The most keenly contested and closest run 24 hours for many years was run last weekend. The serious factory efforts of Nissan, Porsche and BMW/McLaren were pitted against one another in the quest for glory in this, the most famous and historic 24 hour race. The upstart newcomers of Panoz (prononced "pay-nose") and many others made up the hotly contested grid.
The weather reports promised rain all week but it seems that whenever track activity happened the clouds parted and the sun shone. The race was entirely dry despite the most informed prediction.
The experiences of prequalification showed the new cars from the Dave Price Panoz team and TWR Nissan to be less than race-ready. Nissan have poured millions into this year's Le Mans effort and were expecting the TWR magic to work for them. As we regulars know well, there is no substitute for race experience with a new car. Such was the fate of all new cars at la Sarthe, except perhaps for the 4th place Cottaz, Policand and Mark Goossens No13 C41 Courage.
The early running was made by the factory GT1 Porsches numbers 25 and 26, but in the first hour the head of the field was the No7 Joest Porsche chased by Eric Van de Poele Nissan R390 No22. Early pit-stops shuffled the order and lead to the position where at 2 hours Mr Alboreto in the No7 car was leading from the No26 Dalmas/Collard/Kellners Porsche GT1. The No 42 team BMW Motorsport Lehto/Soper/Piquet Mclaren BMW was third but being chased hard by the Stuck/Wollek/Boutsen 911 GT1 that had gained 5 places in one hour.
By 7pm the No26 Porsche was leading from it's team-mate number 25 from the No7 Joest car in third. The BRM number 14 was an early retirement with a fractured oil line with Toivonen at the wheel. No32 the Porsche 911 GT1 of Ortelli/McNish/Wendlinger retired after hitting the wall approching the Ford chicane. Other notable early retirements were the No70 Marcos of Euser/Becker/Suzuki (oil leak) and No45 Lister of Lees/Needell/Fouche that could not be repaired after a spin and rear end damage when Mr Fouche was distracted looking for 3rd gear.
After 3 hours the order was essentially unchanged apart from 25 and 26 that had changed places. The only notified retirement was the the No4 Ferrari of Ferte/Campos/Nearburg with a fuel pump problem.
At midnight the top 3 were unchanged but the Nissans had almost entirely disappeard from the leading positions. The highest placed (23 Hoshino/Comas/ Kageyama) car being in 9th place. The No 62 Larrari/Archer/Duez Oreca Viper spun and crashed backwards spectacularly into the wall destroying the rear end. The car caught fire and was totally burned out.
Other retirements at this point were No60 Callaway Corvette that had run out of fuel (for the second time at La Sarthe) the No77 GT2 and the No5 Kremer K8.
The number 44 Nakaya/Ayles/Tsuchiya Mclaren retired after a spin into the rail at Tertre Rouge. The No77 911 GT2 retired after transmission problems. The No 5 Kremer K8 officially retired at midnight with engine problems.
By 3:00am the top 3 were unchanged but 5 additional retirements including the No49 Lotus GT1 of Lammers,Hezemans and Grau, the 79 Porsche 911 GT2, the 66 Mustang, the 46 Lister Storm and the 85 911GT2.
By 8:00AM the No26 was still leading with No7 in second place, No41 McLaren of Gouon/Raphanel/Olofsson was up to 3rd place, having displaced No25 to 4th.
Retirements by this time included two Nissans, two Panozs and the last of the Saleen Mustangs. The Nissans being No22 of Vandepoele, Patrese and Suzuki and No21 of Brundle, Taylor and Mueller, both out with transmission problems related to failures in the gearbox's oil coolers. The Panozs both retired with engine problems.
At 10:00 am the top three positions were unchanged, but the No25 Porsche GT1 of Stuck, Wollek and Boutsen was no longer running due to "lack of traction" which left it stopped out on the Porsche Curves without its front wings. Wollek was driving at the time.
Retirements included No9, the Courage C36 of Andretti, Andretti and Grouillard which suffered front and rear end damage after a spin by Mario. Also out was the No42 McLaren of Lehto, Soper and Piquet due to damage incurred by Lehto's spin at Mulsanne corner and the No29 Porsche 911 GT1 of Ferte, Thevenin and Von Gartzen, which caught fire on the Mulsanne straight.
At 12.00 the positions of the top three cars were still the same. No 54 the last Panoz was abandoned at the Dunlop chicane, engine blown.
By 14.00 events had taken a dramatic turn. The long time leader No26 stopped and burst into flames on the Mulsanne straight. The lead was swiftly taken up by the No7 TWR Porsche with McLaren's No41 and No43 of Kox, Ravaglia and Helary promoted to 2nd and 3rd respectively.
The No 39 with Andrew Gilbert Scott at the wheel had caught fire on the Mulsanne straight, the fire took hold of the rear and burnt out the engine area. This incident looked very similar to that suffered by 40, in Thursday's qualifying when an oil line fractured.
The race ended at 16.00 with the top three cars maintaining their
positions and the No7 TWR Porsche of Joest Racing
driven by Alboreto, Johansson and Kristensen, recording a well
deserved second successive victory. In 2nd place overall and 1st in GT1
was No41, the Gulf McLaren of Gounon, Raphanel and Olofosson with 3rd
overall, and 2nd in GT1 No43, the McLaren of BMW Motorsport. 1st in GT2
was the Porsche 911 GT2 of Elf Haberthur Racing driven by Neugarten,
Martinolle and Lagniez, followed by No74 another Porsche 911 GT2 of
Roock Racing driven by Pilgrim, Ahrle, Eichmann. The other notable
finisher was No3 the Ferrari 333SP of Moretti, Theys and Papis which
finished 6th overall and 4th in class despite two late spins, to record
Ferrari's best finish for decades.