. Gavin Pickering's Rachel Welter WR-Peugeot car stopped at the exit of the pit lane with bodywork flailing from it. Kristensen allowed his co-drivers Rinaldo Capello
Rinaldo "Dindo" Capello (born 17 June 1964) is an Italian professional racing driver. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Bentley in 2003 and Audi in 2004 and 2008. Capello is a two-time American Le Mans Series champion, ...
and Guy Smith to become familiar with the No. 7 Bentley, which led the session and secured the pole position through Kristensen's lap from the second session. Herbert improved the sister No. 8 Bentley's lap on his second attempt by one-tenth of a second; it remained in second overall due to slower traffic delaying Herbert. Audi were unable to challenge but Biela improved the Audi Sport UK team's fastest lap to take third and Magnussen qualified the Team Goh car fifth; they were separated by Lammers' Racing for Holland Dome car. Intersport's MG-Lola car went faster but it was not fast enough to displace the RN Motorsport Zytek car, which was impaired by a broken throttle linkage, from the top of the LMP675 category and was two seconds slower. The GT categories remained mostly the same with the second session lap of Enge's No. 88 Prodrive Ferrari in LMGTS class again not being improved upon as his teammate Turner moved to within four-tenths of a second. Porsche took the first three positions in the LMGT category, with Lucas Luhr
Lucas Luhr (born 22 July 1979) is a German BMW factory racing driver, currently competing for BMW and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the GTLM category of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship.
Early career
Born in Mülheim-Kärlich, Luhr ...
's AJR car resetting the category lap record to a 4 minutes, 6.984 seconds and Bernhard's TRG entry was four-hundredths of a seconds behind in second.
Qualifying results
Pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
winners in each class are indicated in bold The fastest time set by each entry is denoted in gray.
Notes:
* – The No. 20 Lister Storm LMP
{{Racing car
, Car_name = Lister Storm LMP/Hybrid
, Image =
, Category = LMP900 & LMP1
, Constructor = Lister Cars
, Designer = Andy Thorby
, Team = Lister Racing
, Drivers = John Nielsen, Casper Elgaard, Jens Reno Møller, Jamie Campbel ...
was withdrawn due to accident damage in the third qualifying session.
Warm-up
The drivers took to the track at 09:00 Central European Summer Time
Central European Summer Time (CEST), sometimes referred to as Central European Daylight Time (CEDT), is the standard clock time observed during the period of summer daylight-saving in those European countries which observe Central European Time ...
( UTC+02:00) for a 45-minute warm-up session in overcast and cool weather. Bentley continued to be fastest overall as Blundell's No. 8 car recorded a lap of 3 minutes, 35.319 seconds. He was 2.615 seconds faster than the No. 7 Bentley in second place. The Audi Sport UK R8 was third, Champion Racing was fourth and the Racing for Holland Home car rounded out the top five. RN Motorsport's Zytek car continued to lead in LMP675, as the No. 50 Corvette led the LMGTS field and the TRG Porsche led in LMGT.[ Shortly after the session commenced, ]Romain Dumas
Romain Dumas (born 14 December 1977) is a French racing driver and a Porsche factory driver. He first started out in karting and single-seater before becoming an expert driver in endurance racing, GT and sport-prototype. He has won the greatest r ...
' Team Nasamax Reynard had an ignition problem caused by a heat leak at the right of the engine's cylinder bank
The engine configuration describes the fundamental operating principles by which internal combustion engines are categorized.
Piston engines are often categorized by their cylinder layout, valves and camshafts. Wankel engines are often categorize ...
, significantly damaging its engine compartment and required a significant change of car components.
Race
Start
Thunderstorms were forecast, and despite an earlier heavy rain shower, the weather at the start of the race was clear. The air temperature approached . Approximately 220,000 people attended the event. The two Bentley Speed 8s underwent checks to their ride height
Ride height or ground clearance is the amount of space between the base of an automobile tire and the lowest point of the automobile (typically the axle); or, more properly, to the shortest distance between a flat, level surface, and the lowest p ...
s, Ray Mallock rectified a faulty gearbox
Propulsion transmission is the mode of transmitting and controlling propulsion power of a machine. The term ''transmission'' properly refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive vehicles), differe ...
that leaked oil in the No. 64 Saleen S7-R
Saleen Automotive, Inc., commonly known as Saleen (/səˈliːn/), is an American manufacturer of specialty high-performance sports cars and high-performance automotive parts. Saleen is headquartered in Corona, California, US. On June 26, 2013 Sal ...
, and Kondo Racing replaced the No. 9 Dome S101's V8 engine
A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration.
The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...
after a water leak. The French tricolour
The national flag of France (french: link=no, drapeau français) is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue ( hoist side), white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the ''Tricolour'' (), although the flag of Ireland ...
was waved by the founder of the ALMS Don Panoz
Donald Panoz ( or ; February 13, 1935 – September 11, 2018) was an American entrepreneur who founded various pharmaceutical companies.
Early life
Panoz was an Italian-American. His father, Eugene Panunzio, immigrated to the United States f ...
at 16:00 Central European Summer Time
Central European Summer Time (CEST), sometimes referred to as Central European Daylight Time (CEDT), is the standard clock time observed during the period of summer daylight-saving in those European countries which observe Central European Time ...
to signal the start of the race, led by the starting pole sitter Capello's No. 7 Bentley.[ 49 cars planned to take the start following the withdrawal of the Lister Storm LMP, but the No. 25 Gerard Welter WR LMP02 was in the ]pit lane
In motorsports, a pit stop is a pause for refuelling, new tyres, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, as a penalty, or any combination of the above. These stops occur in an area called the pits, most commonly accessed via a pit lan ...
with a mechanical fault.[ Capello maintained the lead and Lammers' Racing for Holland car passed Magnussen's Team Goh Audi for third.][ At the end of the first lap, Gavin brought the No. 50 Corvette into the pit lane with a throttle linkage problem that lost the car 26 minutes and dropped it to last overall. Lammers fell from second to sixth when the three privateer Audis passed him as Bentley quickly pulled away from the rest of the field. Herbert briefly took the lead from Capello before making the No. 8 Bentley's first pit stop of the event on lap 10. Meanwhile, Intersport's Lola-MG vehicle moved to the front of LMP675 after the RN Motorsport Zytek developed car trouble and AJR led the LMGT category.
The first hour of the race ended with the first crash as the No. 91 ]TVR Tuscan T400R
The TVR Tuscan Speed Six is a sports car which was manufactured by British automobile manufacturer TVR from 1999 to 2006. The name pays homage to the original Tuscan which was introduced in 1967.
History
The Tuscan Speed Six was introduce ...
of Richard Stanton was hit from behind by a Gerard Walter WR LMP02 car in the Porsche Curves, sending him into the outside concrete barrier at the exit to the complex. The impact broke the Tuscan's right-rear suspension
Suspension or suspended may refer to:
Science and engineering
* Suspension (topology), in mathematics
* Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics
* Suspension of a ring, in mathematics
* Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspend ...
, stranding Stanton at the complex of turns.[ The car was retired after repairs made to its differential by Stanton to make it drive-able for a return to the pit lane proved unsuccessful.] Not long after, Capello locked the No. 7 Bentley's brakes going into the right-hand Mulsanne Corner and he slowed to stop the car from spinning into a gravel trap. He held off Herbert in a large amount of slower traffic until Herbert passed him to retake the lead on the 23rd lap. Kristensen relieved Capello in the No. 7 Bentley and retook the overall lead from Lehto's Audi R8 three laps later. Brabham's sister No. 8 car was called into the pit lane to have a loose door frame fixed in a ten-second stop. Casper Elgaard
Casper Elgaard (born 5 April 1978) is a Danish auto racing driver. He has competed several times in the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 2001, as well as regular drives in the Le Mans Series. In 2008 he finished second in the LMP2 class of Le Mans for ...
had been the fastest driver in LMP675 at the time, returning the RN Motorsport Zytek to the lead of the class. Audi Sport UK instructed Biela to enter the pit lane on lap 28. He was prevented from doing so by a Panoz prototype vehicle to his right and was required to complete an additional lap. The R8 slowed with a lack of fuel through Mulsanne Corner and it was retired at the side of the track after Biela's attempt to weave and keep the car running on its starter failed.[
In the third hour, Kristensen almost made contact with ]Jean-Marc Gounon
Jean-Marc Gounon (born 1 January 1963) is a French racing driver. He raced in Formula One in and , participating in a total of 9 Grands Prix and scoring no championship points. He is the father of fellow racing driver Jules Gounon.
Career
After ...
's Courage Compétition
Courage Compétition was a racing team and chassis constructor company now owned by Oreca, based in Le Mans, France near the Circuit de la Sarthe. It was founded by Yves Courage, a French race driver who ran hillclimbs before founding the compa ...
Judd exiting the pit lane. Beppe Gabbiani
Giuseppe "Beppe" Gabbiani (born 2 January 1957) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 17 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 1 October 1978, and scored no championship points. He also participated in one non-Champion ...
's Racing for Holland car hit Kelly Collins' No. 50 Corvette at Arnage corner and both cars spun. Brabham's No. 8 Bentley passed Werner's Team Goh Audi R8 for second at the Dunlop Curve though Werner used slower traffic to retake the position. Brabham returned to second when Werner entered the pit lane as the RN Motorsport Zytek car lost the lead of the LMP675 class to Noël del Bello Racing's Reynard car of Didier André
Didier André (born 3 September 1974) is a race car driver born in Lyon, France. In the late 1990s he competed in Indy Lights, driving in the Indy Racing League in 2001 and Nissan World Series from 2003 until the present day. During 2006 he dr ...
as its alternator
An alternator is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field with a stationary armature.Go ...
was changed. Safety cars were deployed after 3 hours and 40 minutes to slow the race because oil was laid by an unknown car between the Mulsanne and Indianapolis turns. This prompted several cars to make pit stops and brought much of the field closer. In the main LMP categories, the safety cars separated the field, leaving the Bentleys more than 2 minutes and 17 seconds of each other, 50 seconds ahead of Werner's Team Goh Audi and another 50 seconds in front of Stefan Johansson
Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson (born 8 September 1956) is a Swedish racing driver who drove in Formula One for both Ferrari and McLaren, among other teams. Since leaving Formula One he has won the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and raced in a number o ...
's Champion Racing car. The lead of LMGT changed as Emmanuel Collard
Emmanuel Collard (born 3 April 1971) is a French professional racing driver. He is a former member of the Porsche Junioren factory team, but also drives for other marques.
Born in Arpajon, Essonne, Collard is the winner of the Le Mans Series f ...
's AJR Porsche was forced into the pit lane with a malfunctioning gearshift, allowing Buckler's TRG vehicle to take the category lead until Bernhard made an unscheduled pit stop to replace a heavily slipping clutch
A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts). ...
.[ The No. 88 Prodrive Ferrari of ]Jamie Davies
Jamie Davies (born 16 February 1974, in Yeovil) is a British racing driver.
Career
Single-seaters
Davies began his career competing in karting, winning the South West Championship in 1988, the British Junior Championship in 1989 and the Brit ...
came to the pit lane for a two-minute stop to rectify a water leak, ceding the lead to the sister No. 80 car of Kelvin Burt
Kelvin Burt (born 7 September 1967 in Birmingham) is a British auto racing driver. After attending the Jim Russell Racing Drivers' School in 1987 he turned to Formula Ford racing, battling hard against David Coulthard for the championship. He wo ...
.[
]
Night
As night fell, the lead of the LMP675 category switched from the No. 29 Noël del Bello Racing's Reynard vehicle to the Intersport Racing MG-Lola car, which later had an anxious moment when driver Duncan Dayton
Duncan Dayton (born April 28, 1959 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an entrepreneur, former racing driver and racing team owner. Dayton raced in various formula racing and sportscar racing series. Currently, Dayton is the owner of Highcroft Racing.
...
spun at the PlayStation chicane. He managed to retain the lead in the class. Soon after, Tom Coronel
Tom Romeo Coronel (born 5 April 1972) is a Dutch professional racing driver. Tom's twin brother Tim is also a racer, just like their father Tom Coronel Sr. His most important results are winning the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 race in 1997, th ...
's St Team Orange Spyker C8 Double-12R stopped at the entry to the pit lane with a clutch failure. He exited the car to push it beyond a white line denoting where his pit crew could provide assistance. Coronel was then told by a trackside marshal that he was not permitted to push the car any further and it dropped out of reach of completing the laps necessary for classification. At the front of the field, the gap between Smith and Capello's No. 7 Bentley and Blundell and Herbert's sister No. 8 car was 33 seconds. Third position was the Champion Racing Audi R8 of Pirro and Seiji Ara
Seiji Ara (荒 聖治; Ara Seiji) (born May 5, 1974 in Chiba, Japan) is a Japanese race car driver.
He was the winner of the 24-hour Le Mans race in 2004, driving an Audi R8. In the same year he also raced in the Le Mans Endurance Series and Ja ...
's Team Goh entry was fourth.[ The LMGTS category was a close battle between the Prodrive pair of Kox and ]Anthony Davidson
Anthony Denis Davidson (born 18 April 1979) is a British former racing driver, currently working as an analyst for the Sky Sports F1 television channel, as part of the commentary team for WEC TV, as colour commentator for the F1 series of vid ...
, as both cars set next to identical lap times during the seventh hour. Ron Fellows
Ronald Charles Fellows CM (born September 28, 1959) is a Canadian auto racing driver. Fellows holds the record for most wins by a foreign-born driver in NASCAR's top three series (Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and trucks) with six – four in Nationw ...
' No. 53 Corvette equalled their pace until the Ferraris responded by increasing their speed.[ In the eighth hour, Davidson spun into a gravel trap at the PlayStation chicane.] The resulting pit stop to change the No. 80 Prodrive Ferrari's tyres and a precautionary check lost Davidson two laps and third place in LMGTS to Fellows.
A multi-car battle for eighth place overall developed between David Saelens
David Saelens (born 2 July 1975 in Ypres, West Flanders) is a racing driver from Belgium. He drove in several racing classes such as Formula Three, International Formula 3000, American Le Mans Series, DTM and most recently the 2018 Porsche Superc ...
' Panoz, the Courage Compétition of Gounon and Christophe Tinseau
Christophe Tinseau (born 18 December 1969) is a French racing driver from Orléans.
Tinseau began racing professionally in French Formula Renault in 1991. In 1992 he moved to French Formula Three and in 1993 he placed 4th in that championship w ...
's Riley & Scott Mk III C-Ford; all three drivers were within 20 seconds of each other. Tinseau bowed out of the battle after a routine pit stop, leaving Saelens and Gounon 18 seconds apart.[ On lap 116, Herbert's No. 8 Bentley made a pit stop; a miscommunication between the mechanic holding a ]jack
Jack may refer to:
Places
* Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA
People and fictional characters
* Jack (given name), a male given name, ...
and a rear tyre fitter lost him ten seconds.[ 19 laps later, Lammers' Racing for Holland car lowered a 15-second gap through its faster pace to pass ]Olivier Beretta
Olivier Beretta (born 23 November 1969) is a professional racing driver from Monaco who raced in Formula One in 1994 for the Larrousse team, partnering Érik Comas. He participated in 10 Grands Prix, debuting on 27 March 1994. He scored no champi ...
's Riley & Scott Ford in the final third of the lap for fifth overall. Soon after, Beretta picked up a puncture from hitting debris on the dirty side of the Mulsanne Straight
The Mulsanne Straight (''Ligne Droite des Hunaudières'' in French) is the name used in English for a formerly long straight of the Circuit de la Sarthe around which the 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race takes place. Since 1990, the straight is int ...
at and slowed en route to the pit lane. The second-place car in the LMGTS category, the No. 50 Corvette of Fellows, was hindered by a suspected alternator belt failure and entered the pit lane. Mechanics found it was a broken pulley
A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft that is designed to support movement and change of direction of a taut cable or belt, or transfer of power between the shaft and cable or belt. In the case of a pulley supported by a frame or shell that ...
operating the vehicle's oil pump. They replaced the support and the battery
Battery most often refers to:
* Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power
* Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact
Battery may also refer to:
Energy source
*Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
, enabling Fellows to rejoin the circuit fourth in class. Kristensen's No. 7 Bentley had a 1-minute and 40-second pit stop to have minor damage at the front of the car repaired; he retained the overall lead over Brabham's sister No. 8 car. Luhr's No. 83 AJR Porsche succumbed to raised oil and water temperatures caused by a sharp rock penetrating its radiator. It spent 24 minutes and five laps having its radiator replaced and Luhr ceded the LMGT class lead to Kazuyuki Nishizawa's No. 77 Team Taisan Advan car.
Magnussen spun at the Ford chicane and damaged the front suspension on Team Goh's Audi R8. He drove the car to the pit lane and mechanics took 8 minutes and 53 seconds to make repairs. The car rejoined in fourth place with Werner driving.[ Noël del Bello Racing had an anxious moment when driver ]Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière
Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière (born 22 February 1943) is a French racing driver
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition.
Auto racing has exis ...
spun into a gravel trap at the Dunlop Curves. He recovered with assistance from trackside marshals without losing the LMP675 class lead. Soheil Ayari
Soheil Ayari (born 5 April 1970) is a Iranians in France, French-Iranian race car driving, driver born in Aix-les-Bains, Savoie, from an Iranian father and a French mother. He won the French Formula Ford championship of 1994, Formula Three champio ...
's No. 18 Courage vehicle overtook Scott Maxwell
__NOTOC__
Scott Maxwell (born January 20, 1964), is a Canadian auto racing driver.
Scott has competed and won titles in Formula Vee (1984), Formula Ford 1600 (1985 and 1986), Canadian National Showroom Stock (1992 and 1993) and Grand-Am/Continen ...
's No. 12 Panoz LMP01 Evo
The Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S (sometimes referred to as simply the Panoz LMP-1) was a Le Mans Prototype built for Panoz in 1999. The car was a successor to the Esperante GTR-1 which had competed in the Grand Tourer categories internationally. Foll ...
car for ninth overall and pulled away. All three of the top cars in LMGT were within a lap of each other, led by Johnny Mowlem
Johnny Mowlem (born 12 February 1969) is a professional British racing driver. Mowlem is considered to be among the world's elite sports car drivers, having competed in every class of world championship sports car racing.
He is the 2013 Europ ...
's No. 94 Risi Competizione
Risi Competizione is an Italo-American auto racing Ferrari factory-backed team formed by Giuseppe Risi in 1997. Initially, the team had a partnership with Doyle Racing using the name Doyle-Risi Racing, but soon Giuseppe Risi took full control of t ...
Ferrari after Team Taisan Advan made a pit stop to replace the driver's-side door. Mowlem held it until his car's engine failed on the Mulsanne Straight and ceded the lead of the class to Lieb's Orbit Porsche.[ Werner's Team Goh Audi R8 twice drove into its garage for repairs to its ]engine control unit
An engine control unit (ECU), also commonly called an engine control module (ECM), is a type of electronic control unit that controls a series of actuators on an internal combustion engine to ensure optimal engine performance. It does this by re ...
and lost 10 minutes and 14 seconds. Werner rejoined 3 minutes and 20 seconds in front of Andy Wallace's No. 15 Racing for Holland car.[ As the race approached its halfway point, the No. 7 Bentley of Smith lapped two to five seconds faster than Blundell's No. 8 car and increased the vehicle's overall lead to 1 minute and 20 seconds.][
]
Morning to early afternoon
In the 12th hour, the second-placed car in LMGTS, Davidson's No. 80 Prodrive Ferrari had a right-front wheel bearing fault at and was sent into a barrier at the end of the Mulsanne Straight. He extricated himself from the car and was tended to by trackside marshals. Davidson was transported by ambulance to the infield medical centre for circuit doctors to examine him. They found he had sustained bruising and a head concussion from hitting his head against a door; he was taken to Centre Hospitalier Le Mans for a brain scan. The Ferrari's retirement elevated the No. 50 Corvette C5-R of Gavin to second in LMGTS. Prodrive asked Kox in the No. 88 Ferrari to enter the pit lane for a precautionary brake check. Not long after, a low voltage indicator warning and no radio communication to the No. 8 Bentley's pit stall prompted Blundell to make a pit stop for a replacement battery, losing the car two laps to the sister No. 7 entry. The lead of LMGT continued to be closely fought with the No. 93 AJR Porsche heading the field until a front splitter problem forced it into the pit lane for four minutes, giving the position to Lieb's Orbit vehicle. Because of the mechanical attrition affecting the Porsche 996s in the LMGT category, only two Porsches remained in contention for a victory and Ferrari was unable to challenge the marque. Front suspension problems for the No. 12 Panoz car and an engine failure curtailing the No. 4 Riley & Scott Mk III C's race promoted the No. 88 Prodrive Ferrari to tenth overall.[
Luhr and Maashen's No. 93 AJR Porsche was able to fight with Lieb and later ]Leo Hindery
Leo J. Hindery, Jr. (born October 31, 1947) is an American businessman, author, political activist and philanthropist.
Hindery is Managing Partner of InterMedia Partners, a New York-based media industry private equity fund, and, since March 2 ...
's No. 87 Orbit car and eventually retake the lead of the LMGT category it had lost when it entered the pit lane for car repairs. An hour and 20 minutes later, Lammers picked up a left-rear puncture, losing control of the No. 15 Racing For Holland car under braking.[ He spun several times backwards into a gravel trap at Indianapolis corner and damaged a rear wheel. The car was pushed back onto the circuit by track marshals and Lammers drove to the pit lane to repair the damage. At the same time, ]Gunnar Jeannette
Gunnar Jeannette (born May 5, 1982 in West Palm Beach, Florida) is an American racing driver who competes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for WeatherTech Racing. He won the 2011 American Le Mans Series season LMPC Drivers' Champio ...
's No. 11 Panoz LMP01 Evo car locked up and made light contact with the tyre barrier at Arnage corner. Further up the field, Brabham made an unscheduled pit stop in the No. 8 Bentley to undergo a second battery replacement. The change took 3 minutes, 32 seconds and the car returned to the race in second overall. Not long after Collins' No. 50 Corvette bowed out of the battle for the LMGTS lead to have its transmission bearing replaced and it was completed in 15 minutes. Lehto's Champion Racing R8 could not take advantage of the No. 8 Bentley's mechanical impairments and lost one additional lap after a spin.[ At the start of the 18th hour, Saelens in the No. 12 Panoz car lost grip through Mulsanne corner and made left-front contact with a tyre barrier at high speed. Saelens was unhurt but the damage to the car forced its retirement.]
The No. 93 AJR Porsche of Maassen entered the garage with loss of voltage corrected by changing the alternator in six minutes. Maassen returned to the track still leading the LMGT category. Soon after, Wallace's No. 15 Racing for Holland Dome had a flat battery that dropped the car from fifth to eighth overall. Gabbiani's sister No. 16 car had its front-left tyre delaminate and carbon fibre debris was launched from the car's front-left corner. Safety cars were required for the second time as the track needed cleaning and prompted several cars to make pit stops. Beretta's No. 11 Panoz car was the main beneficiary from the safety car period and he passed Jonathan Cochet
Jonathan Cochet (born 4 January 1977 in Alençon, France) is a French racing driver. He won the Championnat de France Formule Renault in 1997. He was a test driver for Prost Grand Prix in 2001, and he was also a test driver with the Renault
...
's No. 13 Courage C60 vehicle on the Mulsanne Straight for fifth overall.[ Towards the end of the 20th hour, the LMP675 class leading Noël del Bello Reynard slowed with a misfiring engine but the car's 35-lap advantage kept it in the category lead. The No. 15 Racing for Holland car of John Bosch returned to seventh][ when Ayari's No. 18 Courage C60 began leaking fluids at its rear and entered the pit lane for a 22-minute repair.] With the first four positions stable, attention focused on the battle for fifth place between the No. 11 Panoz LMP01 Evo and the No. 13 Courage C60 cars. The No. 99 XL Racing Ferrari of Gaël Lasoudier had an rear engine bay fire at the PlayStation Chicane, causing the deployment of the safety cars for the third time in the race.[
]
Finish
As the safety car period ended, Max Papis
Massimiliano "Max" Papis (born 3 October 1969) is an Italian professional motorsport driver who has competed in several top-level motorsports events such as Le Mans 24 Hours, Formula One and Champ Car. He has three Champ Car victories. He is the ...
in the No. 11 Panoz LMP01 Evo car caught and passed Stéphan Grégoire
Stéphan Grégoire (born May 14, 1969 in Neufchâteau, Vosges) is a French race car driver currently living in Zionsville, Indiana.
Gregoire is a veteran of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Rolex Sports Car Series, the Indianapolis 500, and the Indy Ra ...
's No. 13 Courage C60 vehicle at Tetre Rouge corner. Fellows overtook his Corvette Racing teammate Collins in the final third of the lap for second in LMGTS. Collins retook the position from Fellows two laps later until they made pit stops for fuel, tyres and a change of driver. O'Connell relieved Fellows and returned to second by having a faster stop than Andy Pilgrim
Andrew Pilgrim (born 18 August 1956 in Nottingham) is a British-born racing driver, who became a United States citizen in 1998. He has competed in the SCCA World Challenge, 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Daytona, and NASCAR.
Racing career
Hav ...
. The No. 17 Pescarolo Courage 60 car of Jean-Christophe Boullion
Jean-Christophe "Jules" Boullion (born 27 December 1969) is a French professional racing driver who raced in Formula One for the Sauber team.
Career
Born in Saint-Brieuc, near Côtes d'Armor, Boullion started karting in 1982 and moved to ca ...
's had a flash fire when fuel ignited during a pit stop. An intervention from the team's mechanics to extinguish the fire allowed him to continue driving.[ The Champion Racing Audi of Johansson stalled during a pit stop for tyres, fuel and a driver switch with co-driver Pirro. The fault was rectified by replacing the car's battery at the right-hand corner of its cockpit. It rejoined the track still in third place and ahead of Ara's Team Goh Audi. Lammers' No. 15 Racing for Holland Dome car in seventh caught and overtook Gounon's No. 13 Courage Compétition C60 vehicle on the race's final lap to claim sixth overall for his team. In the meantime, ]Tristan Gommendy
Tristan Gommendy (born 4 January 1979) is a French professional racing driver who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series with Duqueine Engineering.
Racing career
Early career
Born in Le Chesnay, Yvelines, Gommendy began his professi ...
crashed at the Indianapolis corner. He drove the No. 16 Racing for Holland car into the pit lane to retire.
Unhindered in the final hours of the race, Smith took the chequered flag
Racing flags are traditionally used in auto racing and similar motorsports to indicate track condition and to communicate important messages to drivers. Typically, the starter, sometimes the grand marshal of a race, waves the flags atop a flag s ...
for the No. 7 Bentley, two laps ahead of the No. 8 Bentley of Brabham.[ Audi, in their first defeat at Le Mans since the 2000 edition, were a further three laps behind in third to win the LMP900 class with Champion Racing's R8 and Team Goh took fourth. It was Smith and Capello's first Le Mans victory and Kristensen's fifth.] Kristensen became the first driver in history to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times in a row. He also equalled Derek Bell's record of five victories and was one behind Jacky Ickx
Jacques Bernard "Jacky" Ickx (; born 1 January 1945) is a Belgian former racing driver who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times (second-highest of all time) and achieved eight wins and 25 podium finishes in Formula One. He greatly contributed ...
's all-time record of six wins. It was Bentley's sixth overall Le Mans victory and its first since the 1930 race. Prodrive held their ten-lap lead in the LMGTS category, earning Enge, Kox and Davies their first class victories and the first for Ferrari in a GT class since the 1981 edition. Corvette Racing completed the class podium with the No. 50 ahead of the No. 53.[ Porsche took the first six places in the LMGT class with AJR taking the category win on the team's first visit to Le Mans. Orbit Racing and Thierry Perrier were the final two category podium finishers in second and third. Noël del Bello Racing, unchallenged since the night, were victorious in the LMP675 class,] 31 laps ahead of the RN Motorsport Zytek and 84 laps in front of Rachel Welter's WR LMP01.
Race classification
The minimum number of laps for classification (70 per cent of the overall winning car's race distance) was 264 laps. Class winners are denoted with bold.
References
External links
*
{{24 Hours of Le Mans
Le Mans
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
Le Mans
Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...
24 Hours of Le Mans races