Le Mans 24 hour race 1990

The victorious Jaguar XJR-12; driven in Le Mans by John Nielsen, Martin Brundle and Price Cobb

The Porsche 962C from Brun Motorsport, which retired 15 minutes before the end of the race in second place with engine failure

Nissan R90CK

The 58th 24-hour race at Le Mans , the 58 ^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 16 to 17 June 1990 the Circuit des 24 Heures .

The race

As in 1989 , the 24-hour race was not part of the sports car world championship of that year in 1990 . For this reason, Sauber Motorsport , the winning team from last year, decided not to start with the Mercedes-Benz C11 . The C11 would have been the first sports car to have represented the Mercedes-Benz brand at Le Mans since 1955 . The winning car from 1989 was called the Sauber C9 .

Due to the absence of Sauber , the Jaguar team led by Tom Walkinshaw moved back into the role of favorites. The largest factory contingent was provided by Nissan , with no fewer than seven R90CK vehicles . In addition to the five current works cars, two privately used cars from the previous year competed, which were prepared by Yves Courage's team with great support from Nissan. The works cars were used by three different departments responsible for motorsport at Nissan. Two vehicles came from the American Nissan Performance Technology Inc. (NPTI), two from the European NME and one from the Japan-based Team Nismo. The cars of the Nissan racing teams differed from one another despite the same base, as they used parts and aerodynamic packages from different suppliers. A total of 21 drivers were at the start for Nissan.

In qualifying, Mark Blundell was able to achieve pole position with the R90CK. With maximum charge and special qualifying slicks, he achieved a time of 3: 27.020 minutes, six seconds faster than the second-placed Brun Motorsport Porsche . The R90CP used by the Japanese team qualified in third place, followed by two other R90CK in fourth (NPTI) and fifth (NME). Only three of the seven Nissans that started saw the checkered flag. The best-placed vehicle was the R90CP in fifth place ( Hasemi / Hoshino / Suzuki ), the number 84 ( Earl / Roe / Millen ) prepared by the US NPTI team came in 17th and the R89C used by the private racing team Courage Compétition was ranked as 22nd rated.

Jaguar came to the Sarthe with the new XJR-12 and other Japanese works cars came from Toyota and Mazda, which launched the Mazda 767B with an improved 4-disc rotary engine . But Porsche overshadowed everything in terms of reports . Although not a single works car was on site, no fewer than 17th Porsche 962s started the race on Sunday . During training it was shown that the Brun-Motorsport-962C of Oscar Larrauri , Jesús Pareja and Walter Brun in particular was absolutely competitive, which was evident from the second qualifying time.

In 1990, the two chicanes decided by Jo Gartner after the fatal accident in the Ligne Droite des Hunaudières were used for the first time . At Porsche, you could choose between long-tail and short-tail versions for the body, which led to a few wrong decisions due to a lack of experience, as the short-tail version turned out to be the clearly faster one in the course of the race.

Nissan lost its first works car on the warm-up lap when Kenny Acheson stopped in the number 25 R90CK due to a gearbox failure. Pole setter Mark Blundell took the lead. While Nissan lost to a factory car due to a defect, an exciting race broke out at the front. In the first 12 hours of racing there were no fewer than 30 changes in leadership; involved the remaining Nissan, the Jaguar factory cars and the Brun Porsche. At 3 o'clock in the night John Nielsen took the lead in the Jaguar with the number 3 and , supported by Price Cobb and Martin Brundle, he did not give up the lead until the checkered flag. The Nissan with the number 83, long in second place, had to be parked at 8:45 in the morning after an irreparable leak in the gas tank. At this point, Derek Daly was behind the wheel. A special drama took place around the Brun-962C. Always at the top, the Porsche rolled out 15 minutes before the end of the race in safe second place with Jesús Pareja at the wheel with an engine failure on Mulsanne. Although the third-placed 962 of the Japanese Alpha Racing Team had completed one lap less (352 instead of 353 of the Brun car), third place was also lost, as you have to cross the finish line in Le Mans to be scored.

Results

Pilots by nationality

38 British	34 French	14 Japanese	9 Germans	8 Italians
7 Sweden	6 Americans	5 Belgians	4 Swiss	3 Irish
3 South Africans	2 Australians	2 Canadians	2 Dutch	2 New Zealanders
2 Austrians	2 Spaniards	1 Argentine	1 Brazilian	1 Chilean
1 Dane	1 fin	1 Greek	1 Moroccan	1 Norwegian

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis	engine	tires	Round
1	C1	3	Silk Cut Jaguar	John Nielsen Price Cobb Martin Brundle	Jaguar XJR-12	Jaguar 7.0L V12	G	359
2	C1	2	Silk Cut Jaguar	Jan Lammers Andy Wallace Franz Konrad	Jaguar XJR-12	Jaguar 7.0L V12	G	355
3	C1	45	Alpha Racing Team	Tiff Needell David Sears Anthony Reid	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	Y	352
4th	C1	7th	Joest Porsche Racing	Hans-Joachim Stuck Derek Bell Frank Jelinski	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	M.	350
5	C1	23	Nissan Motorsports International	Masahiro Hasemi Kazuyoshi Hoshino Toshio Suzuki	Nissan R90CP	Nissan VRH35Z 3.5L Turbo V8	D.	348
6th	C1	36	Toyota Team Tom's	Geoff Lee's Masanori Sekiya Hitoshi Ogawa	Toyota 90C-V	Toyota R32V 3.2L Turbo V8	B.	347
7th	C1	13	Courage Compétition	Pascal Fabre Michel Trollé Lionel Robert	Cougar C24S	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	347
8th	C1	9	Joest Porsche Racing	Louis Krages Stanley Dickens Bob Wollek	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	M.	346
9	C1	27	Obermaier Racing	Jürgen Lässig Pierre Yver Otto Altenbach	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	341
10	C1	15th	Brun Motorsport	Harald Huysman Massimo Sigala Bernard Santal	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	Y	335
11	C1	44	Richard Lloyd Racing	John Watson Bruno Giacomelli Allen Berg	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	335
12	C1	33	Team Schuppan	Hurley Haywood Wayne Taylor Rickard Rydell	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	D.	332
13	C1	63	Trust Racing Team	George Fouché Steven Andskär Shunji Kasuya	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	D.	330
14th	C1	6th	Joest Porsche Racing	Jean-Louis Ricci Henri Pescarolo Jacques Laffite	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	328
15th	C1	55	Team Schuppan	Eje Elgh Thomas Danielsson Thomas Mezera	Porsche TS962	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	D.	326
16	C1	11	Porsche Kremer Racing	Patrick Gonin Philippe Alliot Bernard de Dryver	Porsche 962CK6	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	Y	319
17th	C1	84	Nissan Performance Technology Inc.	Steve Millen Michael Roe Bob Earl	Nissan R90CK	Nissan VRH35Z 3.5L Turbo V8	G	311
18th	C1	21st	Spice engineering	Fermín Velez Tim Harvey Chris Hodgetts	Spice SE90C	Cosworth DFZ 3.5L V8	G	308
19th	C1	20th	Team Davey	Max Cohen-Olivar Giovanni Lavaggi Tim Lee-Davey	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	D.	306
20th	GTP	203	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Takashi Yorino Yoshimi Katayama Yōjirō Terada	Mazda 767B	Mazda 13J 2.6L 4- rotor	D.	304
21st	C2	116	PC Automotive	Richard Piper Olindo Iacobelli Mike Youles	Spice SE89C	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8	G	304
22nd	C1	82	Courage Compétition	Hervé Regout Alain Cudini Costas Los	Nissan R89C	Nissan VRH35Z 3.5L Turbo V8	G	300
23	C2	102	Graff Racing	Xavier Lapeyre Jean-Philippe Grand Michel Maisonneuve	Spice SE89C	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8	G	291
24	C1	10	Porsche Kremer Racing	Kunimitsu Takahashi Sarel van der Merwe Hideki Okada	Porsche 962CK6	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	Y	279
25th	C2	103	Team Mako	Robbie Stirling James Shead Ross Hyett	Spice SE88C	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8	G	274
26th	C1	19th	Team Davey	Katsunori Iketani Patrick Trucco Pierre de Thoisy	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	D.	261
27	C2	131	GP motorsport	Richard Jones Dudley Wood Stephen Hynes	Spice SE87C	Cosworth DFL 3.9L V8	G	260
28	C2	132	GP motorsport	Craig Simmiss Alistair Fenwick Alex Postan	Tiga GC289	Cosworth DFL 3.9L V8	G	255
Failed
29	C1	16	Repsol Brun Motorsport	Oscar Larrauri Jesús Pareja Walter Brun	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	Y	353
30th	C1	4th	Silk Cut Jaguar	Davy Jones Michel Ferté Eliseo Salazar	Jaguar XJR-12	Jaguar 7.0L V12	G	282
31	C2	128	Chamberlain Engineering	Philippe de Henning Charles Zwolsman senior Robin Donovan	Spice SE90C	Cosworth DFZ 3.5L V8	G	255
32	C1	83	Nissan Performance Technology Inc.	Geoff Brabham Chip Robinson Derek Daly	Nissan R90CK	Nissan VRH35Z 3.5L Turbo V8	G	251
33	C1	38	Toyota Team SARD	Pierre-Henri Raphanel Roland Ratzenberger Naoki Nagasaka	Toyota 90C-V	Toyota R32V 3.2L Turbo V8	D.	241
34	C1	1	Silk Cut Jaguar	Martin Brundle Alain Ferté David Leslie	Jaguar XJR-12	Jaguar 7.0L V12	G	220
35	C1	85	Team Le Mans	Takao Wada Anders Olofsson Maurizio Sandro Sala	Nissan R89C	Nissan VRH35Z 3.5L Turbo V8	Y	182
36	C1	43	Richard Lloyd Racing	Manuel Reuter JJ Lehto James Weaver	Porsche 962C GTi	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	181
37	C2	107	Pierre-Alain Lombardi	Pierre-Alain Lombardi Denis Morin Ferdinand de Lesseps	Spice SE87C	Cosworth DFY 3.0L V8	G	170
38	C2	105	ADA engineering	Ian Harrower John Sheldon Jerry Mahony	ADA 02B	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8	G	164
39	GTP	201	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Volker Weidler Bertrand Gachot Johnny Herbert	Mazda 787	Mazda R26B 2.6L 4-rotor	D.	148
40	GTP	202	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Stefan Johansson Dave Kennedy Pierre Dieudonné	Mazda 787	Mazda R26B 2.6L 4-rotor	D.	147
41	C1	24	Nissan Motorsport Europe	Mark Blundell Julian Bailey Gianfranco Brancatelli	Nissan R90CK	Nissan VRH35Z 3.5L Turbo V8	D.	142
42	GTP	230	MOMO Gebhardt Racing	Giampiero Moretti Nick Adams Günther Gebhardt	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	138
43	C1	26th	Obermaier Racing	Jürgen Oppermann Harald Grohs Marc Duez	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	140
44	C1	54	Mussato Action Cars	Massimo Monti Fabio Magnani	Lancia LC2	Ferrari 308C 3.0L Turbo V8	D.	86
45	C1	37	Toyota Team Tom's	Aguri Suzuki Johnny Dumfries Roberto Ravaglia	Toyota 90C-V	Toyota R32V 3.2L Turbo V8	B.	64
46	C1	12	Courage Compétition	Bernard Thuner Alain Iannetta Pascal Pessiot	Cougar C24S	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	57
47	C2	113	Establishments Chereau	Philippe Farjon Jean Messaoudi	Cougar C20S	Porsche Type-935 2.8L Turbo Flat-6	G	43
48	C2	106	Automobiles Louis Descartes	François Migault Gérard Tremblay Jacques Heuclin	ALD C289	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8	D.	36
49	C1	25th	Nissan Motorsports International	Kenny Acheson Martin Donnelly Olivier Grouillard	Nissan R90CK	Nissan VRH35Z 3.5L Turbo V8	D.	1
Not started
50	C1	8th	Joest Porsche Racing	Bob Wollek Jonathan Palmer Philippe Alliot	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	M.	1
Not qualified
51	C1	30th	GP motorsport	Pierre de Thoisy Quirin Bovy	Spice SE90C	Cosworth DFZ 3.5L V8	D.	2
52	C1	59	Paul Canary	Paul Canary Dennis Kazmerowski	Eagle 700	Eagle 621 / Schubeck 10.2L V8	G	3
53	C2	110	Argo Cars Ltd	Ian Khan Ann Baverey Michael Dow	Argo JM19C	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8	G	4th
54	C1	61	ASA Armagnac Bigorre	Noël del Bello Norbert Santos Daniel Boccard	Norma M6	MGN W12 3.5L W12	A.	5

¹ Accident in training ² not qualified ³ not qualified ⁴ not qualified ⁵ 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
55	C1	18th	Team Davey	Katsunori Iketani	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
Group C1	John Nielsen	Price Cobb	Martin Brundle	Jaguar XJR-12	Overall victory
Group C2	Richard Piper	Olindo Iacobelli	Mike Youles	Spice SE89C	Rank 21
GTP	Takashi Yorino	Yoshimi Katayama	Yōjirō Terada	Mazda 767B	Rank 20

Racing data

• Registered: 55
• Started: 49
• Rated: 28
• Race classes: 3
• Spectators: 240,000
• Honorary starter of the race: Raymond Ravenel, President of the International Association of Automobile Manufacturers
• Weather on the race weekend: warm and dry
• Route length: 13,600 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 24: 00: 00,000 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 359
• Distance of the winning team: 4882.400 km
• Winner's average: 204.036 km / h
• Pole position: Mark Blundell - Nissan R90CP (# 24) - 3: 27.020 = 236.450 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Steve Millen - Nissan R90CP (# 84) - 3: 40.030 = 222.215 km / h
• Racing series: did not belong to any racing series

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 1989  - Collection of images, videos and audio files