Le Mans 24 hour race 2001

The Bentley EXP Speed ​​8 with Martin Brundle at the wheel during the race

Chrysler LMP

Chevrolet Corvette C5-R

The 69th 24-hour race of Le Mans , the 69 ^e Grand Prix d'Endurance les 24 Heures du Mans , also 24 Heures du Mans, Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans , took place from 16 to 17 June 2001 on the Circuit des 24 Heures .

The race

Before the race

The return of Bentley to Le Mans was of greatest interest to the professional audience and the many thousands of British viewers . The British manufacturer of luxury vehicles had been part of the Volkswagen Group since 1998 and dominated the 1920s and early 1930s with the Bentley Boys at the wheel. The first victory came in 1927 by Dudley Benjafield and Sammy Davis in a Bentley Super Sport. The last success was celebrated in 1939 by Woolf Barnato and Glen Kidston in the Bentley Speed ​​Six Old Number One after a long duel against Rudolf Caracciola and Christian Werner in the Mercedes-Benz SS .

The Bentley EXP 8 was a racing car of the prototype class LMGTP built according to the regulations of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which was registered again in 2001. Under the direction of chief designer Peter Elleray, the car was further developed from the plans and the available model of the Audi R8C , a closed version of the Audi R8 that was only used once in 1999 and which Audi had dropped. The car was developed and built by RTN (Racing Technology Norfolk). The first drive unit in 2001 was the turbocharged 3.6-liter V8 engine of the R8 from sister company Audi. XTrac, on the other hand, developed the six-speed gearbox specifically for this vehicle. In contrast to Audi, which drove with Michelin tires, Bentley opted for racing tires from Dunlop . The car was driven by Andy Wallace , Butch Leitzinger , Eric van de Poele , Martin Brundle , Stéphane Ortelli and Guy Smith .

Another new development was the Dallara SP1 . After the development of the Chrysler Viper GTS-R was over , the ORECA team was looking for a usable racing car. At that time, ORECA was a racing team and not yet a manufacturer. At that time, Dallara had started developing a sports car chassis, the SP1. This vehicle seemed suitable and ORECA and Dallara developed the racing vehicle together. The vehicles were given the designation Chrysler LMP and started in 2001 with a 6-liter V8 engine from the Chrysler subsidiary Mopar .

Other new cars were the Dome S101 and the MG-Lola EX257 . When MG saw an opportunity to get involved in the LMP675 class with a production-based engine, the management decided to get involved in the new class with the help of Lola Cars International. In 2000 Lola had already built two racing cars, the B2K / 10 and the B2K / 40 , but these did not comply with the new LMP675 regulations. Lola therefore had to build a completely new prototype with a lower weight and a smaller motor according to the LMP675 regulation. Since the B2K / 40 was more in line with these new rules, many details were adopted from it for the new car, which Lola baptized the B01 / 60. The design of the front fenders of the B01 / 60 was almost the same as that of the B2K / 40, but the slightly raised nose of the car was designed very differently and had a large, square airbox shaped like an MG grille. The side pods were also designed completely differently and had flowing lines to improve the aerodynamics on the inside and outside of the car. A large, single air intake opening was attached to the top of the vehicle slightly to the side of the cockpit and housed the intake port of the turbocharger . As with the Audi R8, a single roll bar stood behind the driver instead of taking up the entire width of the cockpit. At the rear, the air deflector was mounted low on the landing gear in order to increase the maximum speed that can be achieved. After all, the EX257 was very light and only weighed 690 kg when it was launched (675 kg was the regular minimum weight). Julian Bailey , Mark Blundell , Kevin McGarrity , Anthony Reid , Warren Hughes and Jonny Kane were signed as drivers .

The favorites for overall victory in 2001 were the Audi R8s, which Joest Racing oversees.

The course of the race

The 2001 race was dominated by one thing, the bad weather. It rained almost continuously and in between there was so much water on the road that the race management had to send the safety cars out onto the track. The electronics of the vehicles suffered and almost all drivers spoke of the worst driving conditions they had ever encountered.

At the beginning it looked like an exciting race, although the drivers avoided duels on the track due to the adverse conditions. After an hour there was an unusual ranking. In the lead was Martin Brundle in the Bentley, ahead of Klaus Graf in the Panoz LMP07 (who was even in the lead a little later), the best Audi with Frank Biela at the wheel, the Dome by John Nielsen and the Courage C60 with Sébastien Bourdais at the wheel. The MG with the number 33 came up to the third position and could easily keep up with the speed of the LMP900 cars in the rain.

Over the distance, however, the Audi R8 was unbeatable. Despite the open Spy, the team around Wolfgang Ullrich and Reinhold Joest coped best with the adverse circumstances and in the end celebrated a double victory in which last year's winners Frank Biela , Emanuele Pirro and Tom Kristensen were able to repeat their triumph. Third-placed Bentley was already 15 laps behind. The Cadillac Northstar LMP entered for the second time had no chance again. The only car at the finish line was 51 laps behind the winning car.

In the LMP675, after the MG failed, VW won a class as the engine supplier for the Reynard 2KQ . In the GTS class, Chevrolet won with the Corvette C5-R . The biggest surprise was the Porsche 911 GT3-RS from Luca Drudi , Gabrio Rosa and Fabio Babini, it not only won the GT class, but also finished the race in sixth place overall.

Results

Pilots by nationality

44 French	21 British	16 Americans	10 Belgians	8 Japanese
7 Italians	5 Germans	4 danes	4 Canadians	4 Dutch
3 Portuguese	3 Swiss	3 South Africans	2 South Africans	2 Sweden
1 Australian	1 Irish	1 fin	1 Moroccan	1 Monegasse
1 New Zealander	1 Spaniard	1 Venezuelan

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis	engine	tires	Round
1	LMP900	1	Audi Sport Team Joest	Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro Tom Kristensen	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	M.	321
2	LMP900	2	Audi Sport North America	Laurent Aïello Rinaldo Capello Christian Pescatori	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	M.	320
3	LMGTP	8th	Team Bentley	Andy Wallace Butch Leitzinger Eric van de Poele	Bentley EXP Speed ​​8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	D.	306
4th	LMP900	16	Team PlayStation Oreca	Olivier Beretta Karl Wendlinger Pedro Lamy	Chrysler LMP	Chrysler Mopar 6.0L V8	M.	298
5	LMP675	38	ROC car	Jordi Gené Jean-Denis Delétraz Pascal Fabre	Reynard 2KQ-LM	Volkswagen HPT16 2.0L Turbo I4	M.	284
6th	GT	83	Seikel Motorsport	Gabrio Rosa Fabio Babini Luca Drudi	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	Y	283
7th	GT	77	Freising Motorsport	Gunnar Jeannette Romain Dumas Philippe Haezebrouck	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	Y	282
8th	GTS	63	Corvette Racing	Ron Fellows Scott Pruett Johnny O'Connell	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	Chevrolet LS7R 7.0L V8	G	278
9	GT	75	Perspective Racing	Thierry Perrier Michel Neugarten Nigel Smith	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	D.	275
10	GT	80	Larbre Compétition	Jean-Luc Chéreau Patrice Goueslard Sébastien Dumez	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	M.	274
11	GT	72	Team Taisan Advan	Hideo Fukuyama Atsushi Yogō Kazuyuki Nishikawa	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	Y	273
12	GT	82	Seikel Motorsport	Tony Burgess Max Cohen-Olivar Andrew Bagnall	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	Y	272
13	LMP900	17th	Pescarolo sport	Sébastien Bourdais Jean-Christophe Boullion Laurent Rédon	Courage C60	Peugeot A32 3.2L Turbo V6	M.	271
14th	GTS	64	Corvette Racing	Andy Pilgrim Kelly Collins Franck Fréon	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	Chevrolet LS7R 7.0L V8	G	271
15th	LMP900	6th	DAMS	Wayne Taylor Max Angelelli Christophe Tinseau	Cadillac Northstar LMP01	Cadillac Northstar 4.0L Turbo V8	M.	270
16	GT	76	PK Sport	Mike Youles David Warnock Stephen Day	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	D.	265
17th	GT	74	Warm-up Luc Alphand Aventures	Luc Alphand Michel Ligonnet Luis Marques	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	M.	265
18th	GTS	60	Saleen-Allen Speedlab	Franz Konrad Oliver Gavin Terry Borcheller	Saleen S7-R	Ford 7.0L V8	G	246
19th	LMP675	30th	Gerard Welter	Stéphane Daoudi Yōjirō Terada Jean-René de Fournoux	WR LMP01	Peugeot 2.0L Turbo I4	M.	245
20th	GTS	58	Larbre Compétition	Christophe Bouchut Jean-Philippe Belloc Tiago Monteiro	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 8.0L V10	M.	234
Not classified
21st	GT	79	Noël del Bello Racing	Sylvain Noël Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière Georges Forgeois	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	D.	193
Failed
22nd	LMP900	14th	Viper Team Oreca	Seiji Ara Masahiko Kondō Ni Amorim	Chrysler LMP	Chrysler Mopar 6.0L V8	M.	243
23	GTS	62	Ecurie Ecosse	Johnny Mowlem Ian McKellar Bruno Lambert	Saleen S7-R	Ford 7.0L V8	D.	175
24	LMP900	9	Racing for Holland	Jan Lammers Donny Crevels Val Hillebrand	Dome S101	Judd GV4 4.0L V10	M.	156
25th	LMP900	20th	Team Ascari	Werner Lupberger Ben Collins Harri Toivonen	Ascari A410	Judd GV4 4.0L V10	G	134
26th	LMP900	15th	Viper Team Oreca	Yannick Dalmas Stéphane Sarrazin Franck Montagny	Chrysler LMP	Chrysler Mopar 6.0L V8	M.	126
27	GT	70	Aspen Knolls Racing	Bob Mazzuoccola Vic Rice Cort Wagner	Callaway C12-R	Chevrolet 7.0L V8	G	98
28	LMP675	36	Dick Barbour Racing	Didier de Radiguès Sascha Maassen Hideshi Matsuda	Reynard 01Q-LM	Judd GV675 3.4L V8	G	95
29	LMP675	32	Roock Knight Hawk Racing	Claudia Huertgen Rick Fairbanks Chris Gleason	Lola B2K / 40	Nissan 3.4L V6	A.	94
30th	LMP675	33	MG Sport & Racing Ltd.	Julian Bailey Mark Blundell Kevin McGarrity	MG-Lola EX257	MG AER XP20 2.0L Turbo I4	M.	92
31	LMP900	11	Panoz Motorsports	Klaus Graf Jamie Davies Gary Formato	Panoz LMP07	Élan Zytek 4.0L V8	M.	86
32	LMP900	12	Panoz Motorsports	David Brabham Jan Magnussen Franck Lagorce	Panoz LMP07	Élan Zytek 4.0L V8	M.	85
33	LMP900	3	Champion Racing	Johnny Herbert Didier Theys Ralf Kelleners	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	M.	81
34	LMP900	10	Team Den Blå Avis	John Nielsen Hiroki Katoh Casper Elgaard	Dome S101	Judd GV4 4.0L V10	G	66
35	LMP900	21st	Team Ascari	Klaas Zwart Xavier Pompidou Scott Maxwell	Ascari A410	Judd GV4 4.0L V10	G	66
36	GTS	55	Paul Belmondo Racing	Vincent Vosse Vanina Ickx Carl Rosenblad	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 8.0L V10	D.	61
37	LMGTP	7th	Team Bentley	Martin Brundle Stéphane Ortelli Guy Smith	Bentley EXP Speed ​​8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	D.	56
38	LMP900	5	DAMS	Eric Bernard Emmanuel Collard Marc Goossens	Cadillac Northstar LMP01	Cadillac Northstar 4.0L Turbo V8	M.	56
39	LMP900	19th	SMG Compétition	Philippe Gache Jérôme Policand Anthony Beltoise	Courage C60	Judd GV4 4.0L V10	M.	51
40	GTS	56	Paul Belmondo Racing	Grégoire de Galzain Anthony Kumpen Jean-Claude Lagniez	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 8.0L V10	D.	44
41	GT	71	Racing engineering	Robin Donovan Terry Lingner Chris MacAllister	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	D.	44
42	LMP900	18th	Pescarolo sport	Emmanuel Clérico Didier Cottaz Boris Derichebourg	Courage C60	Peugeot A32 3.2L Turbo V6	M.	42
43	LMP900	4th	Johansson Motorsport	Stefan Johansson Tom Coronel Patrick Lemarié	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	M.	35
44	LMP675	34	MG Sport & Racing Ltd.	Anthony Reid Warren Hughes Jonny Kane	MG-Lola EX257	MG AER XP20 2.0L Turbo I4	M.	30th
45	LMP675	37	Dick Barbour Racing	John Graham Milka Duno David Murry	Reynard 01Q-LM	Judd GV675 3.4L V8	G	4th
46	GTS	61	Konrad Motorsport	Walter Brun Toni Seiler Charles Slater	Saleen S7-R	Ford 7.0L V8	G	4th
47	GTS	57	Equipe de France FFSA	David Terrien Jonathan Cochet Jean-Philippe Dayraut	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 8.0L V10	M.	4th
48	LMP675	35	S&R Rowan Racing Ltd.	Warren Carway Martin O'Connell François Migault	Pilbeam MP84	Nissan AER VQL 3.0L V6	A.	3

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
49	LMP675	31	Rachel Welter	Sylvain Boulay Jean-Bernard Bouvet Richard Balandras Yann Goudy Jean-René de Fournoux Yōjirō Terada	WR LMP01	Peugeot 2.0L Turbo I4	M.
50	LMP675	39	ROC car	Jordi Gené Pascal Fabre Jean-Denis Delétraz Mark Smithson Peter Owen	Reynard 2KQ-LM	Volkswagen HPT16 2.0L Turbo I4	M.
51	GT	78	Freising Motorsport	Andrea Garbagnati Xavier Pompidou Alexei Igorewitsch Vasilyev Nikolai Fomenko	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	Y
52	GT	81	Larbre Compétition	Pierre Yver Roland Bervillé Bernard Simmenauer Bruno Eichmann	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	M.
53	GTS	59	Saleen-Allen Speedlab	Terry Borcheller Oliver Gavin Ron Johnson Tom Kendall Chris Bingham	Saleen S7-R	Ford 7.0L V8	G
54	GTS	73	Team Taisan Advan		Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	Y
55	LMP900		Viper Team Oreca		Chrysler LMP	Chrysler Mopar 6.0L V8	M.
56	LMP900		Kremer Racing		Lola B98 / K	Ford Roush 6.0L V8	G
57	LMP900		Konrad Motorsport		Lola B2K / 10	Ford Roush 6.0L V8	D.
58	LMP900		Sezio Florida Racing Team	Edouard Sezionale Patrice Roussel	Norma M2000	BMW M5 Mader HMR 4.0L V8	G
59	LMP900		Redman Bright	Mark Smithson Peter Owen Win Percy	Reynard 01Q	Judd GV675 3.4L V8	A.
60	LMP900		Westward Racing Group Lanesra	Justin Bell Jay Cochran Dean Boss	Panoz LMP-1 Roadster S.	Élan 6L8 6.0L V8	M.
61	LMP900		Westward Racing Group Lanesra		Panoz LMP-1 Roadster S.	Élan 6L8 6.0L V8	M.
62	LMP900		Dyson Racing	Rob Dyson Elliot Forbes-Robinson	Riley & Scott Mk IIIC	Ford V8
63	LMP675		Gunnar Racing	Gunnar Jeanette Mike Brockman Wayne Jackson	Lola B2K / 40	Porsche 2.0L Turbo Flat-6	D.
64	LMP675		Sportscar Racing Team Sweden	Stanley Dickens Thed Bjork	Lola B2K / 40	Nissan 3.0L V6	A.
65	LMP675		ROC car		Reynard 2KQ-LM	Volkswagen HPT16 2.0L Turbo I4	M.
66	LMP675		Didier Bonnet		Debora LMP200	BW 3.2L V8	A.
67	LMP675		Idée Verte Compétition	Romain Thiévin Laurent Gamelon Dominique Lacaud	WR LM2000	Peugeot LPG 2.0L Turbo I4
68	LMP675		Multimatic Motorsport	Greg Wilson Scott Maxwell	Lola B2K / 40	Nissan 3.0L V6
69	LMGTP		Michel Ferté	Michel Ferté	Lotus Elise GT1	Lotus 3.5L V8
70	GTS		Carsport Holland	Mike Hezemans Jeroen Bleekemolen John Hugenholtz	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 8.0L V10	M.
71	GTS		Carsport Holland	Jeroen Bleekemolen Michael Bleekemolen Sebastiaan Bleekemolen	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 8.0L V10	M.
72	GTS		Chamberlain Motorsport	Tim Harvey Rob Wilson	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 8.0L V10
73	GTS		First racing	Fabien Giroix Jean-Denis Delétraz	Ferrari F550 Maranello	Ferrari 6.0L V12
74	GT		Jean-Michel Bouresche	Philippe Alliot David Hallyday	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
75	GT		Emka Productions	Tim Sugden	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	D.
76	GT		Estoril Racing	Manuel Monteiro Michel Monteiro	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
77	GT		Dick Barbour Racing		Porsche 911 GT3-R	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	M.
78	GT		Kremer Racing		Porsche 911 GT3-R	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
79	GT		Manthey Racing	François Migault Kersten Jodexnis Gustl Spreng	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
80	GT		Skea Racing	David Murry Rohan Skea Doc Bundy	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
81	GT		JMB Giesse	Marco Lambertini Andrea Garbagnati David Hallyday	Ferrari 360 Modena	Ferrari 3.6L V8
82	GT		JMB Giesse	David Terrien Christian Pescatori Philippe Alliot	Ferrari 360 Modena	Ferrari 3.6L V8

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
LMP900	Frank Biela	Tom Kristensen	Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	Overall victory
LMP675	Jordi Gené	Jean-Denis Delétraz	Pascal Fabre	Reynard 2KQ-LM	Rank 5
LMGTP	Andy Wallace	Butch Leitzinger	Eric van de Poele	Bentley EXP Speed ​​8	Rank 3
GTS	Ron Fellows	Scott Pruett	Johnny O'Connell	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	Rank 8
GT	Gabrio Rosa	Fabio Babini	Luca Drudi	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Rank 6

Racing data

• Registered: 82
• Started: 48
• Rated: 20
• Race classes: 5
• Spectators: 210,000
• Honorary starter of the race: unknown
• Race weekend weather: heavy rain
• Route length: 13.605 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 24: 08: 05.892 hours
• Rounds of the winning team: 321
• Distance of the winning team: 4,367,200 km
• Winner's average: 180,949 km / h
• Pole position: Rinaldo Capello - Audi R8 (# 2) - 3: 32,429 = 230.562 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Laurent Aiello - Audi R8 (# 2) - 3: 39,046 = 223.597 km / h
• Racing series: did not belong to any racing series

literature

• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre: Les 24 heures du Mans 2001 . Editions GSN, Bruxelles 2001, ISBN 2-940125-74-0 .

Web links

Commons : 24 Hours of Le Mans 2001  - Collection of images, videos and audio files