2004 Le Mans 24 hour race

Audi R8 of the Goh team; Winning car from Seiji Ara , Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen

The third-placed Audi of the ADT Champion Racing Team with starting number 2

Zytek 04S

The 72nd 24-hour race of Le Mans , the 72 ^e Grand Prix d'Endurance les 24 Heures du Mans , also 24 Heures du Mans, Le Mans , took place from June 12 to 13, 2004 on the Circuit des 24 Heures instead of.

The race

After the third victory in a row in 2002 , the Board of Management of Audi AG decided not to participate in Le Mans with the Audi R8 at Le Mans. This led to the provisional end of racing activities by Joest Racing , the German racing team that looked after the works cars at Le Mans. In 2003 the Joest technicians supported Bentley in achieving a one-two result. In 2004, too, no Joest car was registered on the Sarthe. The race should be contested by the R8 of the private teams. Nevertheless, the race did not take place entirely without the participation of the motorsport team around Reinhold Joest . Joest's Technical Director Ralph Jüttner worked for the Japanese Audi Sport Japan Team Goh in 2004. The Japanese also signed the meanwhile five-time overall winner Tom Kristensen , who had been successful in this 24-hour race four times in a row since 2000 , and his teammate Rinaldo Capello from the previous year . The regular driver at Goh was the Japanese Seiji Ara who had already driven the Audi prototype for the past two years.

Audi Sport UK registered two vehicles. The vehicles were driven by the four Britons Jamie Davies , Johnny Herbert , Guy Smith and Allan McNish as well as the two Germans Frank Biela and Pierre Kaffer . The fourth Audi was the car of the US Champion Racing Team that raced in the American Le Mans Series and was driven at Le Mans by JJ Lehto , Marco Werner and Emanuele Pirro .

France was represented by Henri Pescarolo's team. The 62-year-old Parisian had won the race four times as a driver. With 33 participations between 1966 and 1999 he was a clear record starter. Pescarolo had owned a racing team for several years and reported two Pescarolo C60s . The C60 was based on the Courage C60 , which Pescarolo had been using as a racing car in Le Mans and in the Le Mans Series since 2001 . When the French team decided in 2003 to run the racing cars under their own name in the future, the idea of ​​in-house development was discarded and the C60 chassis began to be adapted. However, there were some difficulties involved. The regulations that the Automobile Club de l'Ouest stipulates for the endurance race at Le Mans stipulate that a vehicle may only start in the name of the registered team if the chassis was completely built by them, a circumstance that depends on the selected variant did not apply. However, team boss Henri Pescarolo managed to get the officials to make an exception and he was given permission to start.

The former racing driver and well-known racing car designer André de Cortanze , who had long experience as a prototype developer, was hired as chief technician . He had designed such well-known racing cars as the Peugeot 905 and the Toyota GT-One . De Cortanze had the CFRP chassis converted and designed a new rear and rear wing. The previous V6 - turbo engines from Peugeot were new 5-liter V10 naturally aspirated engines of Judd replaced. The two cars were driven exclusively by French: Soheil Ayari , Érik Comas , Benoît Tréluyer , Sébastien Bourdais , Nicolas Minassian and Emmanuel Collard . Jan Lammers signed two Formula 1 drivers for the 2003 Formula 1 season . Justin Wilson and Ralph Firman for one of the two S101 domes . Partner in the vehicle with the starting number 16 was Tom Coronel . Lammers himself entered the race with Chris Dyson and Katsutomo Kaneishi .

The surprise in qualifying was the Zytek 04S , with which David Brabham achieved a time of 3: 33.923 minutes. He was only a second slower than pole setter Johnny Herbert.

The race had something special to offer. The Nasamax DM139 had a Judd GV5 5.0L V10 engine that ran on bioethanol . The British Taurus team upgraded their Lola B2K / 10 with a 5-liter Caterpillar - diesel engine from.

Until the checkered flag fell, Audi Sport Japan Team Goh and Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx battled it out for victory. After 24 hours, the victorious Japanese team separated from the Veloqx team by 41 seconds. For Tom Kristensen it was the fifth overall victory in a row; the sixth overall. So he drew level with the previous record winner Jacky Ickx , who also celebrated six overall wins.

Results

Pilots by nationality

36 British	33 French	15 Americans	10 Japanese	8 Germans
8 Dutch	6 Danes	6 Italians	4 Swiss	3 Canadians
3 New Zealanders	2 Brazilians	2 Russians	1 Australian	1 Belgian
1 fin	1 Monegasse	1 Portuguese	1 Swede	1 South African
1 Czech

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis	engine	tires	Round
1	LMP1	5	Audi Sport Japan Team Goh	Seiji Ara Rinaldo Capello Tom Kristensen	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	M.	379
2	LMP1	88	Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx	Jamie Davies Johnny Herbert Guy Smith	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	M.	379
3	LMP1	2	ADT Champion Racing	JJ Lehto Marco Werner Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	M.	368
4th	LMP1	18th	Pescarolo sport	Soheil Ayari Érik Comas Benoît Tréluyer	Pescarolo C60	Judd GV5 5.0L V10	M.	361
5	LMP1	8th	Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx	Allan McNish Frank Biela Pierre Kaffer	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	M.	350
6th	GTS	64	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta Jan Magnussen	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	Chevrolet 7.0L V8	M.	345
7th	LMP1	15th	Racing for Holland	Jan Lammers Chris Dyson Katsutomo Kaneishi	Dome S101	Judd GV4 4.0L V10	D.	341
8th	GTS	63	Corvette Racing	Ron Fellows Massimiliano Papis Johnny O'Connell	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	Chevrolet 7.0L V8	M.	334
9	GTS	65	Prodrive Racing	Darren Turner Colin McRae Rickard Rydell	Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello	Ferrari F133 5.9L V12	M.	329
10	GT	90	White Lightning Racing	Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Long Sascha Maassen	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	M.	327
11	GTS	66	Prodrive Racing	Alain Menu Peter Kox Tomáš Enge	Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello	Ferrari F133 5.9L V12	M.	325
12	GT	77	ChoroQ Racing Team	Haruki Kurosawa Kazuyuki Nishizawa Manabu Orido	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	Y	322
13	GT	85	Freising Motorsport	Stéphane Ortelli Ralf Kellener's Romain Dumas	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	D.	321
14th	GTS	69	Larbre Compétition	Christophe Bouchut Patrice Goueslard Olivier Dupard	Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello	Ferrari F133 5.9L V12	M.	317
15th	GT	84	Seikel Motorsport	Tony Burgess Philip Collin Andrew Bagnall	Porsche 911 GT3 RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	Y	317
16	GT	72	Luc Alphand Aventures	Luc Alphand Christian Lavieille Philippe Alméras	Porsche 911 GT3 RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	M.	316
17th	LMP1	14th	Team Nasamax	Robbie Stirling Werner Lupberger Kevin McGarrity	Nasamax DM139	Judd GV5 5.0L V10 bioethanol	D.	316
18th	GT	81	The Racer's Group	Lars-Erik Nielsen Ian Donaldson Gregor Fisken	Porsche 911 GT3 RSR	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	M.	314
19th	GT	92	Cirtek Motorsport	Frank Mountain Hans Hugenholtz Junior Rob Wilson	Ferrari 360 Modena GTC	Ferrari F131 3.6L V8	D.	311
20th	LMP1	4th	Taurus Sports Racing	Christian Vann Benjamin Leuenberger Didier André	Lola B2K / 10	Judd GV4 4.0L V10	M.	300
21st	GT	89	Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport	Bob Berridge Michael Caine Chris Stockton	TVR Tuscan T400R	TVR Speed ​​Six 4.0L I6	D.	300
22nd	GT	96	Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport	Lawrence Tomlinson Nigel Greensall Gareth Evans	TVR Tuscan T400R	TVR Speed ​​Six 4.0L I6	D.	291
23	GT	75	Thierry Perrier	Ian Khan Nigel Smith Tim Sugden	Porsche 911 GT3 RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	D.	283
24	LMP1	20th	Lister Racing	John Nielsen Casper Elgaard Jens Møller	Lister Storm LMP	Chevrolet LS1 6.0L V8	D.	279
25th	LMP2	32	Intersport Racing	William Binnie Clint Field Rick Sutherland	Lola B2K / 40	Judd KV675 3.4L V8	P	278
26th	LMP2	24	Rachel Welter	Yōjirō Terada Patrice Roussel Olivier Porta	WR LM2001	Peugeot 2.0L Turbo I4	M.	270
Not classified
27	GT	80	Morgan Works Race Team	Adam Sharpe Neil Cunningham Steve Hyde	Morgan Aero 8R	BMW B44 Mader 4.5L V8	Y	222
Failed
28	LMP1	16	Racing for Holland	Tom Coronel Justin Wilson Ralph Firman	Dome S101	Judd GV4 4.0L V10	D.	313
29	LMP1	17th	Pescarolo sport	Sébastien Bourdais Nicolas Minassian Emmanuel Collard	Pescarolo C60	Judd GV5 5.0L V10	M.	282
30th	LMP1	25th	Ray Mallock Ltd.	Thomas Erdos Mike Newton Nathan Kinch	MG-Lola EX257	MG AER XP20 2.0L Turbo I4	D.	256
31	LMP1	6th	Rollcentre Racing	Martin Short Rob Barff João Barbosa	Dallara SP1	Judd GV4 4.0L V10	D.	230
32	GT	87	Orbit Racing	Leo Hindery Marc Lieb Mike Rockenfeller	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	M.	223
33	LMP1	9	Kondō Racing	Hiroki Katō Ryō Fukuda Ryō Michigami	Dome S101	Mugen MF408S 4.0L V8	Y	206
34	GTS	62	Barron Connor Racing	Mike Hezemans Ange Bard Jean-Denis Delétraz	Ferrari 575 GTC	Ferrari F133 6.0L V12	P	200
35	LMP1	22nd	Zytek Engineering Ltd.	Andy Wallace David Brabham Hayanari Shimoda	Zytek 04S	Zytek ZG348 3.4L V8	M.	167
36	GTS	61	Barron Connor Racing	John Bosch Danny Sullivan Thomas Biagi	Ferrari 575 GTC	Ferrari F133 6.0L V12	P	163
37	GT	83	Seikel Motorsport	Gabrio Rosa Peter van Merksteijn Alex Caffi	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	Y	148
38	LMP2	36	Gerard Welter	Tristan Gommendy Jean-Bernard Bouvet Bastien Brière	WR LM2004	Peugeot ES9J4S 3.4L V6	M.	137
39	GT	70	JMB Racing	Jean-René de Fournoux Jaime Melo Stéphane Daoudi	Ferrari 360 Modena GTC	Ferrari F131 3.6L V8	M.	133
40	LMP2	31	Courage Compétition	Alexander Frei Sam Hancock Jean-Marc Gounon	Courage C65	Willman JPX 3.4L V6	M.	127
41	LMP2	35	Epsilon sport	Renaud Derlot Gunnar Jeannette Gavin Pickering	Courage C65	Willman JPX 3.4L V6	M.	124
42	LMP1	29	Noël del Bello Racing	Bruno Besson Sylvain Boulay Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière	Reynard 2KQ	Volkswagen HPT16 2.0L Turbo I4	M.	122
43	LMP2	37	Paul Belmondo Racing	Paul Belmondo Claude-Yves Gosselin Marco Saviozzi	Courage C65	Willman JPX 3.4L V6	M.	80
44	GT	86	Freising Motorsport	Alexey Vasilyev Nikolai Fomenko Robert Nearn	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	D.	65
45	LMP1	11	Panoz Motor Sports	Patrick Bourdais Jean-Luc Blanchemain Roland Bervillé	Panoz Elan GTR1	Élan 6L8 6.0L V8	M.	54
46	LMP1	10	Taurus Sports Racing	Phil Andrews Calum Lockie Anthony Kumpen	Lola B2K / 10	Caterpillar 5.0L Turbo V10	D.	35
47	LMP1	27	Intersport Racing	Jon Field Duncan Dayton Larry Connor	Lola B01 / 60	Judd XV675 3.4L V8	G	29
48	GT	78	PK Sport Ltd.	Jim Matthews David Warnock Paul Daniels	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6	D.	27

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	LMP1	3	Arena International Motorsport	Stefan Johansson	Dome S101	Mugen MF408S 4.0L V8
50	LMP1	7th	Spinnaker Clandesteam	Riccardo Agusta Almo Coppelli Sylvain Boulay	Dallara SP1	Judd GV4 4.0L V10
51	LMP2	33	Courage Compétition	Marc Goossens Jean-Philippe Belloc Alexander Frei	Courage C65	Willman JPX 3.4L V6
52	LMP2	34	Epsilon sport	Lucas Lasserre Xavier Pompidou Jean-Christophe Boullion Jesús Diez de Villarroel	Courage C65	Willman JPX 3.4L V6
53	GTS	59	Konrad Motorsport	Franz Konrad	Saleen S7-R	Ford 7.0L V8
54	GTS	60	Force One Racing	David Hallyday Anthony Kumpen Bruno Besson	Pagani Zonda	Mercedes-AMG 7.0L V12
55	GTS	67	Care Racing		Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello	Ferrari F133 5.9L V12
56	GTS	68	BMS Scuderia Italia	Fabrizio Gollin Luca Cappellari	Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello	Ferrari F133 5.9L V12
57	GT	95	Risi Competizione	Ralf Kellener's Anthony Lazarro Matteo Bobbi	Ferrari 360 Modena GTC	Ferrari F131 3.6L V8
58	GTS	99	XL Racing	Olivier Pla Jean-Philippe Belloc Jean-Christophe Ravier	Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello	Ferrari F133 5.9L V12
59	GTS		DAMS Racing		Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello	Ferrari F133 5.9L V12
60	GTS		DAMS Racing		Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello	Ferrari F133 5.9L V12
61	GTS		Graham Nash Motorsport		Saleen S7-R	Ford 7.0L V8
62	GT		Alex Job Racing		Porsche 996 GT3-RSR	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
63			Autocon Motorsports		Riley & Scott Mk.IIIC	Lincoln 5.0L
64	GT		JMB Racing		Ferrari 360 Modena GTC	Ferrari F131 3.6L V8
65			Automotive Durango		Durango LMP1	Judd GV5 5.0L V10
66			Courage Compétition		Courage C60	Judd GV5 5.0L V10
67	GT		Noël Del Bello Racing		Porsche 996 GT3-RSR	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
68			Lucchini Engineering		Lucchini LMP2-04	Judd XV675 3.4L V8
69			PiR Compétition		Pilbeam MP91	Willman JPX 3.4L V6
70			Edge Racing		Lola B2K / 40	Nissan 3.0L V6
71			Edge Racing		Lola B2K / 40	Nissan 3.0L V6
72			Creation Autosportif	Jamie Campbell-Walter Nicolas Minassian	DBA 03S	Zytek ZG348 3.4L V8
73			Team iota	Sam Hignett John Stack Collini	Zytek 04S	Zytek ZG348 3.4L V8
74			RSR Racing		TVR Tuscan T400R	TVR Speed ​​Six 4.0L I6
75	GT		T2M motorsport		Porsche 996 GT3-RS	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
76	GT		RMS		Porsche 996 GT3-RSR	Porsche 3.6L Flat-6

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
LMP1	Seiji Ara	Rinaldo Capello	Tom Kristensen	Audi R8	Overall victory
LMP2	William Binnie	Clint Field	Rick Sutherland	Lola B2K / 40	Rank 25
GTS	Oliver Gavin	Olivier Beretta	Jan Magnussen	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	Rank 6
GT	Sascha Maassen	Jörg Bergmeister	Patrick Long	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	Rank 10

Racing data

• Registered: 76
• Started: 48
• Valued: 26
• Race classes: 4
• Spectators: 200,000
• Honorary starter of the race: unknown
• Race weekend weather: hot and dry
• Route length: 13,650 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 24:00: 55,345 hours
• Rounds of the winning team: 379
• Distance of the winning team: 5169.970 km
• Winner's average: 215.415 km / h
• Pole position: Johnny Herbert - Audi R8 (# 88) - 3: 32,838 = 230.880 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Jamie Davies - Audi R8 (# 88) - 3: 34,264 = 229.343 km / h
• Racing series: did not belong to any racing series

literature

• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre: Les 24 heures du Mans 2004 . Chronosports, Saint-Sulpice 2004, ISBN 2-8470-7075-3 .

Web links

Commons : Le Mans 24 Hours 2004  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ralph Jüttner at the Goh team
2. ↑ Qualification times 2004