Le Mans 24 hour race 1992

The Peugeot 905 Evo 1B with starting number 1; Derek Warwick, Yannick Dalmas and Mark Blundell led this car for more than 21 hours and won the overall standings at the end of the race

The Toyota TS010 with the starting number 33; Masanori Sekiya, Pierre-Henri Raphanel and Kenny Acheson achieved second place in the overall standings with this car

The 60th 24-hour race at Le Mans , the 60 ^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 20 to 21 June 1992 the Circuit des 24 Heures .

The race

The 1992 24-hour race coincided with the end of the Group C era . The races for the sports car world championship this year were characterized by infinitesimally small starting fields. In the 500 km race at Silverstone , which took place just under a month before Le Mans , only eleven racing cars were at the start. 28 cars entered the race at Le Mans on Saturday afternoon. That was the smallest field since 1932 , when only 26 starters started the race. Nevertheless, there was great interest in the event; Above all because experts and spectators wanted to know whether the Group C prototypes, which drive almost as fast as Formula 1 cars, were able to cover the 24-hour distance in their final stages and with their 3.5-liter V10 engines would hold out.

The favorite to win was the Peugeot works team . The French came to Le Mans with three 905 Evo1Bs . In the previous year , both works cars had retired early, and victory should now follow in 1992. The prototypes were driven by the three-man teams Derek Warwick / Yannick Dalmas / Mark Blundell (start number 1), Mauro Baldi / Philippe Alliot / Jean-Pierre Jabouille (start number 2) and Karl Wendlinger / Eric van de Poele / Alain Ferté .

Competition arose for the French from Japan from Toyota and Mazda . Toyota brought three of the fast TS010s to the Sarthe. The cockpits were awarded to Masanori Sekiya , Pierre-Henri Raphanel , Kenny Acheson , Jan Lammers , Andy Wallace , Teo Fabi , Geoff Lees , David Brabham and Ukyō Katayama . Mazda also brought a new prototype to France with the MXR-01 . For the first time since the 1960s, the former Formula 1 racing car designer BRM was back with a sports car at Le Mans. In 1965 the chassis for the Rover gas turbine vehicle was delivered . The team received a special permit for the race. Neither Harri Toivonen nor Richard Jones were able to achieve the prescribed number of laps in practice because there were constant transmission problems on the P351 , so that only Wayne Taylor was allowed to start. The race ended after just 20 laps due to major damage to the manual transmission.

In practice, Philippe Alliot set the fastest practice time and started from pole position . From the start, however, the factory Mazda with Johnny Herbert at the wheel took the lead. Even after the first driver change - Volker Weidler took over the cockpit from Herbert - the Mazda stayed in the lead. On the 24th lap there was the first and only change in leadership in this race. The Peugeot with the starting number 1 took the lead in the race and did not give it up until the checkered flag fell. Just before 6 p.m., Alain Ferté in the Peugeot and Geoff Lees in the Toyota collided in a duel for fourth place at the end of the Ligne Droite des Hunaudières . Both cars were severely damaged but managed to return to the pits. However, both vehicles were eliminated in the course of the race. Although it has rained heavily and incessantly since the start, the failure rate in the first 12 hours of racing with two sports cars remained low. The number 2 Peugeot lost its chance of victory due to several spins by Philippe Alliot during the race. The repairs to the pits that had become necessary, the team lost several laps and finished in third place.

In the end, Warwick, Dalmas and Blundell won with a lead of six laps on the Toyota of Sekiya, Raphanel and Acheson.

Results

Pilots by nationality

30 French	16 British	11 Italians	8 Japanese	5 Germans
4 Dutch	3 Sweden	2 Belgians	2 Austrians	2 Spaniards
2 South Africans	1 Australian	1 Brazilian	1 Dane	1 fin
1 Moroccan

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis	engine	tires	Round
1	C1	1	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Derek Warwick Yannick Dalmas Mark Blundell	Peugeot 905 Evo 1B	Peugeot SA35 3.5L V10	M.	352
2	C1	33	Toyota Team Tom's	Masanori Sekiya Pierre-Henri Raphanel Kenny Acheson	Toyota TS010	Toyota RV10 3.5L V10	G	346
3	C1	2	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Mauro Baldi Philippe Alliot Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Peugeot 905 Evo 1B	Peugeot SA35 3.5L V10	M.	345
4th	C1	5	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Johnny Herbert Volker Weidler Bertrand Gachot Maurizio Sandro Sala	Mazda MXR-01	Judd MV10 3.5L V10	M.	336
5	C2	35	Greddy Trust Racing Team	Stefan Johansson George Fouché Steven Andskär	Toyota 92C-V	Toyota R36V 3.6L Turbo V8	D.	336
6th	C3	54	Courage Compétition	Bob Wollek Henri Pescarolo Jean-Louis Ricci	Cougar C28LM	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	335
7th	C3	51	Kremer Porsche Racing	Manuel Reuter John Nielsen Giovanni Lavaggi	Porsche 962CK6	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	Y	334
8th	C1	8th	Toyota Team Tom's	Jan Lammers Andy Wallace Teo Fabi	Toyota TS010	Toyota RV10 3.5L V10	G	331
9	C2	34	Toyota Team Tom's	Roland Ratzenberger Eje Elgh Eddie Irvine	Toyota 92C-V	Toyota R36V 3.6L Turbo V8	B.	321
10	C3	67	Obermaier Racing GmbH	Otto Altenbach Jürgen Lässig Pierre Yver	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	297
11	C3	52	Kremer Porsche Racing	Robin Donovan Charles Rickett Almo Coppelli	Porsche 962CK6	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	Y	297
12	C3	53	ADA engineering	Derek Bell Justin Bell Tiff Needell	Porsche 962C GTi	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	284
13	C1	4th	Euro Racing	Heinz-Harald Frentzen Charles Zwolsman senior Shunji Kasuya	Lola T92 / 10	Judd GV10 3.5L V10	M.	271
14th	C1	22nd	Chamberlain Engineering	Ferdinand de Lesseps Richard Piper Olindo Iacobelli	Spice SE89C	Cosworth DFZ 3.5L V8	G	258
Not classified
15th	C1	36	Chamberlain Engineering	Jun Harada Kenta Shimamura Tomiko Yoshikawa	Spice SE89C	Cosworth DFZ 3.5L V8	G	160
16	C4	66	Eric Bellefroid	Walter Breuer Marc Alexandre Frank de Vita	Orion LM	Peugeot 1.9L I4	M.	78
Failed
17th	C1	31	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Karl Wendlinger Eric van de Poele Alain Ferté	Peugeot 905 Evo 1B	Peugeot SA35 3.5L V10	M.	208
18th	C1	7th	Toyota Team Tom's	Geoff Lee's David Brabham Ukyo Katayama	Toyota TS010	Toyota RV10 3.5L V10	G	192
19th	C1	21st	Action Formula	Luigi Taverna Alessandro Gini John Sheldon	Spice SE90C	Cosworth DFZ 3.5L V8	G	150
20th	C3	56	Courage Compétition	Tomás Saldaña Denis Morin Jean-François Yvon	Cougar C28LM	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	142
21st	C1	6th	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Maurizio Sandro-Sala Takashi Yorino Yōjirō Terada	Mazda MXR-01	Judd MV10 3.5L V10	M.	124
22nd	C1	29	Team SCI	Ranieri Randaccio Vito Veninata Stefano Sebastiani	Tiga GC288	Cosworth DFL 3.3L V8	G	101
23	C3	68	Alméras-Chotard team	Jean-Marie Alméras Jacques Alméras Max Cohen-Olivar	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	85
24	C3	55	Courage Compétition	Pascal Fabre Lionel Robert Marco Brand	Cougar C28LM	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	77
25th	C1	3	Euro Racing	Jesús Pareja Cor Euser Charles Zwolsman senior	Lola T92 / 10	Judd GV10 3.5L V10	M.	50
26th	C4	58	Welter Racing	Patrick Gonin Didier Artzet Pierre Petit	WR LM92	Peugeot 1.9L I4	M.	42
27	C4	61	Didier Bonnet Autoracing	Didier Bonnet Gérard Tremblay Jacques Heuclin	Debora 92	Alfa Romeo 3.0L V6	P	25th
28	C1	9	British Racing Motors	Wayne Taylor Harri Toivonen Richard Jones	BRM P351	BRM 3.5L V12	G	20th
Not started
29	C1	30th	TDR Spice Racing	Chris Hodgetts François Migault Thierry Lecerf	Spice SE90C	Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8		1
Not qualified
30th	C2	60	Team MP Racing	Marc Pachot Raymond Touroul Didier Cadarec	ALD C289	Peugeot PRV 3.0L V6	M.	2

¹ engine failure ² disqualified due to underweight in training

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
31	C1		Chamberlain Engineering		Spice
32	C3		del Bello Racing	Noël del Bello	Cougar C20LM	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6
33	C4		Team MP	Marc Pachot	ALD 07	Alfa Romeo 3.0L V6
34	C4		Team MP	Marc Pachot	Lucchini	Alfa Romeo 3.0L V6
35	C1	10	British Racing Motors		BRM P351	BRM 3.5L V12
36	C1	11	Konrad Motorsport		Konrad KM-011
37	C1	12	RM Motorsport		Jaguar XJR-14
38	C1	14th	RM Motorsport		Jaguar XJR-14
39	C1	23	Gee Pee Jaguar	David Coyne George Paulin Stefano Sebastiani	Jaguar XJR-12
40	C1	23	Gee pee		Argo JM20B
41	C1	27	RM Motorsport		Spice
42	C1	28	RM Motorsport		Jaguar XJR-17
43	C1	38	Gee pee		Argo JM20B
44	C1	38	Gee Pee Jaguar	Raineri Randaccio Pasquale Baberio	Jaguar XJR-17
45	C4	57	Welter Racing		WR LM92	Peugeot 1.9L I4
46	C4	59	del Bello Racing	Noël del Bello Thierry Lecerf	Norma	Alfa Romeo 3.0L V6
47	C4	62	Martin Crass Racing	Chris Hodgetts	ProSport 3000	Cosworth 3.0L V8
48	C4	63	Don Farthing Racing		ProSport 3000	Cosworth 3.0L V8
49	C4	64	Chris Taylor	Ian Ashley John Morrison Tony Trimmer	ProSport 3000	Cosworth 3.0L V8
50	C4	65	Chris Taylor	Rob Murrells Nick Adams John Sheldon	ProSport 3000	Cosworth 3.0L V8

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
Group C1	Yannick Dalmas	Derek Warwick	Mark Blundell	Peugeot 905 Evo 1B	Overall victory
Group C2	Stefan Johansson	George Fouché	Steven Andskar	Toyota 92C-V	Rank 5
Group C3	Bob Wollek	Henri Pescarolo	Jean-Louis Ricci	Cougar C28LM	Rank 6
Group C4	no participant in the finish

Racing data

• Registered: 50
• Started: 28
• Valued: 14
• Race classes: 4
• Spectators: 176,000
• Honorary starter of the race: Prince Albert of Monaco
• Weather on the race weekend: rain
• Route length: 13,600 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 24: 00: 00,000 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 352
• Distance of the winning team: 4787.200 km
• Winner's average: 199.340 km / h
• Pole position: Philippe Alliot - Peugeot 906 Evo 1B (# 2) - 3: 21.200 = 243.329 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Jan Lammers - Toyota TS010 (# 8) - 3: 32.295 = 230.622 km / h
• Racing series: 3rd round of the 1992 Sports Car World Championship

literature

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

Web links

Commons : 24 Hours of Le Mans 1992  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Previous race Silverstone 500km 1992

Sports car world championship

Successor 500 km race from Donington 1992