Le Mans '96 Race Report.

Porsche Weekend.

The Le Mans 24 hour endurance race was squarely dominated from flag to flag by Porsche. This is the third overall victory at La Sarthe for the Joest Racing team but they have not had a win for eleven years. This one was well deserved by Alexander Wurz , Davy Jones and Manuel Reuter in the TWR Porsche WSC. Curiously, all three Joest wins have been with a No 7 on the car ! This is the second win for Manuel Reuter who previously has success in a Sauber Mercedes in 1988. This is a win at the first attempt by Alexander Wurtz at the tender age of 22, and the first win for Davy Jones. This result makes Germany the most successful nation at Le Mans with 16 victories ( now tied with the UK also on 16 wins ). It is the 40th time an open car has won, but the previous time was back in 1981 with the Ickx/Bell Porsche 936.

Wall to wall Porsche honours continued in GT1 and GT2, with the No 25 Hans Stuck Thierry Boutsen Bob Wollek factory 'Porsche GT1' and the No 79 Rook Racing GT2 in the hands of Le Mans rookies Guy Martinolle Didier Defourny and Bruno Eichmann.

Promise fades for Ferrari.

Marcos blows a piston.

The popular Marcos (so competitive in Global GT) in the capable hands of Cor Euser, Thomas Erdos and Pascal Dro was running in the top spot of GT2 a couple of times during the first hours before suffering a terminal engine blow up on lap 14.

McLarens no match for Porsche GT1

The Gulf Racing Mclaren No33 was giving the works Porsche GT2s a good run early on in the hands of Bellm Weaver and Lehto. The best run for McLaren was served up by the West Competition entry steadily piloted by John Nielsen Thomas Bscher and Peter Kox.

Viper GTS-R

A four car line-up of Vipers gave a splendid display of how competitive the front engined GT1 can be. However, a good showing in April pre-qualification was not to be rewarded in the race. Despite being outpaced, a problem free run for the Price Cobb, Shawn Henricks and Mark Dismore Canaska Southwind No 48 car put it in a creditable 10th overall (8th in class).

Lister Relegated

The Newcastle United sponsored Lister Jaguar suffered a catalogue of mechanical falures relegating it to 'walking wounded'. It did finish in a classified position but way back in 19th place 59 laps behind the leader. Perhaps they should revert to 4-4-2 formation and bring on a new striker ?

Nissan

The Nissan GT-R LM Skylines were off the GT1 pace but were running reliably until Aguri Suzuki left the track at 07:12 on Sunday. He appears to have been dazzled by the early morning sunlight low on the horizon. The remaining No 23 Nissan managed 15th place.

Riley and Scott Oldsmobile No19

The gas guzzling No19 R&S Oldsmobile never looked like being a serious contender. Running in around 15th place until Wayne Taylor had a visit to the gravel at 22:54, it dropped to 19th before a gearbox failure forced retirement at 03:00 on Sunday morning.

Incidents; a full round up of what happened to whom and when.

Car	Time	Driver		Incident			Outcome
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18	15:10	Evans		Spin and rejoin			Rejoin
55	15:49	Jarier		Transmission problem		Rejoin
45	??:??	?		Electronics failure		Retired	
70	17:56	O'Rourke	Engine failure			Retired
04	17:57	Lammers		Electrical problem		Rejoin
18	17:58	Evans		Out of fuel at Porsche Curves	Retired
81	18:04	Euser		Piston failure			Retired
51	18:49	Dupy		Starter replaced		Rejoin
75	18:54	Iida		Front damage repaired		Rejoin
73	19:20	Neugarten	Gearbox linkage broken		Retired
55	20:15	Jarier		LR suspension problem		Rejoin
75	20:17	Iida		Rear left puncture		Rejoin
74	20:15	Coppelli	Mulsanne accident		Rejoin
15	20:24	Trevisiol	Turbo Problem			Rejoin
83	21:02	Ortelli		Rear windscreen broken		Rejoin
46	21:14	?		Gearbox replaced		Rejoin
56	21:58	Thevenin	Gearbox pinion broken		Rejoin
19	22:54	Taylor		Visit to gravel			Rejoin
15	22:59	Enjolras	Electrical problem		Rejoin
83	23:01	Ortelli		Replaced Windscreen		Rejoin
44	22:11	Della Noce	Engine failure			Retired
37	23:26	Roessler	Fire				Retired
01	23:54	Laessig		Accident			Retired
56	00:27	Leboissettier	Pit fire			Retired
74	01:28	Agusta		Broken gearbox			Retired
34	02:05	Owen Jones	New petrol pump			Rejoin
26	02:18	Dalmas		Front damage			Rejoin
53	02:27	Giroux		Engine failure			Retired	  
51	02:37	McCarthy	Engine failure			Retired
59	03:05	Donovan		Engine failure			Retired
19	03:00	Pace		Gearbox failure			Retired
49	04:03	Morton		Puncture			Rejoin
27	04:15	Cherau		Vibration from rear		Rejoin
03	04:39	Alliot		Body damage after accident	Rejoin
49	04:37	Morton		Steering problem		Rejoin
57	04:36	?		Left track, undertray damaged	Rejoin
15	04:51	David		Accident			Retired
82	05:07	Bourdais	Turbo change			Rejoin
14	05:36	Petit		Replace headlight		Rejoin
46	05:58	Martini		Rear body damage		Rejoin
39	05:34	Piquet		Change left radiator		Rejoin
28	04:43	Needell		New gearbox			Rejoin
03	06:37	Alliot		Accident			Retired
17	07:00	Bachelart	Accident			Retired
38	07:37	Soper		New exhaust			Rejoin
57	09:13	Mitsusada	Accident			Retired
83	09:22	Ortelli		Manifold change			Rejoin
08	09:50	Theys		Fuel leak			Rejoin
14	10:30	Gonin		Driveshaft broken		Retired
33	09:47	Weaver		Clutch problems			Rejoin
39	10:11	Sullivan	New gearbox			Rejoin
22	07:12	Suzuki		Accident			Retired
79	11:36	Eichmann	Replaced drive shaft		Rejoin
04	11:18	Andretti	New undertray and radiator	Rejoin
23	11:57	Suzuki		New gearbox			Rejoin
08	12:09	Alboreto	Broken driveshaft		Retired
49	13:55	Sifton		Trip to gravel at indianapolis	Rejoin
04	14:07	Warwick		Lost a wheel at indianapolis	Rejoin

Final positions at 15:00 Sunday 16th June 1996

Retirements

Copyright © 1996