1987 Le Mans 24 hour race

Porsche 962C with starting number 17; Winning car from Hans-Joachim Stuck, Derek Bell and Al Holbert

The Kremer-Racing-962C which crossed the finish line in fourth place in the overall ranking. At the wheel are George Fouché, Franz Konrad and Wayne Taylor

The 55th 24-hour race at Le Mans , the 54 ^s Grand Prix d'Endurance les 24 Heures du Mans , and 24 Heures du Mans Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans , was held at from 13 to 14 June 1987 the Circuit des 24 Heures .

The race

The 1987 Le Mans 24-hour race was to be Porsche's last works outing in the 1987 World Sports Car Championship . After this race, the works team almost only competed in the 24-hour race in western France until their final withdrawal at the end of 1998 . The withdrawal was officially announced in the run-up to the 200-mile race in Nuremberg , which took place two weeks after Le Mans. The reason given was the planned entry into the North American CART series in 1988 and the full concentration of Porsche engineers on the development of the Porsche 2708 CART . That the superiority of the Jaguar XJR-8, with which Jaguar won the first world championship races of the season in Jarama , Jerez , Monza and Silverstone , influenced the decision was not disputed by the Porsche team management.

Porsche brought two 962Cs with 3-liter, 6-cylinder flat engines to Le Mans . The previous two-man teams became three-driver teams. The American Al Holbert joined Hans-Joachim Stuck and Derek Bell in the car with start number 17. The winning team from the previous year was reunited. The second works car was driven by Bob Wollek , Jochen Mass and Vern Schuppan . A third works car was registered in the GTX class. The Porsche 961 with starting number 203 was driven by René Metge , Claude Haldi and Kees Nierop . Another 962C were reported by the team of Yves Courage , Kremer Racing , Brun Motorsport , Joest Racing and Richard Lloyd .

The Jaguar works cars were the favorites for overall victory. The XJR-8 with a 7 liter V12 engine were driven by Eddie Cheever / Raul Boesel , Martin Brundle / John Nielsen and John Watson / Win Percy / Jan Lammers . Sauber Motorsport reported two Sauber C9s , driven by Mike Thackwell , Henri Pescarolo , Hideki Okada , Chip Ganassi and Johnny Dumfries . TOM's, the Toyota team , brought a new prototype to Le Mans with the 87C-L . The two cars with 2.1-liter 4-cylinder turbo engines were prominent. Former Formula 1 world champion Alan Jones , Geoff Lees and Eje Elgh sat in the vehicle with the number 36 . The car with the number 37 was driven by Tiff Needell , Masanori Sekiya and Kaoru Hoshino . Also Nismo - the Nissan R87E - and Mazdaspeed - with the 757 - brought to Le Mans prototypes.

A tough battle between Spice Engineering and the Curie Ecosse was expected in the C2 class. Fermín Vélez and Gordon Spice had won their class on a Spice SE86C in the first three races of the season. In the last race before Le Mans, the 1000 km race at Silverstone, however, Ray Mallock and David Leslie in an Ecosse C286 were victorious.

When the first Porsches retired after just a few laps of the race - the factory car from Wollek, Mass and Schuppen - had an engine failure after 16 laps - and the three Jaguars were safely in the lead, Porsche's fears seemed to be confirmed, as did the Jaguar cannot be beaten at Le Mans. But the British team ran into problems during the night. First the Percy / Watson / Lammers car retired after an accident while Win Percy was at the wheel. After a tire damage on the Ligne Droite des Hunaudières at over 300 km / h, tire parts flying away smashed the rear body parts of the Jaguar, which then flew away. As a result, the car lost traction and took off, spun on its axis in the air and overturned several times after hitting the road. 600 meters after the start of the accident, the wreck came to a standstill. Except for the driver's cell, without doors and windows, the car was completely destroyed. Except for a few scratches on the helmet, Percy emerged from this pile of rubble without injury or damage. Jan Lammers then switched to Cheever and Boesel's car. Martin Brundle and John Nielsen's car, which had been in the lead for a long time, had to be parked after driving 231 laps due to completely overheated cylinders. Since the third Jaguar also suffered from overheating cylinders, Porsche celebrated a surprising double victory with the works car from Stuck, Bell and Holpert in front of the Courage-962C, which was driven by Jürgen Lässig , Pierre Yver and Bernard de Dryver . Third place went to Pierre-Henri Raphanel , Yves Courage and Hervé Regout in the Courage self-made Cougar C20 . In the C2 class there was an expected duel between Spice Engineering and Ecurie Ecosse, which the Spice team won.

Results

Pilots by nationality

42 French	31 British	13 Japanese	12 Americans	8 Germans
6 Belgians	4 Australians	4 South Africans	3 danes	3 Canadians
3 Sweden	3 Swiss	2 Irish	2 Dutch	2 Spaniards
1 Argentine	1 Brazilian	1 Greek	1 Italian	1 Moroccan
1 New Zealander	1 Norwegian	1 Austrian

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis	engine	tires	Round
1	C1	17th	Rothmans Porsche AG	Hans-Joachim Stuck Derek Bell Al Holbert	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	D.	355
2	C1	72	Primagaz Competition	Jürgen Lässig Pierre Yver Bernard de Dryver	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 2.8L Turbo Flat-6	G	335
3	C1	13	Primagaz Competition	Pierre-Henri Raphanel Yves Courage Hervé Regout	Cougar C20	Porsche Type-935 2.8L Turbo Flat-6	M.	332
4th	C1	11	Porsche Kremer Racing	George Fouché Franz Konrad Wayne Taylor	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 2.8L Turbo Flat-6	Y	327
5	C1	4th	Silk Cut Jaguar	Eddie Cheever Raul Boesel Jan Lammers	Jaguar XJR-8LM	Jaguar 6.9L V12	D.	325
6th	C2	111	Spice engineering	Gordon Spice Fermín Velez Philippe de Henning	Spice SE86C	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8	A.	321
7th	GTP	202	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Dave Kennedy Mark Galvin Pierre Dieudonné	Mazda 757	Mazda 13G 2.0L 3- rotor	D.	319
8th	C2	102	Ecurie Ecosse	David Leslie Ray Mallock Marc Duez	Ecosse C286	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8	Y	308
9	C2	121	Cosmik GP Motorsport	Dudley Wood Costas Los Tom Hessert	Tiga GC287	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8	G	275
10	C2	114	Tiga Race Cars	Thorkild Thyrring John Sheldon Ian Harrower	Tiga GC287	Cosworth DBT-E 2.3L Turbo I4	A.	272
11	C2	177	Automobiles Louis Descartes	Jacques Heuclin Dominique Lacaud Louis Descartes	ALD 03	BMW M88 3.5L I6	A.	270
12	C1	40	Graff Racing	Jean-Philippe Grand Gaston Rahier Jacques Terrien	Rondeau M482	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8	G	260
Not classified
13	C2	127	Chamberlain Engineering	Nick Adams Graham Duxbury Richard Jones	Spice SE86C	Hart 418T 1.8L Turbo I4	A.	240
14th	C2	178	Automobiles Louis Descartes	Michel Lateste Gérard Tremblay Sylvain Boulay	ALD 02	BMW M88 3.5L I6	A.	236
Failed
15th	C2	181	Dune Motorsport	Neil Crang Jean Krucker Duncan Bain	Tiga GC287	Rover V64V 3.0L V6	A.	260
16	C2	108	Roland Bassaler	Jean-François Yvon Yves Hervalet Hervé Bourjade	Clean SHS C6	BMW M88 3.5L I6	A.	257
17th	C1	6th	Silk Cut Jaguar	Martin Brundle John Nielsen	Jaguar XJR-8LM	Jaguar 6.9L V12	D.	231
18th	C2	123	Charles Ivey Racing	John Cooper Tom Dodd-Noble Max Cohen-Olivar	Tiga GC287	Porsche Type-935 2.6L Turbo Flat-6	G	224
19th	C2	116	Luigi Taverna Technoracing	Luigi Taverna Evan Clements Patrick Trucco	Alba AR3	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8	A.	219
20th	GTX	203	Rothmans Porsche AG	René Metge Claude Haldi Kees Nierop	Porsche 961	Porsche Type-935 2.8L Turbo Flat-6	D.	199
21st	C1	23	Nissan Motorsport	Kazuyoshi Hoshino Kenji Takahashi Keiji Matsumoto	Nissan R87E	Nissan VEJ30 3.0L Turbo V8	B.	181
22nd	C2	103	John Bartlett Racing	Tim Lee-Davey Robin Donovan Raymond Boutinaud	Bardon DB1 / 2	Cosworth DFL 3.0L V8	A.	172
23	C2	125	Vetir Racing Team	Jean-Claude Justice Patrick Oudet Bruno Sotty	Tiga GC85	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8	A.	164
24	C1	5	Silk Cut Jaguar Cars	Jan Lammers John Watson Win Percy	Jaguar XJR-8LM	Jaguar 6.9L V12	D.	158
25th	C2	198	Roy Baker Racing	David Andrews Mark Peters Mike Allison	Tiga GC286	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8	A.	139
26th	C2	101	Ecurie Ecosse	Mike Wilds Les Delano Andy Petery	Ecosse C286	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8	Y	135
27	C1	61	Kouros Racing	Mike Thackwell Henri Pescarolo Hideki Okada	Clean C9	Mercedes-Benz M117 5.0L Turbo V8	M.	123
28	C1	3	Brun Motorsport	Bill Adam Richard Spénard Scott Goodyear	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 2.8L Turbo Flat-6	M.	120
29	C1	32	Nissan Motorsport	Masahiro Hasemi Takao Wada Aguri Suzuki	Nissan 87E	Nissan VEJ30 3.0L Turbo V8	D.	117
30th	C1	15th	Richard Lloyd Racing	Jonathan Palmer James Weaver Price Cobb	Porsche 962C GTi	Porsche Type-935 2.8L Turbo Flat-6	G	112
31	C1	1	Brun Motorsport	Michel Trollé Paul Belmondo Pierre de Thoisy	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 2.8L Turbo Flat-6	M.	88
32	C1	29	Italya Sports	Olofsson Alain Ferté Patrick Gonin is different	Nissan R86V	Nissan VG30ET 3.0L Turbo V6	Y	86
33	C1	2	Brun Motorsport	Oscar Larrauri Jesús Pareja-Mayo Uwe Schäfer	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 2.8L Turbo Flat-6	M.	40
34	C1	37	Toyota Team Tom's	Tiff Needell Masanori Sekiya Kaoru Hoshino	Toyota 87C-L	Toyota 3S-GTM 2.1L Turbo I4	B.	39
35	C1	62	Kouros Racing	Chip Ganassi Johnny Dumfries Mike Thackwell	Clean C9	Mercedes-Benz M117 5.0L Turbo V8	M.	37
36	GTP	201	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Yoshimi Katayama Yōjirō Terada Takashi Yorino	Mazda 757	Mazda 13G 2.0L 3-rotor	D.	34
37	C1	36	Toyota Team Tom's	Alan Jones Geoff Lee's Eje Elgh	Toyota 87C-L	Toyota 3S-GTM 2.1L Turbo I4	B.	19th
38	C2	113	José Thibault	José Thibault André Heinrich	Chevron B36	Talbot PRV 3.0L V6	A.	18th
39	C1	18th	Rothmans Porsche AG	Bob Wollek Jochen Mass Vern Schuppan	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	D.	16
40	C1	51	WM Secateva	Jean-Daniel Raulet François Migault Pascal Pessiot	WM P86	Peugeot PRV 2.8L Turbo V6	M.	14th
41	C1	52	WM Secateva	Roger Dorchy Philippe Gache Dominique Delestre	WM P87	Peugeot PRV 2.8L Turbo V6	M.	13
42	C2	118	Olindo Iaccobelli	Olindo Iaccobelli Jean-Louis Ricci Georges Tessier	Royale RP40	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8	M.	13
43	C2	200	Dahm Cars Racing Team	Peter Fritsch Teddy Pilette Jean-Paul Libert	Argo JM19	Porsche Type-930 3.2L Turbo Flat-6	G	12
44	C1	8th	Joest Racing	Frank Jelinski Stanley Dickens Hurley Haywood	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 2.8L Turbo Flat-6	G	7th
45	C1	10	Porsche Kremer Racing	Kris Nissen Volker Weidler Kunimitsu Takahashi	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 2.8L Turbo Flat-6	Y	6th
46	C2	117	Team Lucky Strike Schanche	Martin Schanche Will Hoy Robin Smith	Argo JM19B	Zakspeed 1.8L Turbo I4	G	5
47	C1	7th	Joest Racing	Sarel van der Merwe David Hobbs Chip Robinson	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 2.8L Turbo Flat-6	G	4th
48	C1	42	Noël del Bello	Pierre-Alain Lombardi Gilles Lempereur Jacques Guillot	Clean C8	Mercedes-Benz M117 5.0L Turbo V8	G	4th
Not started
49	C1	19th	Rothmans Porsche AG	Kees Nierop Price Cobb Vern Schuppan	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	D.	1
Not qualified
50	C2	171	CEE Sport Racing	Slim Borgudd Tryggve Gronvall Andrew Ratcliffe	Tiga GC286	Volvo 2.3L Turbo I4	A.	2

¹ replacement car ² not qualified

Only in the entry list

Here you can find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race, but did not take part for various reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis	engine	tires
51	IMSA GTP	201T	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.		Mazda 757	Mazda 13G 2.0L 3-rotor
52	GTO		North American Racing Team		Ferrari
53	C2		Chamberlain Engineering	Jean-Louis Ricci Georges Tessier Philippe Dagoreau	Spice SE86C	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8
54	C1	9	Joest Racing	Stanley Dickens Louis Krages David Hobbs Sarel van der Merwe	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 2.8L Turbo Flat-6
55	C1	20th	Tiga team	Chico Serra Tim Lee-Davey James Weaver	Tiga GC87	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8
56	C1	22nd	Portman Lamborghini	Mauro Baldi Tiff Needell	Lamborghini Countach QVX
57	C1	41	Christian Bussi	Christian Bussi	Rondeau M482	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8
58	C2	109	Giulio Argenziano	Pasquale Barberio Costas Los	Tiga GC85
59	C2	110	Carma FF	Angelo Pallavicini Marco Vanoli Uli Bieri	Alba AR2
60	C2	115	ADA engineering	Ian Harrower Evan Clements	ADA 02	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8
61	C2	130	Carma FF	Martino Finotto	Alba AR6
62	C2	199	Roy Baker Racing	David Andrews Michael Hall	Tiga GC86	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8
63	IMSA GTP	204	Richard Cleare Racing	Richard Cleare	March 85G

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
Group C1	Derek Bell	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Al Holbert	Porsche 962C	Overall victory
Group C2	Gordon Spice	Fermín Vélez	Philippe de Henning	Spice SE86C	Rank 6
IMSA GTP	Dave Kennedy	Pierre Dieudonné	Marc Galvin	Mazda 757	Rank 7

Racing data

• Registered: 63
• Started: 48
• Valued: 12
• Race classes: 3
• Spectator: unknown
• Honorary starter of the race: unknown
• Weather on the race weekend: warm, with light rain showers
• Route length: 13.535 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 24: 00: 00,000 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 355
• Distance of the winning team: 4991.700 km
• Winner's average: 199.661 km / h
• Pole position: Bob Wollek - Porsche 962C (# 18) - 3.21.090 = 242.309 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Johnny Dumfries - Sauber C9 (# 62) - 3.25.400 = 237.224 km / h
• Racing series: 5th round of the 1987 World Sports Car Championship

literature

• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. Éditions d'Art, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909413-06-3 .

Web links

Commons : Le Mans 24 Hours 1987  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information about Win Percy and the accident in Le Mans 1987 ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2002 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Previous race Silverstone 1000km race 1987

Sports car world championship

Successor to the 200-mile race in Nuremberg in 1987