Le Mans 24 hour race 1994

The duration 962LM with the start number 36; Winning car from Hurley Haywood, Mauro Baldi and Yannick Dalmas

The Courage C32 from Henri Pescarolo , Alain Ferté and Franck Lagorce, which started from pole position

The second-placed Toyota 94C-V

The Mazda RX-7 GTO of Yōjirō Terada, Franck Fréon and Pierre de Thoisy during the race

The crashed Bugatti EB110 ES owned by Alain Cudini , Eric Hélary and Jean-Christophe Boullion

The 62nd 24-hour race of Le Mans , the 62 ^e Grand Prix d'Endurance les 24 Heures du Mans , also 24 Heures du Mans, Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans , took place from 19 to 20 June 1994 on the Circuit des 24 Heures .

The race

New regulations

The commitment of two people had a major impact on the 1994 24-hour race. First, the former French racing driver Alain Bertaut , and second, the German racing driver and entrepreneur Jochen Dauer . In the 1960s, entrusted was active as a racing driver and in 1962, together with partner André Guilhaudin , achieved 16th place in the overall ranking on a CD Dyna . This also meant victory in the class for experimental racing cars up to 850 cc. In his role as the technical director of the race, which he has exercised since 1970, has been instrumental in all of the technical regulations of the race since then.

After the end of Group C in 1993, it became necessary to create new technical framework conditions for the race. In 1992 , the sports car world championship that had been held since 1953 was also discontinued. In 1993, the former Group C vehicles, such as the long-serving Porsche 962 , the Peugeot 905 and the Toyota TS010 , competed in Le Mans . The functionaries of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest , and with them Bertaut, created new racing classes. The previously non-existent GT1 class and the two new classes of Le Mans prototypes . First the specially developed, large-displacement LMP1, which is normally equipped with turbochargers, and the LMP2, which used smaller, near-series engines.

The GT1 class was actually reserved for near-series vehicles, the racing cars had to have a counterpart on the road. The ACO wanted to open the door to Le Mans for automobiles like the Bugatti EB110 and the McLaren F1 . Contrary to the original intention of Bertaut and his technicians, a former Group C prototype was still at the start. With the help of Porsche employees, Jochen Dauer found a gap in the regulations. Only one vehicle of a registered racing car had to have a series approval. Duration bought five brand new 962 chassis from Porsche as early as 1991. In 1993, when the new regulations were already known, a first road vehicle was built in addition to a racing version. Road approval was only possible after a rear-facing camera had been installed, as otherwise the view to the rear was too restricted. Otherwise the car largely corresponded to the Porsche 962C.

Before the race

Duration was supported by Reinhold Joest during the race . The message came from sports cars , but the logistics and on-site operations were handled by the technicians and mechanics from Joest Racing with the active support of the Porsche works team. Experienced Le Mans starters, some of whom had a great deal of experience in driving the Porsche 962, were used as drivers. The US-American Hurley Haywood had already won the race in 1977 and 1983 and contested many events with the 962 and the previous model 956 . With him in the team drove the French Yannick Dalmas (overall winner 1992 with Peugeot) and the Italian Mauro Baldi , who contested sports car races since 1984 after his involvement in Formula 1 . The second car featured two-time overall winner and long-time Porsche works driver Hans-Joachim Stuck , the 1985 Indianapolis 500 winner Danny Sullivan and the three-time Grand Prix winner Thierry Boutsen .

The Toyota works team, however, was the favorite for overall victory . Since the late 1980s, the Japanese automobile company tried to achieve great success in Le Mans; a victory, however, had not yet materialized. The new emergency vehicle was the Toyota 94C-V , which was based on the Group C Toyota 92C-V , but already complied with the specifications of the LMP1-C90 class. One of the drivers was the Northern Irishman Eddie Irvine , who had a contract with the Jordan Grand Prix in 1994 and drove the 194 in the Formula 1 World Championship. The fact that a current Formula 1 driver started in Le Mans in addition to the Grand Prix starts was an unusual occurrence in 1994. Irvine joined the team as a replacement for Roland Ratzenberger, who had a fatal accident at the San Marino Grand Prix . The Austrian's name remained on the emergency vehicle as a recognition. In the Toyota with starting number 4, Bob Wollek finally tried to achieve his first Le Mans victory.

The homologation of the 962 meant that the Porsche 962C GTi was also eligible to compete. The ACO officials used the duration like the Porsche from ADA Engineering Ltd. Little love in return, but they could not bring themselves to exclude the cars. Another LMP1-C90 prototype was the Kremer K8 Spyder , which was also based on a Porsche 962.

The course of the race

Shortly after the start, Derek Bell took the lead in the Kremer K8, but lost it before the end of the first lap to Alain Ferté in the Courage C32, who had started from pole position . The victory was achieved over the distance between Duration and Toyota. The 94C-V were almost two seconds faster than the permanent Porsche over one lap, but had the smaller tank and their 3.6-liter V8 engine, which consumed more fuel. While the Toyota could only drive a maximum of eleven laps until the next refueling stop, the duration 962 reached a distance of 15 laps. After two hours of driving, the two duration were therefore in the lead. However, minor technical inadequacies forced the two cars to make a few unscheduled stops in the pits.

From the morning of Sunday, Eddie Irvine, Mauro Martini and Jeff Krosnoff's Toyota led the race for nine hours before a gearbox problem put an end to the Japanese ambitions for success in the overall standings 90 minutes before the end of the race. Eddie Irvine was able to make up one more lap on the leaders in the closing stages, but was unable to prevent Haywood, Baldi and Dalmas from triumphing.

Results

Pilots by nationality

56 French	18 British	11 Germans	11 Japanese	8 Italians
8 Americans	7 Spaniards	7 Swiss	6 Belgians	3 Dutch
2 danes	2 New Zealanders	2 Sweden	1 Argentine	1 Brazilian
1 Slovenian	1 South African

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis	engine	tires	Round
1	GT1	36	Le Mans Porsche Team	Yannick Dalmas Hurley Haywood Mauro Baldi	Duration 962 LM	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	344
2	LMP1 C90	1	SARD Company Ltd.	Eddie Irvine Mauro Martini Jeff Krosnoff	Toyota 94C-V	Toyota R36V 3.6L Turbo V8	D.	343
3	GT1	35	Le Mans Porsche Team	Hans Joachim Stuck Danny Sullivan Thierry Boutsen	Duration 962 LM	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	343
4th	LMP1 C90	4th	Nisso Gredd Trust Racing	Steven Andskär George Fouché Bob Wollek	Toyota 94C-V	Toyota R36V 3.6L Turbo V8	D.	328
5	IMSA GTS	75	Clayton Cunningham Racing	Steve Millen Johnny O'Connell John Morton	Nissan 300ZX	Nissan VRH35 3.0L Turbo V6	Y	317
6th	LMP1 C90	5	Gulf Oil Racing	Derek Bell Robin Donovan Jürgen Lässig	Kremer K8 Spyder	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	D.	316
7th	LMP1 C90	9	Courage Compétition	Jean-Louis Ricci Andy Evans Philippe Olczyk	Courage C32LM	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	M.	310
8th	GT2	52	Larbre Compétition	Jesús Pareja Dominique Dupuy Carlos Palau	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6	M.	307
9	GT2	54	Écurie Biennoise	Enzo Calderari Lilian Bryner Renato Mastropietro	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6	P	299
10	GT2	59	Konrad Motorsport	Cor Euser Patrick Huisman Matiaz Tomlje	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6	P	295
11	GT2	57	Repsol Ferrari España	Alfonso de Orléans-Borbón Tomás Saldaña Andres Vilariño	Ferrari 348 GTC-LM	Ferrari 3.4L V8	P	276
12	GT1	40	Rent-A-Car Racing Team	René Arnoux Justin Bell Bertrand Balas	Dodge Viper RT / 10	Dodge 8.0L V10	M.	273
13	GT2	60	Legeay Sports Mécanique	Benjamin Roy Luc Galmard Jean-Claude Police	Alpine A610	Renault PRV 3.0L Turbo V6	M.	272
14th	GT2	48	Kremer Honda Racing	Armin Hahne Christophe Bouchut Bertrand Gachot	Honda NSX	Honda 3.0L V6	D.	257
15th	IMSA GTS	74	Team Artnature	Yōjirō Terada Franck Fréon Pierre de Thoisy	Mazda RX-7 GTO	Mazda 13J 2.0L 3- Wankel	D.	250
16	GT2	46	Kremer Honda Racing	Philippe Favre Hideki Okada Kazuo Shimizu	Honda NSX	Honda 3.0L V6	D.	240
17th	GT2	68	Agusta Racing Team	Jean-Louis Sirera Antonio Puig Xavier Camp	Venturi 400GTR	Renault PRV 3.0L Turbo V6	D.	225
18th	GT2	47	Kremer Honda Racing	Kunimitsu Takahashi Keiichi Tsuchiya Akira Iida	Honda NSX	Honda 3.0L V6	Y	222
Not classified
19th	GT1	41	Rent-A-Car Racing Team	François Migault Denis Morin Philippe Gache	Dodge Viper RT / 10	Dodge 8.0L V10	M.	225
20th	GT1	30th	BBA Compétition	Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière Bernard Chauvin Hervé Poulain	Venturi 600LM	Renault PRV 3.0L Turbo V6	D.	221
21st	GT1	37	ADA Engineering Ltd.	Dominic Chappell Jonathan Baker Phil Andrews	De Tomaso Pantera 200	Ford 5.0L V8	G	210
22nd	LMP1 C90	6th	ADA Engineering Ltd.	Jun Harada Tomiko Yoshikawa Masahiko Kondō	Porsche 962C GTi	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	G	189
23	GT2	65	Agusta Racing Team	Stéphane Ratel Franz Hunkeler Edouard Chaufour	Venturi 400GTR	Renault PRV 3.0L Turbo V6	D.	137
Disqualified
24	GT2	51	Callaway Sport Inc.	Frank Jelinski Boris Said III Michel Maisonneuve	Callaway Corvette SuperNatural	Chevrolet 6.2L V8	Y	142
Failed
25th	GT1	34	Michel Hommell	Alain Cudini Eric Hélary Jean-Christophe Boullion	Bugatti EB110 SS	Bugatti 3.5L Turbo V12	M.	230
26th	LMP1 C90	2	Courage Compétition	Henri Pescarolo Alain Ferté Franck Lagorce	Courage C32LM	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	M.	142
27	GT1	31	Agusta Racing Team	Riccardo Agusta Michel Krine Almo Coppelli	Venturi 600LM	Renault PRV 3.0L Turbo V6	D.	115
28	LMP1 C90	3	Courage Compétition	Lionel Robert Pascal Fabre Pierre-Henri Raphanel	Courage C32LM	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	M.	107
29	GT1	38	Jacadi Racing	Michel Ferté Olivier Grouillard Michel Neugarten	Venturi 600LM	Renault PRV 3.0L Turbo V6	M.	107
30th	LMP2	21st	Welter Racing	Patrick Gonin Pierre Petit	WR LM93	Peugeot 2.0L Turbo V6	M.	104
31	GT1	33	Patrick Nève Racing	Franz Konrad Antonio Herrmann de Azevedo Mike Sommer	Porsche 911 3.6	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	P	100
32	LMP1 C90	7th	Stealth engineering	Dominique Lacaud Sylvain Boulay Bernard Robin	ALD 06	BMW M88 3.5L I6	G	96
33	GT2	49	Flymo Mobil Alméras	Jacques Laffite Jacques Alméras Jean-Marie Alméras	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6	P	94
34	LMP2	22nd	Welter Racing	Hervé Regout Jean-François Yvon Jean-Paul Libert	WR LM94	Peugeot 2.0L Turbo V6	M.	86
35	GT2	58	Seikel Motorsport	Thomas Bscher Lindsay Owen-Jones John Nielsen	Porsche 968 RS	Porsche 3.0L Turbo I4		84
36	LMP2	20th	Didier Bonnet	Georges Tessier Pascal Dro Bernard Santal	Debora LMP294	Alfa Romeo 3.0L V6	P	79
37	LMP1 C90	8th	Roland Bassaler	Nicolas Minassian Patrick Bourdais Olivier Couvreur	Alpa LM	Cosworth DFL 3.5L V8	G	64
38	GT2	50	Larbre Compétition	Pierre Yver Jack Leconte Jean-Luc Chéreau	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6		62
39	GT2	62	Lotus Cars	Richard Piper Peter Hardman Olindo Iacobelli	Lotus Esprit S300	Lotus 2.2 Turbo I4	M.	59
40	GT2	45	Heico Service GmbH	Ulrich Richter Karl-Heinz Wlazik Dirk Ebeling	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6		57
41	GT2	55	Simpson Engineering	Robin Smith Stefano Sebastiani Tetsuya Ota	Ferrari 348 LM	Ferrari 3.4L V8	Y	57
42	GT1	29	Strandell	Anders Olofsson Sandro Angelastri Max Angelelli	Ferrari F40	Ferrari 3.0L Turbo V8	P	51
43	GT2	63	Chamberlain Engineering	Rob Wilson David Brodie William Hewland	Harrier LR9C	Cosworth YBT 2.0L Turbo I4	D.	45
44	GT2	56	Eleven Haberthur Racing	Olivier Haberthur Patrice Goueslard Patrick Vuillaume	Porsche 911 3.6	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	G	42
45	GT2	66	Erik Henriksen	Ray Bellm Harry Nuttall Charles Rickett	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6	G	34
46	GT2	61	Lotus Cars	Thorkild Thyrring Klaas Zwart Andreas Fuchs	Lotus Esprit S300	Lotus 2.2L Turbo I4	M.	28
47	IMSA GTS	76	Clayton Cunningham Racing	Eric van de Poele Paul Gentilozzi Shunji Kasuya	Nissan 300ZX	Nissan VRH35 3.0L Turbo V6	Y	25th
48	GT2	64	Ferrari Club Italia	Oscar Larrauri Fabio Mancini Joël Gouhier	Ferrari 348 GTC-LM	Ferrari 3.4L V8	P	23
Not qualified
49	GT1	39	Société Venturi Compétition	Ferdinand de Lesseps Paul Belmondo Jacques Tropenat	Venturi 600LM	Renault PRV 3.0L Turbo V6		1
50	GT2	53	Scuderia Fabio Magnani	Christian Heinkélé Guy Kuster Hans Hugenholtz Junior	Lotus Esprit S300	Lotus 2.2 Turbo I4		2

¹ not qualified 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	GT1	43	JCB Racing	Jean-Claude Basso François Migault Claude Meigemont Philippe Olczyk	Venturi 600LM	Renault PRV 3.0L Turbo V6
52	GT1	44	BBA Sport et Compétition	Eric Graham Francois Birbeau Laurent Lécuyer	Venturi 600LM	Renault PRV 3.0L Turbo V6	M.
53	GT2	69	Guy Chotard	Didier Caradec Jean-Louis LeDuigou André Gahinet	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
54	GT2	71	Konrad Motorsport	Franz Konrad	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
55	LMP1 C90	7th	Stealth engineering	Justin Bell Tiff Needell	Porsche 962C	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6
56	WSC	13	Courage Compétition		Courage C41	Chevrolet 4.5L V8
57	WSC	14th	Brix Racing	Bob Schader Jeremy Dale Ruggero Melgrati	Spice HC 94	Oldsmobile 5.0L V8
58	WSC	15th	Screaming Eagles Racing	Craig Nelson Dan Clark	Spice SE90	Lexus
59	WSC	16	Pegasus Racing	Oliver Kuttner Mike Sheehan Jim Downing Dieter Quester	Pegasus	BMW M88 3.5L I6	G
60	GT1	32	Ecurie Biennoise	Enzo Calderari Lilian Bryner	Porsche 911 Turbo	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
61	GT1	33	Larbre Compétition	Jean-Pierre Jarier Jésus Pareja Dominique Dupuy Joël Gouhier Jack Leconte	Porsche 911 Turbo S LM	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
62	GT2	42	Gustl Spreng Racing	Gustl Spreng Fritz Müller	Porsche 993 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
63	GT2	51	Obermaier Racing GmbH	Ruggero Grassi Renato Mastropietro	Porsche 911 Carrera 2	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
64	GT2	52	Patrick Nève Racing	Alain Gadal Bruno Ilien Didier de Puysseleyr Patrick Huisman Bernd Netzeband Matiaz Tomlje	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
65	GT2	67	Patrick Boirdon	Patrick Boirdon Jean-Marc Massé Philippe Sinault Jérôme Brarda	Porsche 911 Carrera 2	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
66	GT2	70	Mühlbauer Motorsport	Alexander Mattschull Arnold Mattschull Philippe Auvray Sandro Angelastro Toni Seiler	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
67	GT2		Konrad Motorsport		Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
68	GT2		Konrad Motorsport		Porsche 911 Carrera	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
68	GT2		Erik Henriksen		Porsche 968 RS	Porsche 3.0L Flat-6

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
GT1	Yannick Dalmas	Hurley Haywood	Mauro Baldi	Duration 962 LM	Overall victory
LMP1 C90	Eddie Irvine	Jeff Krosnoff	Mauro Martini	Toyota 94C-V	Rank 2
IMSA GTS	Steve Millen	Johnny O'Connell	John Morton	Nissan 300ZX	Rank 5
GT2	Jesús Pareja	Dominique Dupuy	Carlos Palau	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	Rank 8
LMP2	no participant in the finish

Racing data

• Registered: 69
• Started: 48
• Valued: 18
• Race classes: 5
• Spectators: 140,000
• Honorary starter of the race: unknown
• Race weekend weather: warm and sunny
• Route length: 13,600 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 23:57: 33,410 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 345
• Distance of the winning team: 4685.701 km
• Winner's average: 195.238 km / h
• Pole position: Alain Ferté - Courage C32 (# 2) - 3: 51.050 = 211.902 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Thierry Boutsen - duration 962LM (# 35) - 3: 52.540 = 210.544 km / h
• Racing series: did not belong to any racing series

literature

• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre: 24 heures du Mans 1994 . Éditions IHM, Brussels 1994, ISBN 2-930120-00-2 .

Web links

Commons : 24 Hours of Le Mans 1994  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Information on the duration 962LM ( Memento from March 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Le Mans 1994