1998 Le Mans 24 hour race

Porsche 911 GT1; Laurent Aïello , Allan McNish and Stéphane Ortelli's winning cars

The Toyota GT-One, which Ukyō Katayama , Toshio Suzuki and Keiichi Tsuchiya drove to ninth place in the overall standings

The Porsche LMP1 with starting number 8; Failure after 218 laps due to an accident

Mercedes-Benz CLK LM

The 66th 24-hour race of Le Mans , the 66 ^e Grand Prix d'Endurance les 24 Heures du Mans , also 24 Heures du Mans, Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans , took place from 6 to 7 June 1998 on the Circuit des 24 Heures .

The race

Before the race

In the course of the 1990s, many marketing departments of large automobile manufacturers discovered the promotional value of the Le Mans 24-hour race. Although the race also in 1998 not to 1997 created FIA GT Championship mattered more and more works teams to Le Mans in 1998 was 75 years old came. Porsche designed and built the GT1 in 1996 to achieve overall victory in 1996 and 1997 . Both races were lost against Reinhold Joest and his TWR-Porsche WSC-95 . In 1998, Porsche came to the Sarthe with a further evolutionary stage. The 6-cylinder boxer engine now developed 550 hp, there was a new aerodynamic body and the disc brakes were given internally ventilated carbon-ceramic brake discs. Laurent Aïello , Allan McNish and Stéphane Ortelli joined the Porsche works drivers Jörg Müller , Uwe Alzen and Bob Wollek (GT1 with the number 25) . From the two Joest WSC 95, two new prototypes were built in Zuffenhausen, which have now been used again by Joest Racing under the name Porsche LMP1 . These LMP1s are not to be confused with the Porsche 919 Hybrid from 2014, which were originally also typified as LMP1. In addition to last year 's winners Stefan Johansson and Michele Alboreto , Joest signed the three-time Le Mans winner Yannick Dalmas , his compatriot Pierre-Henri Raphanel , who was second overall in the McLaren F1 GTR last year , the British sports car driver James Weaver , as well as the one in Europe unknown American David Murry .

Another German message came from BMW Motorsport . BMW had Williams , the new partner in Formula 1 (where BMW became active again in 2000 ), develop a Le Mans prototype chassis. This chassis development took place under BMW responsibility in a BMW owned facility near Oxford. The tried and tested BMW S70 6.1-liter V12 from the McLaren F1, which had already won the overall classification of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995, was used as the engine in the BMW V12 LM . BMW brought two open Spyder to Le Mans, which were driven by Hans Joachim Stuck , Steve Soper , Tom Kristensen , Pierluigi Martini , Joachim Winkelhock and Johnny Cecotto .

Mercedes-AMG was almost unbeatable in the FIA ​​GT championship with the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR . At Le Mans, the CLK LM was an even flatter variant with a lighter, shorter and more economical V8 engine . The team included the two former Le Mans winners Christophe Bouchut and Klaus Ludwig , as well as the Australian Mark Webber , who later became successful in Formula 1 .

The team headed by Tom Walkinshaw had intensively after the poor showing in 1997 on improving the factory Nissan R390 GT1 worked. The reliability of the R390 has been improved and the aerodynamics have been optimized. The car was given a so-called long tail - in other words, the rear was lengthened by thirteen centimeters and a new, lower rear wing to further reduce air resistance. As stipulated by the regulations, this car was again available as a road version. In the qualifying sessions, the focus was now only on the race set-up. In the race there was a lack of speed compared to the competition, but reliability was no longer a problem, so that all four cars used could drive through the finish in formation flight. They finished third, five, six and ten.

Toyota developed a completely new racing car at Toyota Motorsport in Cologne ; the GT-One . According to Toyota, the decision to participate in the GT-One in Le Mans was not made until 1996. Only 18 months were left for development. The result was a prototype weighing around 920 kg with the 8-cylinder V-engine called R36V with a displacement of 3.6 liters and two Garrett turbochargers , which was installed as a mid-engine in front of the rear axle. The power was transmitted to the rear wheels via an unsynchronized and sequential 6-speed gearbox developed by Toyota . The monocoque was designed as a sandwich panel with a honeycomb core made of aluminum and a CFRP top skin. The development and execution of the aerodynamic parts was carried out as a contract work by the Italian racing car manufacturer Dallara . Toyota also tried to hire the best sports car drivers available. Since two out of four vehicles at Nissan were manned by Japanese drivers (including the former Formula 1 driver Aguri Suzuki ), Toyota decided to also entrust one of the three prototypes to Japanese: Ukyō Katayama , Toshio Suzuki and Keiichi Tsuchiya piloted the car with starting number 27. the other choice of Toyota team boss Ove Andersson fell to Thierry Boutsen , Ralf Kelleners , Geoff Lees , Martin Brundle , Emmanuel Collard and Eric Hélary .

Irrespective of the trade press and unnoticed by the public, another manufacturer was preparing to enter Le Mans: Audi . A Le Mans prototype program has been running there since 1997. In preparation for the planned first outing in 1999 , Head of Audi Motorsport Wolfgang Ulrich had bought into Thomas Bscher's team with engineers, mechanics and the two drivers Emanuele Pirro and Rinaldo Capello in order to get to know processes and logistics.

In addition to the large works teams, many strong private teams also came to Le Mans. Yves Courage with his LMP1 prototypes, Kremer Racing with the K8 Spyder , Panoz and teams that continue to rely on the McLaren F1 GTR or the Ferrari 333SP . In the GT2 class, the ORECA - Chrysler Viper GTS-R were the clear favorites.

All in all, the 1998 field was one of the best in the long history of the race.

The course of the race

In the qualification training, Bernd Schneider achieved the fastest time in a Mercedes with a time of 3: 35,544 minutes, which corresponded to an average of 227.230 km / h. Schneider also led the race at the beginning, but for the Mercedes team as well as for BMW, this endurance race ended early on with a great disappointment. All four cars had retired before the end of the fourth hour of the race. While both CLK-LM-Mercedes broke down with engine damage, the BMW had problems with the wheel bearings, which also forced these two cars to give up.

At this early point in time, the Toyota from Brundle / Collard / Hélary was clearly in the lead. This car soon had problems, however, first Hélary had a lathe that slightly damaged the car and required repairs. The vehicle dropped out of the top ten due to a gearbox change. The final retirement followed after an accident by Martin Brundle during a brief rain shower.

The Toyota from Boutsen / Kelleners / Lees, which was leading until midnight, also had problems with the gearbox, which had to be replaced during the night. The Toyota mechanics completed this swap in ten minutes. Not the fastest cars on the track, but running smoothly into the early hours of the morning, the works Porsches were now at the top of the ranking, one lap behind. Then technical difficulties began at Porsche too. Allan McNish pitted with an overheated engine and was unable to continue for a short time. The car lost half an hour before the unit was operational again. Jörg Müller damaged the subfloor in a slip, which had to be repaired at a length of time. The Boutsen / Lees / Kelleners-Toyota was thus in first place with a three lap lead. Another gear change did not prevent the team from taking the lead. But this transmission also broke in the Toyota, and just under an hour before the end of the race the car stopped in Arnage and could no longer be made to drive.

The way was clear for a Porsche double victory, the 16th success of the German brand at Le Mans.

Results

Pilots by nationality

46 French	15 British	15 Germans	12 Italians	11 Japanese
10 Americans	7 Belgians	5 Portuguese	3 Australians	3 Dutch
3 Sweden	2 danes	2 Austrians	1 Brazilian	1 Monegasse
1 Canadian	1 Swiss	1 Spaniard	1 South African	1 Venezuelan

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis	engine	tires	Round
1	GT1	26th	Porsche AG	Laurent Aïello Allan McNish Stéphane Ortelli	Porsche 911 GT1	Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6	M.	351
2	GT1	25th	Porsche AG	Jörg Müller Uwe Alzen Bob Wollek	Porsche 911 GT1	Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6	M.	350
3	GT1	32	Nissan Motorsports	Aguri Suzuki Kazuyoshi Hoshino Masahiko Kageyama	Nissan R390 GT1	Nissan VRH35L 3.5L Turbo V8	B.	347
4th	GT1	40	Gulf Team Davidoff	Steve O'Rourke Tim Sugden Bill Auberlen	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW S70 6.0L V12	P	343
5	GT1	30th	Nissan Motorsports	John Nielsen Michael Krumm Franck Lagorce	Nissan R390 GT1	Nissan VRH35L 3.5L Turbo V8	B.	342
6th	GT1	31	Nissan Motorsports	Jan Lammers Érik Comas Andrea Montermini	Nissan R390 GT1	Nissan VRH35L 3.5L Turbo V8	B.	342
7th	GT1	45	Panoz Motorsports Inc.	David Brabham Andy Wallace Jamie Davies	Panoz Esperante GTR-1	Ford Roush 6.0L V8	M.	335
8th	LMP1	12	Doyle-Risi Racing	Wayne Taylor Eric van de Poele Fermín Vélez	Ferrari 333SP	Ferrari F310E 4.0L V12	P	332
9	GT1	27	Toyota Motorsports	Ukyō Katayama Toshio Suzuki Keiichi Tsuchiya	Toyota GT-One	Toyota R36V 3.6L Turbo V8	M.	326
10	GT1	33	Nissan Motorsports	Satoshi Motoyama Takuya Kurosawa Masami Kageyama	Nissan R390 GT1	Nissan VRH35L 3.5L Turbo V8	B.	319
11	GT2	53	Viper Team Oreca	Justin Bell David Donohue Luca Drudi	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 8.0L V10	M.	317
12	LMP1	16	Kremer Racing	Riccardo Agusta Almo Coppelli Xavier Pompidou	Kremer K8 Spyder	Porsche Type-935 3.2L Turbo Flat-6	G	314
13	GT2	51	Viper Team Oreca	Olivier Beretta Pedro Lamy Tommy Archer	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 8.0L V10	M.	312
14th	LMP1	3	Moretti Racing Inc.	Giampiero Moretti Mauro Baldi Didier Theys	Ferrari 333SP	Ferrari F310E 4.0L V12	Y	311
15th	LMP1	15th	Courage Compétition	Henri Pescarolo Olivier Grouillard Franck Montagny	Courage C36	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	M.	304
16	LMP1	24	Courage Compétition	Yōjirō Terada Franck Fréon Olivier Thévenin	Courage C41	Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6	M.	300
17th	GT2	64	Roock Racing	Claudia Hürtgen Michel Ligonnet Robert Nearn	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.8L Turbo Flat-6	Y	285
18th	GT2	69	Michel Nourry	Michel Nourry Thierry Perrier Jean-Louis Ricci	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	G	276
19th	GT2	56	Chamberlain Engineering	Gary Ayles Matt Turner Hans Hugenholtz Junior	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 8.0L V10	D.	270
20th	GT2	68	Eleven Haberthur Racing	Éric Graham Hervé Poulain Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	D.	268
21st	GT2	55	Chamberlain Engineering	Ni Amorim Gonçalo Gomes Manuel Mello-Breyner	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 8.0L V10	D.	264
22nd	GT2	65	Roock Racing	Robert Schirle André Ahrlé David Warnock	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	Y	247
23	GT2	72	Larbre Compétition	Patrice Goueslard Jean-Luc Chéreau Pierre Yver	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	M.	240
Failed
24	GT1	29	Toyota Motorsport	Thierry Boutsen Ralf Kellener's Geoff Lees	Toyota GT-One	Toyota R36V 3.6L Turbo V8	M.	330
25th	GT2	71	Estoril Racing Communication	Michel Maisonneuve Manuel Monteiro Michel Monteiro	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	P	277
26th	GT1	44	Panoz Motorsports Inc.	Eric Bernard Christophe Tinseau Johnny O'Connell	Panoz Esperante GTR-1	Ford Roush 6.0L V8	M.	236
27	LMP1	13	Courage Compétition	Didier Cottaz Marc Goossens Jean-Philippe Belloc	Courage C51	Nissan VRH35Z 3.0L Turbo V8	M.	232
28	GT1	41	Gulf Team Davidoff	Thomas Bscher Emanuele Pirro Rinaldo Capello	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW S70 6.0L V12	G	228
29	LMP1	8th	Joest Racing	Pierre-Henri Raphanel David Murry James Weaver	Porsche LMP1	Porsche Type-935 3.2L Turbo Flat-6	M.	218
30th	LMP1	10	Pilot racing	Michel Ferté Pascal Fabre François Migault	Ferrari 333SP	Ferrari F310E 4.0L V12		203
31	GT2	67	Eleven Haberthur Racing	Michel Neugarten Jean-Claude Lagniez David Smadja	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	D.	198
32	GT1	28	Toyota Motorsports	Martin Brundle Emmanuel Collard Éric Hélary	Toyota GT-One	Toyota R36V 3.6L Turbo V8	M.	191
33	LMP1	5	Jabouille-Bouresche Racing	Vincenzo Sospiri Jean-Christophe Boullion Jérôme Policand	Ferrari 333SP	Ferrari F310E 4.0L V12	M.	187
34	GT2	60	Larbre Compétition	Jean-Pierre Jarier Carl Rosenblad Robin Donovan	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	M.	164
35	GT2	62	CJ Motorsport	John Morton John Graham Harald Grohs	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	G	164
36	LMP1	21st	Solution F	Philippe Gache Wayne Gardner Didier de Radiguès	Riley & Scott Mk III	Ford 5.1L V8	P	155
37	LMP1	14th	Courage Compétition	Fredrik Ekblom Patrice Gay Tetsuya Tsuchiya	Courage C51	Nissan VRH35Z 3.5L Turbo V8	M.	126
38	LMP1	7th	Joest Racing	Michele Alboreto Stefan Johansson Yannick Dalmas	Porsche LMP1	Porsche Type-935 3.2L Turbo Flat-6	M.	107
39	LMP2	22nd	Didier Bonnet	Lionel Robert Eduoard Sezionale Pierre Bruneau	Debora LMP2	BMW S50 3.2L I6	M.	106
40	GT2	61	Krauss Race Sports Intl.	Bernhard Müller Michael Trunk Ernst Palmberger	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	D.	71
41	LMP1	1	Team BMW Motorsport	Hans Joachim Stuck Steve Soper Tom Kristensen	BMW V12 LM	BMW S70 6.0L V12	M.	60
42	LMP1	2	Team BMW Motorsport	Pierluigi Martini Joachim Winkelhock Johnny Cecotto	BMW V12 LM	BMW S70 6.0L V12	M.	43
43	GT1	36	AMG Mercedes	Jean-Marc Gounon Ricardo Zonta Christophe Bouchut	Mercedes-Benz CLK-LM	Mercedes-Benz M119 5.0L V8	B.	31
44	GT2	50	Viper Team Oreca	Karl Wendlinger Marc Duez Patrick Huisman	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 8.0L V10	M.	28
45	GT2	70	Konrad Motorsport	Franz Konrad Larry Schumacher Nick Ham	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	D.	24
46	GT1	35	AMG Mercedes	Bernd Schneider Mark Webber Klaus Ludwig	Mercedes-Benz CLK-LM	Mercedes-Benz M119 5.0L V8	B.	19th
47	GT2	73	Konrad Motorsport	Toni Seiler Peter Kitchak Angelo Zadra	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	D.	2
Not started
48	GT1	37	Newcastle United	Julian Bailey Tiff Needell Anthony Reid	Lister Storm GTL	Jaguar 7.0L V12		1
49	GT1	46	Panoz Motorsports Inc.	James Weaver Perry McCarthy	Panoz Esperante GTR-1	Ford Roush 6.0L V8
50	GT2	52	Societé Viper Team Oreca	Olivier Beretta Karl Wendlinger Luca Drudi	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 8.0L V10		3
51	GT2	54	Orion Motorsport	Richard Dean Julian Westwood Michael Vergers Kurt Luby	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 8.0L V10		4th
52	GT2	58	RJ Racing	Patrick Gonin Benjamin Roy	Helem	Renault PRV 3.0L Turbo V6		5

¹ Technical acceptance not passed ² withdrawn ³ withdrawn ⁴ Technical acceptance not passed ⁵ Technical acceptance not passed

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
53	LMP1	17th	Kremer Racing	Enrico Bertaggia Tomás Saldaña Alfonso de Orleans-Bourbon	Kremer K8 Spyder	Porsche Type-935 3.2L Turbo Flat-6
54	LMP1	18th	Konrad Motorsport	Franz Konrad	Kremer K8 Spyder	Porsche Type-935 3.2L Turbo Flat-6
55	LMP1	19th	Gerard Welter	Jean-Bernard Bouvet Xavier Pompidou Marc Rostan	WR LMP98	Peugeot PRV 2.0L Turbo V6
56	LMP1	20th	Jean-Luc Sonnier idea Verte	Pierre Bruneau Dominique Lacaud	WR LMP98	Peugeot PRV 2.0L Turbo V6
57	GT1	38	Zakspeed Racing	Michael Bartels Armin Hahne Pierre-Henri Raphanel	Porsche 911 GT1	Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6
58	GT1	39	Zakspeed Racing	Alexander Grau Jean-Denis Delétraz Fabien Giroix	Porsche 911 GT1	Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6
59	GT1	48	Societé Larbre Competition	Jean-Pierre Jarier Patrice Goueslard Robin Donovan Pedro Lamy Christophe Bouchut Carl Rosenblad	Porsche 911 GT1 Evo-97	Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6
60	GT2	63	Gerard MacQuillan	Thomas Erdos Gérard MacQuillan Richard Jones	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.8L Turbo Flat-6
61	GT2	66	Roock Racing Motorsport	John Robinson Hugh Price Sascha Maassen	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.8L Turbo Flat-6
62	LMP1	4th	La Filiere Elf	Gianluca Giraudi	Ferrari 333SP	Ferrari F310E 4.0L V12
63	LMP1	6th	GTC Motorsport	Ray Bellm	Ferrari 333SP	Ferrari F310E 4.0L V12
64	LMP1	9	Pilot racing	Derek Bell Michel Ferté	Ferrari 333SP	Ferrari F310E 4.0L V12
65	LMP1	11	Ecurie Biennoise	Enzo Calderari Lilian Bryner	Ferrari 333SP	Ferrari F310E 4.0L V12
66	LMP1	23	Sarta Project Lukoil	François Migault	Sarta 624	Renault PRV 3.0L Turbo V6
67	GT1	34	Nissan Motorsports	Masami Kageyama Masahiko Kageyama Satoshi Motoyama	Nissan R390 GT1	Nissan VRH35L 3.5L Turbo V8
68	GT1	42	Parabolica Motorsport	Chris Goodwin Gary Ayles	McLaren F1 GTR LM	BMW S70 6.0L V12
69	GT1	43	Parabolica Motorsport		McLaren F1 GTR LM	BMW S70 6.0L V12
70	GT1	47	Millennium Motorsport	Dino Morelli David Goode Carl Rosenblad	Porsche 911 GT1-97	Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6
71	GT2	57	RJ Racing	Benjamin Roy	Helem	Renault PRV 3.0L Turbo V6
72	GT2	59	Pilbeam Racing Designs Ltd.	Andrew Bramley Chris Goodwin	Lotus Esprit Turbo V8	Lotus 3.5L Turbo V8
73	GT2	74	Cirtek Motorsport	Robin Schirle David Warnock Michel Ligonnet Steve Saleen Carlos Palau	Saleen Mustang	Ford 6.0L V8
74	GT2	75	Cirtek Motorsport	Robin Schirle David Warnock Michel Ligonnet Christian Vann	Saleen Mustang	Ford 6.0L V8
75	GT1		Porsche AG	Marc Basseng Dirk Müller Vincenzo Sospiri	Porsche 911 GT1	Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6
76	GT1		Newcastle United	Thomas Erdos Anthony Reid	Lister Storm GTL	Jaguar 7.0L V12
77	LMP1		Sarta Project Lukoil	Patrick Gonin	Sarta 624	Renault PRV 3.0L Turbo V6
78	LMP1		Dyson Racing	Rob Dyson James Weaver Butch Leitzinger	Riley & Scott Mk III	Ford 5.1L V8

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
LMP1	Wayne Taylor	Eric van de Poele	Fermín Vélez	Ferrari 333SP	Rank 8
GT1	Laurent Aïello	Allan McNish	Stéphane Ortelli	Porsche 911 GT1	Overall victory
GT2	Justin Bell	David Donohue	Luca Drudi	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Rank 11

Racing data

• Registered: 78
• Started: 47
• Valued: 22
• Race classes: 3
• Spectators: 185,000
• Honorary starter of the race: unknown
• Weather on the race weekend: warm, rain showers at night
• Route length: 13.605 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 23:57: 32,972 hours
• Rounds of the winning team: 351
• Distance of the winning team: 4773.184 km
• Winner's average: 199.324 km / h
• Pole position: Bernd Schneider - Mercedes-Benz CLK-LM (# 35) - 3: 35.544 = 227.230 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Martin Brundle - Toyota GT-One (# 28) - 3: 41.809 = 220.812 km / h
• Racing series: did not belong to any racing series

literature

• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre: Les 24 heures du Mans 1998. Editions IHM, Brussels 1998, ISBN 2-930120-35-5 .

Web links

Commons : 24 Hours of Le Mans 1998  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ powerslide number 012
2. ^ Audi at Le Mans