1996 24 Hours of Le Mans


The 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 64th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 15 and 16 June 1996. It was won by a Tom Walkinshaw-Porsche prototype run by Joest Racing with drivers Davy Jones, Manuel Reuter and Le Mans rookie Alexander Wurz completing 354 laps. While not being the fastest car on track, it hit the front in the first hour and aside from several pit-stop overlaps, was never headed as other teams hit mechanical troubles during the race. This was Reuter's second Le Mans victory, and the first for Jones and Wurz, who, at 22 years old, became the youngest ever Le Mans overall winner.

Regulations and Entries

Still very satisfied with its equivalency formulae between the prototypes and GTs, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest made only slight adjustments to its regulations, by including engine volume and turbo boost into its calculations. LMP1 and P2 got closer to the IMSA-WSC category with new, updated, bodywork dimensions.
The summary, as compared to the 1995 regulations was:
In GT1, major engine modifications were now allowed while GT2 still had to use series-production engines.
This year the ACO halved the number of automatic entries from 20 to 10. They received an initial 107 applications and accepted 66 for pre-Qualifying in April on top of the automatic-10, to pare down to 53 for race week.
Still with no co-ordinated European sports car series after the demise of the World Sportscar Championship after the 1992 season, there were only 14 prototypes, albeit of a high quality. As expected, the bulk of the field was in GT: 27 cars in GT1 plus 12 in GT2. Many teams came from the thriving BPR Global series.
In prototypes, Kremer and Courage returned, this time challenged by a new Porsche prototype developed by Joest Racing in conjunction with TWR Motorsport. The TWR-Porsche WSC-95 was born from the shell of a TWR-designed Jaguar XJR-14 racing car, modified to an open top design by Tom Walkinshaw Racing, and fitted with the Porsche 962 engine.
Three IMSA-WSC cars turned up: two Ferrari 333 SP's run by Scandia Racing versus the much-improved Riley & Scott. In another small LM P2 field of four cars, Welter and Bonnet were joined by a Kudzu-Mazda stepping across from WSC and now run directly by the Mazdaspeed works team.
In GT1, defending champions McLaren-BMW had updated 1996-spec cars, with tighter air restrictors dropping the power output slightly. This time they included a pair run as a BMW works team. The McLarens were joined again by Nissan, Toyota and Lister. Chrysler-Dodge returned with a quartet of Vipers with their big rumbling 8-litre engines; one pair run by ORECA in the BPR and the second pair by Canaska-Southwind in the North American series.
But, perhaps as might be expected, the big news was with Porsche and the new 911 GT1 - yet again courting controversy. This was, quite literally, virtually a Porsche 911 in name only, with the visual similarity of a squashed, lengthened 911. This was Porsche's first ever mid-engined car, using a purpose-designed 3.2L flat-six, twin-turbo, water-cooled engine. The first chassis was ready in March, and with only two road-going cars it got EU GT1 homologation.

Qualification

The fastest practice times this year were being done by the prototypes. In the first instance Eric van der Poele, this year in the Scandia Ferrari, set the initial pace. But it was Pierluigi Martini who set the pole in his Joest TWR-Porsche, just a tenth of a second ahead of the Courage of Jérôme Policand. Van der Poele was third ahead of the 911 GT1s of Wendlinger and Wollek, and Taylor in the Riley & Scott.
In a novel change this year the ACO decided to line up the first dozen cars on the grid with the six fastest cars from each category two-by-two - prototypes on the left and GT cars on the right. With only a second between the first five cars this was not as skewed as might have seemed, giving further credence to the equivalency regulations. The first McLaren was Bigazzi's Steve Soper in 8th place. In LMP2 the WRs would be here for the last time. They could not repeat the heroics of 1995, when they started on the front row of the grid. This year Gonin was 12th fastest, more than four seconds off last year's pole time. David in the other WR was a further 3 seconds slower. But their opposition fared worse - the new Kudzu was 23rd on the grid and the Debora, after electronics problems in Qualifying, then blew its engine on the morning warm-up and would not take the start.
In GT2, the predictable crowd of privateer Porsche 911s were up against the Kunimitsu Honda NSX, back to defend its win last year. There was only a single Callaway and a new Marcos from the small English company. Fastest was the Porsche of Roock Racing, a new team coming from the German GT series, setting the pace in the BPR series this year. It had a comfortable margin over the Callaway and the Porsche of the PARR Motorsport team from New Zealand.

Race

Start

The start was brought forward to 3pm to accommodate the thousands of British fans on site to watch the England-Scotland football match at the Euro championships. Unlike last year's heavy rain, the race started in sunshine. Dalmas and Wollek in the works Porsche GT1s raced into the lead for the first four laps until overtaken in turn by the two Joest TWR-Porsches of Jones & Theys. With wider tyres, lower weights and better aerodynamics the TWRs were able to make a break on the field while others had their problems: Boutsen and Dalmas both fell off the track, losing minutes. Cottaz, in the fastest Courage, had kept up with the top four initially, but lost time in the second hour with electronics issues. Likewise the best Kremer was well in the top ten. Both cars in the Gulf and Bigazzi McLaren teams filled out the lower half of the top ten.

Night

The Joest cars maintained a comfortable 1-2 lead going into the night. The veteran team of Wollek/Stuck/Boutsen kept in touch in the Porsche GT1 and finally took back second place at half-race distance from Theys' pole-sitting TWR. After its delays, the Cottaz/Alliot/Policand Courage had quickly moved back up through the field and was fourth and fifth, until Alliot crashed the Courage at Tertre Rouge just after dawn. The remaining Ferrari prototype had tyre problems at the start, but like the Courage it had steadily made up places to be fifth.
The Riley & Scott, American enduro-champ, had run well during the day despite being excessively thirsty, but after several offs it slipped down the board and at 2.30am it broke down marooning Pace on the Mulsanne.
At 4.30 Duez, running 7th, bought the first Bigazzi McLaren into the pits stuck in gear. After two gearbox changes during the next day, they eventually finished 11th. The Ferrari F40s were never as competitive as the previous year and by dawn all four cars had retired, including a short, sudden, spectacular fuel-fire in the pits for the Ratel entry.

Morning

A charging triple stint by Stuck almost got the Porsche GT1 to the front, but the leaders always had enough in hand. At 9.20 Martini dropped the second TWR in the gravel at the first Mulsanne chicane, and the time spent doing repairs dropped them to fourth, behind Ray Bellm's Gulf McLaren. But then the McLaren was stopped for a gearbox change at midday, taking 90 minutes, and dropping them in turn down to 10th. After several offs by Wendlinger and Goodyear in the night, the second Porsche GT1 had fallen down to 12th, but by early-morning had recovered back to fifth. The other Bigazzi McLaren of F1 champion Nelson Piquet, just like its sister car, was in 7th place when it too was stopped for an hour with a gearbox change. With race attrition they were able to get back to 8th by the finish, just ahead of Bellm's Gulf McLaren.
Just after dawn, the Ferrari needed a gearbox change, taking half an hour, dropping it to 10th. Van der Poele then took off, setting the race's fastest lap several times then at 7am, when back into fifth, Éric Bachelart crashed out at the Esses.
In GT2, the leading Roock Racing Porsche had to replace its driveshaft at midday, but had enough in hand to keep its lead.

Finish and Post-race

The Jones/Reuter/Wurz car never missed a beat, and was never headed on the scoring charts. In the end they won by a lap from the Porsche GT1, yet again Bob Wollek was beaten back to second place. At just 22 years of age, Alexander Wurz became the youngest ever Le Mans winner, starting an F1 career exactly a year later to the day, with Benetton at the Canadian Grand Prix. Reinhold Joest's deal with Porsche said that he could keep the car if it was a race-winner, and it was to reappear again for the 1997 race.
With only 40 minutes remaining, the driveshaft broke on the second TWR, stranding the unlucky Martini out on the circuit at Arnage. Third place fell into the lap of the other Porsche GT1, finishing a distant 13 laps behind the winners. McLarens took the next three places: the two troubled DPR-team cars and the second car from Gulf Racing. These included Derek Bell, finally drawing the curtain on an illustrious Le Mans career at the age of 54; a career of over 25 years, it included five outright victories and a pair of 2nd-places, as well as winning the Daytona 24 hours three times and twice winning the World Sportscar Championship, thus marking him as one of the all-time great sports car drivers.
Seventh was the Pescarolo/Lagorce/Collard Courage of the La Filière team, and the second prototype home. Down 27 laps they lost an hour replacing a clutch during the night.
The Roock Racing Porsche easily won the GT2 class finishing 12th overall and four laps ahead of the PARR Motorsport Porsche. The Kiwi Porsche had a trouble-free race, spending the least time in the pits of any car except for the winning TWR-Porsche. The Japanese GTs were uncompetitive against the Porsches and McLarens, and those that did finish were well down the board.
The Kudzu-Mazda was the only LMP2 finisher, coming in at the back of the field nearly 100 laps behind the winners.
After Le Mans, the Porsche works team entered their GT1s in three races of the BPR Global series, winning all three. In the new year, they sold further cars to customer teams, usurping McLaren to become the new dominant force in GT racing.
Andy Evans, owner of the Scandia Team running the Ferrari prototypes, along with Roberto Muller bought control of the American IMSA organisation, and the changes led to the resignation of a number of the board members and the formation of a breakaway series by the USRRC.

Official results

PosClassNoTeamDriversChassisTyreLaps
PosClassNoTeamDriversEngineTyreLaps
1LMP17 Joest Racing Davy Jones
Alexander Wurz
Manuel Reuter
TWR Porsche WSC-95354
1LMP17 Joest Racing Davy Jones
Alexander Wurz
Manuel Reuter
Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6354
2LMGT125 Porsche AG Hans-Joachim Stuck
Thierry Boutsen
Bob Wollek
Porsche 911 GT1353
2LMGT125 Porsche AG Hans-Joachim Stuck
Thierry Boutsen
Bob Wollek
Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6353
3LMGT126 Porsche AG Karl Wendlinger
Yannick Dalmas
Scott Goodyear
Porsche 911 GT1341
3LMGT126 Porsche AG Karl Wendlinger
Yannick Dalmas
Scott Goodyear
Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6341
4LMGT130 West Competition John Nielsen
Thomas Bscher
Peter Kox
McLaren F1 GTR338
4LMGT130 West Competition John Nielsen
Thomas Bscher
Peter Kox
BMW S70 6.1 L V12338
5LMGT134 Gulf Racing Pierre-Henri Raphanel
Lindsay Owen-Jones
David Brabham
McLaren F1 GTR335
5LMGT134 Gulf Racing Pierre-Henri Raphanel
Lindsay Owen-Jones
David Brabham
BMW S70 6.1 L V12335
6LMGT129 Harrods Mach One Racing Andy Wallace
Olivier Grouillard
Derek Bell
McLaren F1 GTR328
6LMGT129 Harrods Mach One Racing Andy Wallace
Olivier Grouillard
Derek Bell
BMW S70 6.1 L V12328
7LMP15 La Filière Henri Pescarolo
Franck Lagorce
Emmanuel Collard
Courage C36327
7LMP15 La Filière Henri Pescarolo
Franck Lagorce
Emmanuel Collard
Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6327
8LMGT139 Team Bigazzi SRL Nelson Piquet
Johnny Cecotto
Danny Sullivan
McLaren F1 GTR324
8LMGT139 Team Bigazzi SRL Nelson Piquet
Johnny Cecotto
Danny Sullivan
BMW S70 6.1 L V12324
9LMGT133 Gulf Racing Ray Bellm
James Weaver
JJ Lehto
McLaren F1 GTR323
9LMGT133 Gulf Racing Ray Bellm
James Weaver
JJ Lehto
BMW S70 6.1 L V12323
10LMGT148 Canaska Southwind Motorsport Price Cobb
Shawn Hendricks
Mark Dismore
Chrysler Viper GTS-R320
10LMGT148 Canaska Southwind Motorsport Price Cobb
Shawn Hendricks
Mark Dismore
Chrysler 356-T6 8.0 L V10320
11LMGT138 Team Bigazzi SRL Jacques Laffite
Steve Soper
Marc Duez
McLaren F1 GTR318
11LMGT138 Team Bigazzi SRL Jacques Laffite
Steve Soper
Marc Duez
BMW S70 6.1 L V12318
12LMGT279 Roock Racing Team Guy Martinolle
Ralf Kelleners
Bruno Eichmann
Porsche 911 GT2317
12LMGT279 Roock Racing Team Guy Martinolle
Ralf Kelleners
Bruno Eichmann
Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6317
13LMP14 Courage Compétition Mario Andretti
Jan Lammers
Derek Warwick
Courage C36315
13LMP14 Courage Compétition Mario Andretti
Jan Lammers
Derek Warwick
Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6315
14LMGT271 New Hardware Racing/Parr Motorsport Bill Farmer
Greg Murphy
Robert Nearn
Porsche 911 GT2313
14LMGT271 New Hardware Racing/Parr Motorsport Bill Farmer
Greg Murphy
Robert Nearn
Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6313
15LMGT123 Nismo Kazuyoshi Hoshino
Masahiro Hasemi
Toshio Suzuki
Nismo Skyline GT-R LM307
15LMGT123 Nismo Kazuyoshi Hoshino
Masahiro Hasemi
Toshio Suzuki
Nissan 2.8 L Turbo I6307
16LMGT275 Team Kunimitsu Kunimitsu Takahashi
Keiichi Tsuchiya
Akira Iida
Honda NSX305
16LMGT275 Team Kunimitsu Kunimitsu Takahashi
Keiichi Tsuchiya
Akira Iida
Honda 3.0 L V6305
17LMGT283 New Hardware Racing/Parr Motorsport Stéphane Ortelli
Andy Pilgrim
Andrew Bagnall
Porsche 911 GT2299
17LMGT283 New Hardware Racing/Parr Motorsport Stéphane Ortelli
Andy Pilgrim
Andrew Bagnall
Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6299
18LMGT277 Seikel Motorsport Guy Fuster
Manfred Jurasz
Takaji Suzuki
Porsche 911 GT2297
18LMGT277 Seikel Motorsport Guy Fuster
Manfred Jurasz
Takaji Suzuki
Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6297
19LMGT128 Newcastle United Lister Geoff Lees
Tiff Needell
Anthony Reid
Lister Storm GTS295
19LMGT128 Newcastle United Lister Geoff Lees
Tiff Needell
Anthony Reid
Jaguar 7.0 L V12295
20LMGT282 Société Larbre Compétition Patrice Goueslard
André Ahrlé
Patrick Bourdais
Porsche 911 GT2284
20LMGT282 Société Larbre Compétition Patrice Goueslard
André Ahrlé
Patrick Bourdais
Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6284
21LMGT150 Société Viper Team Oreca Philippe Gache
Éric Hélary
Olivier Beretta
Chrysler Viper GTS-R283
21LMGT150 Société Viper Team Oreca Philippe Gache
Éric Hélary
Olivier Beretta
Chrysler 356-T6 8.0 L V10283
22LMGT127 Société Chéreau Sports Jean-Luc Chéreau
Pierre Yver
Jack Leconte
Porsche 911 GT2 Evo279
22LMGT127 Société Chéreau Sports Jean-Luc Chéreau
Pierre Yver
Jack Leconte
Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6279
23LMGT149 Canaska Southwind Motorsport Alain Cudini
Victor Sifton
John Morton
Chrysler Viper GTS-R269
23LMGT149 Canaska Southwind Motorsport Alain Cudini
Victor Sifton
John Morton
Chrysler 356-T6 8.0 L V10269
24LMGT146 Team Menicon SARD Alain Ferté
Mauro Martini
Pascal Fabre
256
24LMGT146 Team Menicon SARD Alain Ferté
Mauro Martini
Pascal Fabre
Toyota 4.0 L Turbo V8256
25LMP220 Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd. Yojiro Terada
Jim Downing
Franck Fréon
Kudzu DLM251
25LMP220 Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd. Yojiro Terada
Jim Downing
Franck Fréon
Mazda R20B 2.0 L 3-Rotor251
DNFLMP18 Joest Racing Michele Alboreto
Pierluigi Martini
Didier Theys
TWS Porsche WSC-95300
DNFLMP18 Joest Racing Michele Alboreto
Pierluigi Martini
Didier Theys
Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6300
DNFLMP214 Welter Racing SARL Patrick Gonin
Pierre Petit
Marc Rostan
WR LM96221
DNFLMP214 Welter Racing SARL Patrick Gonin
Pierre Petit
Marc Rostan
Peugeot 2.0 L Turbo I4221
DNFLMP13 Courage Compétition Didier Cottaz
Philippe Alliot
Jérôme Policand
Courage C36215
DNFLMP13 Courage Compétition Didier Cottaz
Philippe Alliot
Jérôme Policand
Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6215
DNFLMGT122 Nismo Aguri Suzuki
Masahiko Kageyama
Masahiko Kondo
Nismo Skyline GT-R LM209
DNFLMGT122 Nismo Aguri Suzuki
Masahiko Kageyama
Masahiko Kondo
Nissan 2.8 L Turbo I6209
DNFWSC17 Racing For Belgium Team Scandia Eric van de Poele
Marc Goossens
Éric Bachelart
Ferrari 333 SP208
DNFWSC17 Racing For Belgium Team Scandia Eric van de Poele
Marc Goossens
Éric Bachelart
Ferrari F310E 4.0 L V12208
DNFLMGT157 Toyota Team SARD Masanori Sekiya
Hidetoshi Mitsusada
Masami Kageyama
Toyota Supra LM205
DNFLMGT157 Toyota Team SARD Masanori Sekiya
Hidetoshi Mitsusada
Masami Kageyama
Toyota 3S-GTE 2.1 L Turbo I4205
DNFLMP215 Welter Racing SARL William David
Sébastien Enjolras
Arnaud Trévisiol
WR LM96162
DNFLMP215 Welter Racing SARL William David
Sébastien Enjolras
Arnaud Trévisiol
Peugeot 2.0 L Turbo I4162
DNFWSC19 Riley & Scott Cars Inc. Wayne Taylor
Scott Sharp
Jim Pace
Riley & Scott Mk III157
DNFWSC19 Riley & Scott Cars Inc. Wayne Taylor
Scott Sharp
Jim Pace
Oldsmobile Aurora 4.0 L V8157
DNFLMGT153 Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing Fabien Giroix
Jean-Denis Délétraz
Maurizio Sandro Sala
McLaren F1 GTR146
DNFLMGT153 Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing Fabien Giroix
Jean-Denis Délétraz
Maurizio Sandro Sala
BMW S70 6.1 L V12146
DNFLMGT159 Ennea SRL Robin Donovan
Piero Nappi
Tetsuya Ota
Ferrari F40 GTE129
DNFLMGT159 Ennea SRL Robin Donovan
Piero Nappi
Tetsuya Ota
Ferrari F120B 3.5 L Turbo V8129
DNFLMGT274 Agusta Racing Team Rocky Agusta
Almo Copelli
Patrick Camus
Callaway Corvette LM600114
DNFLMGT274 Agusta Racing Team Rocky Agusta
Almo Copelli
Patrick Camus
Chevrolet LT1 6.2 L V8114
DNFLMP11 Kremer Racing Christophe Bouchut
Jürgen Lässig
Harri Toivonen
Kremer K8 Spyder110
DNFLMP11 Kremer Racing Christophe Bouchut
Jürgen Lässig
Harri Toivonen
Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6110
DNFLMGT137 Konrad Motorsport Franz Konrad
Antonio Herrmann
Wido Rössler
Porsche 911 GT2 Evo107
DNFLMGT137 Konrad Motorsport Franz Konrad
Antonio Herrmann
Wido Rössler
Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6107
DNFLMGT144 Ennea SRL Igol Luciano Della Noce
Anders Olofsson
Carl Rosenblad
Ferrari F40 GTE98
DNFLMGT144 Ennea SRL Igol Luciano Della Noce
Anders Olofsson
Carl Rosenblad
Ferrari F120B 3.5 L Turbo V898
DNFLMGT151 Société Viper Team Oreca Dominique Dupuy
Perry McCarthy
Justin Bell
Chrysler Viper GTS-R96
DNFLMGT151 Société Viper Team Oreca Dominique Dupuy
Perry McCarthy
Justin Bell
Chrysler 356-T6 8.0 L V1096
DNFLMGT155 Roock Racing Team Jean-Pierre Jarier
Jesús Pareja
Dominic Chappell
Porsche 911 GT2 Evo93
DNFLMGT155 Roock Racing Team Jean-Pierre Jarier
Jesús Pareja
Dominic Chappell
Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-693
DNFLMGT156 Pilot Racing Michel Ferté
Olivier Thévenin
Nicolas Leboissetier
Ferrari F40 LM93
DNFLMGT156 Pilot Racing Michel Ferté
Olivier Thévenin
Nicolas Leboissetier
Ferrari F120B 3.5 L Turbo V893
DNFLMP12 Kremer Racing Steve Fossett
George Fouché
Stanley Dickens
Kremer K8 Spyder58
DNFLMP12 Kremer Racing Steve Fossett
George Fouché
Stanley Dickens
Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-658
DNFLMGT273 Elf Haberthur Racing Michel Neugarten
Toni Seiler
Bruno Ilien
Porsche 911 GT246
DNFLMGT273 Elf Haberthur Racing Michel Neugarten
Toni Seiler
Bruno Ilien
Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-646
DNFLMGT281 Team Marcos Cor Euser
Thomas Erdos
Pascal Dro
Marcos Mantara LM60040
DNFLMGT281 Team Marcos Cor Euser
Thomas Erdos
Pascal Dro
Chevrolet 6.1 L V840
DNFLMGT145 Ennea SRL Igol Jean-Marc Gounon
Éric Bernard
Paul Belmondo
Ferrari F40 GTE40
DNFLMGT145 Ennea SRL Igol Jean-Marc Gounon
Éric Bernard
Paul Belmondo
Ferrari F120B 3.5 L Turbo V840
DNFLMGT270 Steve O'Rourke Steve O'Rourke
Guy Holmes
Soames Langston
Porsche 911 GT232
DNFLMGT270 Steve O'Rourke Steve O'Rourke
Guy Holmes
Soames Langston
Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-632
DNFWSC18 Rocketsports Inc. Andy Evans
Yvan Muller
Fermín Velez
Ferrari 333 SP31
DNFWSC18 Rocketsports Inc. Andy Evans
Yvan Muller
Fermín Velez
Ferrari F130E 4.0 L V1231

Statistics