The 2006

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

was the 74th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place over 17–18 June 2006. The winners of the race were

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 ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

, driving the

Audi R10 TDI The Audi R10 TDI, usually abbreviated to R10, is a diesel-powered racing car from the German car manufacturer Audi. The car dominated Le Mans, winning each year from its 2006 introduction until it was replaced by the R15 in 2009. It was designe ...

. For the first time in the history of the race, the winner was a

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

-powered car.

Pre-race

Prior to this race the ACO redeveloped the area around the Dunlop Curve and Dunlop Chicane, moving the Dunlop Curve in tighter to create more run-off area, while also turning the Dunlop Chicane into a larger set of turns. As part of the development, a new extended pit lane exit was created for motorcycles running the Bugatti Circuit. This second pit exit re-enters the track just beyond the Dunlop Chicane and before the

Dunlop Bridge The Dunlop Bridge is a landmark advertising footbridge. There are several of them, situated at a number of different motor racing circuits around the world. The oldest surviving example of this bridge is at the Circuit de la Sarthe, the home of ...

. Before the official test days, the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backs ...

requested that the sportscars should also use this new pit lane, and mandated a 60 km/h speed limit for the entire 450m length, instead of using the normal pit exit in the Dunlop Curve as planned. This was originally used for the Le Mans test days, but due to complaints from the teams, the ACO decided to return to the old pit lane exit for the race.

Qualifying

In the LMP1 category, during Wednesday's wet-weather qualifying Pescarolo C60 took the top two spots. Then, a day later, during dry weather conditions the new

s overtook the Pescarolos to claim the top two positions. In LMP2, the Ray Mallock Ltd.

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lola ...

ran two seconds quicker than the new Intersport Lola. In LMGT1, the Aston Martin factory squad swept the front row, with the #64 Corvette right behind them. In GT2, the French IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche took the quickest time; however, Luca Riccitelli took the car off at ''Nord du Karting'' at the end of the session, injuring his ankle and badly damaging the chassis of the car. In a unique move, the ACO went against its own rules and granted permission for the team to replace the chassis with a brand new car. The car was still forced to start at the back of the grid. The Scuderia Ecosse

Ferrari 430 The Ferrari F430 (Type F131) is a sports car produced by the Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari from 2004 until 2009 as a successor to the Ferrari 360. The car is an update to the 360 with exterior and performance changes. It was unveiled at ...

thus started at the front for the GT2 class.

Qualifying times

Class leaders and the fastest lap time on each day are in bold.

Race

This race marked the first Le Mans win for a

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

d sports car, the

, and the second time that a diesel-powered sports car won a major international motorsports event, following the Audi R10 TDI's win at the

2006 12 Hours of Sebring The 2006 12 Hours of Sebring was the 54th running of this event, and took place on March 18, 2006. The race was sponsored by Mobil 1 and was the opening race of the 2006 American Le Mans Series season run by International Motor Sports Association ...

. This race also marked the first time since the

1991 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 59th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 22 and 23 June 1991. It was also the fourth round of the 1991 FIA Sportscar World Championship season. Pre-race An entirely new complex along the front stret ...

that Porsche (or a Porsche-powered prototype) did not win at least one class. A

Panoz Esperante The Esperante is a sports car made by Panoz, an American car manufacturer. First generation There have been several Esperante models: the base model GT, the GTLM, the GTS, the JRD (an aftermarket upgrade brand similar to Roush Mustangs), the B ...

was successful in upsetting the contingent of Porsches in the GT2 class. Corvette Racing's 355 lap pace in their GT1 class win became the record for a homologated GT vehicle.

Official results

Class winners are marked in bold. Cars not completing 70% of the winner's distance are listed as Not Classified (NC).

Statistics

* Fastest Lap - #7 Audi Sport Team Joest - 3:31.211 * Distance - 5187.0 km * Average Speed - 215.409 km/h * Highest trap speed - #14 Racing for Holland - 331 km/h (warm-up), #9 Creation Autosportif - 332 km/h (qualifying)

References

{{24 Hours of Le Mans Le Mans 24 Hours of Le Mans races

Le Mans, 24 Hours of