Le Mans 24 hour race

This article covers racing for automobiles. For motorcycle races, see Le Mans 24-hour motorcycle races .

Le Mans 24 hour race
Le Mans 24-hour race 2019
Vehicle type	Prototypes and Gran Turismos
Country or region	Le Mans , France
Current name	24 Heures du Mans
First season	1923
Official website	www.24h-lemans.com

Le Mans: route

Bentley, manufactured in 1929

The 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: 24 Heures du Mans ) is an endurance race for sports cars that is organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) near the French city ​​of Le Mans . The race has been held on the Circuit des 24 Heures south of the city since 1923 , sections of which are used as country roads outside of the racing events. Originally, the route with a lap length of around 17.3 km extended to downtown Le Mans and was shortened in 1932 to roughly the current route with a length of around 13.5 km.

In 1955, the 24h du Mans saw the greatest disaster in motorsport when another 83 people were killed in the fatal accident of a participant.

overview

The 24 Hours of Le Mans were planned as a long-distance race in which the automobile manufacturers could prove the reliability and the level of development of their vehicles. In the first few years, only the drivers themselves were allowed to carry out repairs with on-board tools. Later, however, it was allowed to have repairs carried out by mechanics, although the wagons had to reach their boxes without assistance. The aim of the race is to complete as many laps as possible within 24 hours and then to cross the finish line.

The race traditionally takes place on the second weekend in June (2007 and 2019: third weekend in June, 2013: fourth weekend in June) on the outskirts of Le Mans and the start time is 4:00 p.m. In order to avoid collisions with other events, some races were started earlier (1998: 2:00 p.m.; 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2019: 3:00 p.m.) or later (2006: 5:00 p.m.).

The Circuit des 24 Heures route is 13,880 m long and partly consists of public country roads. Since 1965, the permanent circuit, Circuit Bugatti, has been added, which shares parts of the route. This also includes the pits and the start and finish area.

The race is also known for its long straight, the "Ligne Droite des Hunaudières" or "Mulsanne Straight" as it is called in England. This is an almost five-kilometer straight, on which speeds of over 400 km / h were reached before 1990  . Since then, two built-in chicanes limit the top speed to around 340 km / h. The trigger for this measure was, among other things, the fatal accident of the Austrian Jo Gartner on June 1, 1986. His Porsche 962 presumably came off the track at over 300 km / h because of a broken rear suspension.

Advertising for the first Le Mans 24 hour race

history

The first race was held from May 26th to May 27th, 1923. Until the 1980s, the races were driven by two-man teams, today three drivers take turns.

Le Mans start

The Le Mans start introduced in 1925 was legendary , when the drivers had to sprint across the lane to their vehicles positioned in front of the pit lane. This came up for discussion after the introduction of seat belts in 1969. The later winner Jacky Ickx protested against this start mode by demonstratively walking slowly. After a standing start with the drivers already buckled up in 1970, the race has been started with a flying start after an introductory lap for safety reasons, such as in Indianapolis .

The accident in 1955

Graphic of the 1955 accident

→ Main article : Accident at the 1955 Le Mans 24-hour race

In 1955, this race saw the greatest catastrophe in motorsport, when parts of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR owned by Frenchman Pierre Levegh flew into the grandstand there after a collision on the home straight. A total of 84 people died in this accident, including Levegh himself. The trigger was the Jaguar driver Mike Hawthorn , who overtook the slower Austin-Healey Lance Macklins on the left, then suddenly pulled to the right and braked hard to make a pit stop. The "cut" Macklin had to swerve to the left, but Levegh was approaching at high speed and therefore could no longer react. The remaining Mercedes were withdrawn at night by racing manager Alfred Neubauer after consulting the company management as a token of respect. Mike Hawthorn on Jaguar won this race.

This accident is often mistakenly referred to as the trigger for the complete withdrawal of Mercedes-Benz from motorsport. The decision to concentrate on series development after the end of the 1955 racing season was taken by the Board of Management in the spring, long before the Le Mans accident. As planned, all remaining races that were not canceled due to the accident, including the German Grand Prix , or even banned races in 1955 such as the Swiss Grand Prix, were taken part in. When Mercedes-Benz won the Formula 1 World Championship again with Juan Manuel Fangio at the end of the year , and the Sports Car World Championship with Stirling Moss and Peter Collins with the Targa Florio and also the European Touring Car Championship, the withdrawal was not achieved justifies more successes to be surpassed.

alternative drives

From 1963 to 1965, Rover competed in a racing car powered by a gas turbine . Although the vehicle was classified in tenth place last year, Rover ended the attempt. The reason for this was the high temperatures of the unit and ultimately the high fuel consumption.

From 1983 Mazda tried with a rotary engine . In the last year of its appearance (1991) the Mazda 787B won the race.

The Nasamax team reported a methanol- powered vehicle twice . This water-extinguishable fuel has been used for decades in the Indy 500 and the related US Champcar and IndyCar Series for safety reasons . In 2003 Nasamax competed with a Champcar engine (2.65-liter V8 turbo) and in the following year with a 5-liter ten-cylinder from Judd .

In 2004 the Taurus team started with a diesel engine. However, the mission was unsuccessful. Registered in the fastest prototype class, Taurus qualified for 41st out of 48 places. The vehicle used was 24 seconds slower per lap than the identical sister vehicle with a petrol engine and 42 seconds slower than the fastest in training. The car retired after 35 laps with transmission damage.

In 2006, for the first time won in the history of Le Mans with the Audi R10 TDI , a diesel -car the race. After that, vehicles with diesel engines won the 24 Hours of Le Mans without interruption until 2014.

In the course of the fundamental technical rule changes in 2011, the organizer ACO gave the manufacturers the greatest possible leeway in the use of kinetic energy recuperation systems . In the following year, the Audi R18 e-tron quattro won the first time a vehicle with a hybrid drive .

In 2014, the FIA made only two specifications for the premier class : The LMP1H vehicles of the works teams must not exceed a specified gasoline or diesel consumption per lap and must use a hybrid drive train. The rest is up to the engineers.

Vehicle classes

The starting field at the 24 Hours of Le Mans is currently (as of 2017) divided into four classes. Two classes each for sports prototypes and Gran Turismos . If the two GT classes largely correspond to the GT2 according to FIA guidelines, the two categories of Le Mans prototypes are designed by the ACO itself and were adopted by the FIA ​​in 2012.

Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1)

Minimum weight (LMP1-H): 870 kg; Displacement: not limited; Max. 2 energy recovery systems

Minimum weight (LMP1): 850 kg; Displacement: max. 5,500 cm³

Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2)

Minimum weight: 900 kg; Displacement: Series-based engines up to 5000 cm³ (naturally aspirated engines with a maximum of 8 cylinders) or 3200 cm³ (turbo engines with a maximum of 6 cylinders)

Le Mans GTE Pro

Close-to-production GT sports cars (driver line-up with professional drivers)

Le Mans GTE Am

Close-to-production GT sports cars (year-old cars or older vehicles with at least one amateur driver)

The 24 Heures du Mans moto motorcycle race takes place on the much shorter permanent circuit, Circuit Bugatti .

Le Mans racing series

The 24 Hours of Le Mans has been part of the FIA World Endurance Championship since 2012 . The 24-hour race had been part of the FIA Sports Car World Championship since 1953 and became the highlight of the season. With the end of the world championship in 1992, the race lacked an accompanying series. As a result, the vehicles built according to the Le Mans regulations could only run a race once a year. This only changed in 1999, when Don Panoz founded the American Le Mans Series , which took over the technical regulations of the 24-hour race. After the American Le Mans Series had successfully established itself, Don Panoz tried to set up a European counterpart in 2001. The newly created European Le Mans Series failed despite the support of the American sister series. In 2004 the French automobile club ACO started a new attempt and founded the Le Mans Series (then under the name Le Mans Endurance Series ). The legendary 1000-kilometer races of the 1970s are being revived there. The ACO grants the respective class winners in both racing series an invitation to the 24-hour race of the following year. In 2006 the French automobile club tried to expand its influence to Japan. He commissioned the organizer Sports Car Endurance Race Operation , which hosted several 1000 km races under the name Japan Le Mans Challenge . The series was not accepted by viewers or participants and was abandoned after two years. The ACO now took responsibility itself and founded the Asian Le Mans Series in 2009 . Initially, the first championship run was planned for the end of 2008, but the ACO postponed the debut of the series in Okayama to October 30, 2009.

In addition to the continental Le Mans racing series, there was the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup in 2010 and 2011 , the racing calendar of which consisted of selected events from the continental Le Mans racing series. In 2011, the Le Mans 24-hour race also counted towards the ILMC.

Records

During the pre-tests in 1971, the Briton Jackie Oliver drove the best lap time with 3: 13.6 minutes on a Porsche 917 long tail and achieved an average speed of 250.457 km / h. In the same year, Oliver also set the fastest race lap with 3: 18.4 minutes. He achieved a lap average of 244.387 km / h on the then 13.469 km long route. In 2008 a Peugeot 908 HDi FAP achieved an average speed of 246.068 km / h on the now 160 m longer route due to the installation of chicanes . Neel Jani achieved an average speed of 150 mph in qualifying in a Porsche 919 Hybrid in 2015 in a time of 3: 16,887 minutes. In the second run of the 2017 qualification, Kamui Kobayashi in the Toyota TS050 improved this lap by more than 2 seconds in 3: 14.791.

The fastest qualifying lap was achieved in 1985 by Hans-Joachim Stuck in a Porsche 962 . The then 13.626 km long route was lapped in 3: 14.8 minutes, which corresponds to an average of 251.815 km / h. During the 1988 race, the World Championship P88 from Welter Racing with Roger Dorchy at the wheel achieved the highest speed ever recorded on this track at 405 km / h. On the long straight, the Ligne Droite des Hunaudières , also known as the Mulsanne Straight , there was no harassment until the end of the 1980s . These were only built in 1990.

The average speed of 200 km / h was exceeded for the first time in 1966 when Bruce McLaren won the race in a Ford GT40.

The longest distance ever covered is 5410.713 km, this record was set by Timo Bernhard , Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller in an Audi R15 TDI Plus in 2010 . This corresponds to an average of 225.45 km per hour including pit stops.

The most successful manufacturer is Porsche with 19 wins, followed by Audi with 13 wins.

The most successful driver at Le Mans is Tom Kristensen with nine wins (out of 17 starts). In 1997, 2000 to 2005 as well as 2008 and 2013 he achieved first place. Jacky Ickx were also successful with six and Derek Bell , Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro with five wins each.

According to the ACO, the 83rd 24-hour race in 2015 was the one with the most spectators. 263,500 people were on the track at the Le Mans race weekend.

Media processing

In 1970 Steve McQueen made a feature film about the 24-hour race called Le Mans , which was released in theaters in October 1971.

In 2002 a film team led by director Luc Besson shot the real-life version of Michel Vaillant . For this purpose, two additional boxes were built and two cars from the French DAMS team were used: a Lola in Michel Vaillant colors and a black and red Panoz for the leader team. In order to meet the requirements of the ACO , professional racing drivers were used.

In 2019 the race at Le Mans 66 - Against Any Chance was again the subject of a prominent American film.

There are several computer and arcade games from this race. The first was WEC Le Mans 24 from Konami (1986 with a semicircular, rotating vehicle replica), others were from Sega . A current racing game processing of the route can be found in Race Driver: GRID by Codemasters or as a mod in the game rFactor by Image Space Incorporated . Forza Motorsport 3 by Turn 10 Studios , published in 2009, contains the current course as well as the old version without chicanes and the Bugatti circuit . In the PlayStation 3 game Gran Turismo 5 , published in 2010, the route can be found with and without harassment. The Le Mans Circuit has been part of Real Racing 3 since May 2014 . A more recent implementation of the route is included in Project CARS published in May 2015 . iRacing published Le Mans in September 2015 (only in daylight until dynamic day / night changes were added to the simulation in December 2018).

statistics

The overall Le Mans winners since 1923

• 

  Jaguar C-Type Chassis XKC 045

• 

  1956: Jaguar D-Type

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  1966: Ford GT40 Mark II

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  1967: Ford GT40 Mark IV

• 

  1969: Ford GT40 Mark I.

• 

  1970: Porsche 917 Coupé

• 

  1971: Porsche 917K (overall winner)

• 

  1984: Nimrod NRA / C2 Aston Martin ( 2007 at Goodwood )

• 

  1985: Porsche 956C

• 

  1987: Porsche 962C (overall winner)

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  1991: Mazda 787B

• 

  1997: TWR Porsche WSC95 (overall winner) in Donington

• 

  1998: Porsche 911 GT1 '98

• 

  2004: Audi R8
  (2004 in Road Atlanta )

• 

  2007: Audi R10 TDI (overall winner)

• 

  2009: Peugeot 908 HDi FAP (overall winner) before ORECA 01

• 

  2010: Audi R15 TDI Plus (overall winner)

• 

  2013: Audi e-tron quattro (overall winner)

• 

  2015: Porsche 919 Hybrid (overall winner)

year	team	Overall winner	vehicle	distance
1923	Chenard & Walcker SA	André Lagache René Léonard	Chenard & Walcker Sport	2209.536 km
1924	Duff & Aldington	John Duff Frank Clement	Bentley 3 Liter Sport	2077.340 km
1925	Lorraine-Dietrich et Cie	Gérard de Courcelles André Rossignol	Lorraine-Dietrich B3-6	2233.982 km
1926	Lorraine-Dietrich et Cie	Robert Bloch André Rossignol	Lorraine-Dietrich B3-6	2552.414 km
1927	Bentley Motors Ltd.	Dudley Benjafield Sammy Davis	Bentley 3 Liter Super Sport	2269.807 km
1928	Bentley Motors Ltd.	Woolf Barnato Bernard Rubin	Bentley 4½ liter	2669.272 km
1929	Bentley Motors Ltd.	Woolf Barnato Tim Birkin	Bentley Speed ​​Six	2843.830 km
1930	Bentley Motors Ltd.	Woolf Barnato Glen Kidston	Bentley Speed ​​Six	2930.663 km
1931	Lord Howe	Francis Curzon, 5th Earl Howe Tim Birkin	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM	3017.654 km
1932	Raymond Summers	Raymond Summer Luigi Chinetti	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM	2954.038 km
1933	Soc. Anon. Alfa Romeo	Raymond Summers Tazio Nuvolari	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 MM	3,144.038 km
1934	Luigi Chinetti	Philippe Étancelin Luigi Chinetti	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300	2886.938 km
1935	Arthur W. Fox & Charles Nichol	Johnny Hindmarsh Luis Fontés	Lagonda M45R Rapide	3006.797 km
1936	canceled due to the general strike in France
1937	Roger Labric	Jean-Pierre Wimille Robert Benoist	Bugatti Type 57G tank	3287.938 km
1938	Eugène Chaboud and Jean Trémoulet	Eugène Chaboud Jean Trémoulet	Delahaye 135CS	3180.940 km
1939	Jean-Pierre Wimille	Eugène Chaboud Pierre Veyron	Bugatti 57C tank	3354.760 km
1949	Lord Selsdon	Lord Selsdon Luigi Chinetti	Ferrari 166MM	3178.299 km
1950	Louis Rosier	Louis Rosier Jean-Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago T26 GS	3465.120 km
1951	Peter Walker	Peter Walker Peter Whitehead	Jaguar XK 120C	3611.193 km
1952	Daimler-Benz AG	Hermann Lang Fritz Riess	Mercedes-Benz 300 SL	3733.800 km
1953	Jaguar Cars Ltd.	Tony Rolt Duncan Hamilton	Jaguar C-Type	4088.064 km
1954	Scuderia Ferrari	José Froilán González Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari 375 Plus	4061.150 km
1955	Jaguar Cars Ltd.	Mike Hawthorn Ivor Bueb	Jaguar D-Type	4135.380 km
1956	Ecurie Ecosse	Ron Flockhart Ninian Sanderson	Jaguar D-Type	4034.929 km
1957	Ecurie Ecosse	Ron Flockhart Ivor Bueb	Jaguar D-Type	4,397.108 km
1958	Scuderia Ferrari	Olivier Gendebien Phil Hill	Ferrari 250TR58	4101.926 km
1959	David Brown Racing Dept.	Carroll Shelby Roy Salvadori	Aston Martin DBR1 / 300	4347.900 km
1960	Scuderia Ferrari SpA	Olivier Gendebien Paul Frère	Ferrari 250TR59 / 60	4217.500 km
1961	Scuderia Ferrari	Olivier Gendebien Phil Hill	Ferrari 250TRI / 61	4476.580 km
1962	Ferrari SEFAC Spa	Olivier Gendebien Phil Hill	Ferrari 330TRI LM Spyder	4451.255 km
1963	Ferrari SEFAC Spa	Lorenzo Bandini Ludovico Scarfiotti	Ferrari 250P	4561.710 km
1964	Ferrari SEFAC Spa	Jean Guichet Nino Vaccarella	Ferrari 275P	4695.310 km
1965	North American Racing Team	Masts Gregory Jochen Rindt	Ferrari 250LM	4677.110 km
1966	Shelby-American Inc.	Bruce McLaren Chris Amon	Ford GT40 Mk.II	4843.090 km
1967	Shelby-American Inc.	Dan Gurney A. J. Foyt	Ford GT40 Mk.IV	5232,900 km
1968	John Wyer Automotive Engineering	Pedro Rodríguez Lucien Bianchi	Ford GT40 Mk.I	4452.880 km
1969	John Wyer Automotive Engineering	Jacky Ickx Jackie Oliver	Ford GT40 Mk.I	4997.880 km
1970	Porsche KG Salzburg	Hans Herrmann Richard Attwood	Porsche 917K	4607.810 km
1971	Martini Racing Team	Helmut Marko Gijs van Lennep	Porsche 917K	5335.313 km
1972	Equipe Matra-Simca Shell	Henri Pescarolo Graham Hill	Matra-Simca MS670	4691.343 km
1973	Equipe Matra-Simca Shell	Henri Pescarolo Gérard Larrousse	Matra-Simca MS670B	4853.945 km
1974	Equipe Gitanes	Henri Pescarolo Gérard Larrousse	Matra-Simca MS670C	4606.571 km
1975	Gulf Research Racing	Jacky Ickx Derek Bell	Gulf GR8	4595.577 km
1976	Martini Racing Porsche System	Jacky Ickx Gijs van Lennep	Porsche 936	4769.923 km
1977	Martini Racing Porsche System	Jacky Ickx Hurley Haywood Jürgen Barth	Porsche 936/77	4671.830 km
1978	Renault Sport	Didier Pironi Jean-Pierre Jaussaud	Renault Alpine A442	5044.530 km
1979	Porsche Kremer Racing	Don Whittington Klaus Ludwig Bill Whittington	Porsche 935K3	4173.930 km
1980	LePoint Jean Rondeau	Jean Rondeau Jean-Pierre Jaussaud	Rondeau M379	4608.020 km
1981	Porsche System Engineering	Jacky Ickx Derek Bell	Porsche 936	4825.348 km
1982	Rothmans Porsche System	Jacky Ickx Derek Bell	Porsche 956	4899.086 km
1983	Rothmans Porsche	Vern Schuppan Hurley Haywood Al Holbert	Porsche 956	5047.934 km
1984	New-Man Joest Racing	Henri Pescarolo Klaus Ludwig	Porsche 956B	4900.276 km
1985	New-Man Joest Racing	Paolo Barilla Klaus Ludwig Louis Krages	Porsche 956B	5088.507 km
1986	Rothmans Porsche	Derek Bell Hans-Joachim Stuck Al Holbert	Porsche 962C	4972.731 km
1987	Rothmans Porsche AG	Derek Bell Hans-Joachim Stuck Al Holbert	Porsche 962C	4991.700 km
1988	Silk Cut Jaguar	Jan Lammers Johnny Dumfries Andy Wallace	Jaguar XJR-9LM	5332.970 km
1989	Team Sauber Mercedes	Jochen Mass Manuel Reuter Stanley Dickens	Clean C9	5265.115 km
1990	Silk Cut Jaguar	John Nielsen Price Cobb Martin Brundle	Jaguar XJR-12	4882.400 km
1991	Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd.	Johnny Herbert Volker Weidler Bertrand Gachot	Mazda 787B	4922.810 km
1992	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Yannick Dalmas Derek Warwick Mark Blundell	Peugeot 905 Evo 1B	4787.200 km
1993	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Éric Hélary Christophe Bouchut Geoff Brabham	Peugeot 905 Evo 1B	5100,000 km
1994	Le Mans Porsche Team	Yannick Dalmas Hurley Haywood Mauro Baldi	Duration 962 LM	4678.400 km
1995	Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing	Yannick Dalmas Masanori Sekiya JJ Lehto	McLaren F1 GTR	4055.800 km
1996	Joest Racing	Alexander Wurz Manuel Reuter Davy Jones	TWR-Porsche WSC-95	4814.400 km
1997	Joest Racing	Tom Kristensen Michele Alboreto Stefan Johansson	TWR-Porsche WSC-95	4909.600 km
1998	Porsche AG	Laurent Aïello Allan McNish Stéphane Ortelli	Porsche 911 GT1	4773.184 km
1999	Team BMW Motorsport	Yannick Dalmas Joachim Winkelhock Pierluigi Martini	BMW V12 LMR	4967.991 km
2000	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	5007.988 km
2001	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	4,367.205 km
2002	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	Audi R8	5118.750 km
2003	Team Bentley	Tom Kristensen Guy Smith Rinaldo Capello	Bentley Speed ​​8	5146.050 km
2004	Audi Sport Japan Team Goh	Tom Kristensen Seiji Macaw Rinaldo Capello	Audi R8	5169.970 km
2005	ADT Champion Racing	Tom Kristensen Marco Werner JJ Lehto	Audi R8	5050,500 km
2006	Audi Sport Team Joest	Marco Werner Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	Audi R10 TDI	5197,000 km
2007	Audi Sport North America	Marco Werner Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	Audi R10 TDI	5029.101 km
2008	Audi Sport North America	Tom Kristensen Allan McNish Rinaldo Capello	Audi R10 TDI	5192.650 km
2009	Peugeot Sport Total	Alexander Wurz Marc Gené David Brabham	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	5206.280 km
2010	Audi Sport North America	Mike Rockenfeller Romain Dumas Timo Bernhard	Audi R15 TDI Plus	5410.713 km
2011	Audi Sport Team Joest	André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Marcel Fässler	Audi R18	4838.295 km
2012	Audi Sport Team Joest	André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Marcel Fässler	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	5151.800 km
2013	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Allan McNish Loïc Duval	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	4742.892 km
2014	Audi Sport Team Joest	André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Marcel Fässler	Audi R18 e-tron quattro	5165.391 km
2015	Team Porsche	Nico Hulkenberg Nick Tandy Earl Bamber	Porsche 919 Hybrid	5382.820 km
2016	Team Porsche	Neel Jani Romain Dumas Marc Lieb	Porsche 919 Hybrid	5233.536 km
2017	Team Porsche	Brendon Hartley Earl Bamber Timo Bernhard	Porsche 919 Hybrid	5001.990 km
2018	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Fernando Alonso Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	5288.052 km
2019	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Fernando Alonso Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	5246.010 km

List of Le Mans racing series

• FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) since 2012
• Intercontinental Le Mans Cup (ILMC) from 2010 to 2011
• American Le Mans Series (ALMS) from 1999 to 2013
• European Le Mans Series (ELMS) since 2004
• Japan Le Mans Challenge from 2006 to 2007
• Asian Le Mans Series (ASLMS) since 2009
• United SportsCar Championship (USCC) since 2014

Web links

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

• Official website
• Ranking lists and results since 1923
• German news and reports as well as picture galleries on GT and sports car racing

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Letter statistics about motorsport fatalities . motorsportmemorial.org, accessed on July 18, 2015 (motorsport accident statistics)
2. ↑ Pierre Levegh . motorsportmemorial.org, accessed July 18, 2015 (Levegh Accident Sources).
3. ↑ Car and truck fatalities by circuit: Circuit: Le Mans (Circuit de la Sarthe) . motorsportmemorial.org, accessed on July 18, 2015 (list of all 117 Le Mans fatalities to date, including the 84 deaths from 1955).
4. ↑ Michail Hengstenberg, Christoph Stockburger: Live 24 hours: A Le Mans special . Spiegel Online , June 3, 2014.
5. ^ Jean-Philippe Doret: April 18, 1971: double record for the Porsche 917 . Article on the 24 Hours of Le Mans website, April 19, 2011, accessed July 18, 2015 (French)
6. ^ 24 Hours of Le Mans: Neel Jani on pole position . Neue Zürcher Zeitung , June 12, 2015.
7. ↑ Video: Kobayashi breaks the Le Mans track record . In: Motorsport-Total.com . ( motorsport-total.com [accessed January 24, 2018]).
8. ↑ Two Le Mans legends at auction, lemans.org, April 19, 2012 (French) ( Memento of February 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
9. ↑ 24h Le Mans 2008: All good things come in threes . Auto Zeitung , February 17, 2009

Coordinates: 47 ° 56 ′ 59.5 ″  N , 0 ° 12 ′ 27.1 ″  E