24h Le Mans
Since its first victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970, Porsche has made an indelible mark on the 24 Hours of Le Mans with several big firsts and other records of note.
1970 - With a time of 3:19:8, the Brit Vic Elford was the first driver to exceed an average of 240 km/h for pole position at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
1971 - The Porsche 917 LH of Pedro Rodriguez-Jackie Oliver established two of the fastest records in the history of the 24 Hours: for a lap (3:13:6, Jackie Oliver at the preliminary tests in April) and for pole position (3:13:9, Pedro Rodriguez in qualifying). During the race, the winners Helmut Marko-Gijs van Lennep established a distance record (5,335 kilometers raced at an average of 222 km/h) that would not be beaten until 2010 by the Audi of Romain Dumas-Timo Bernhard-Mike Rockenfeller.
1976 - At the wheel of the 936, Jacky Ickx and Gijs van Lennep won the first victory for a turbocharged engine at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
1981-82-83 - Ickx was the first driver to score three consecutive pole positions at Le Mans: 3:29:44 (1981, Porsche 936, winner with Derek Bell), 3:28:4 (1982, Porsche 956, winner with Derek Bell) and 3:16:56 (1983, Porsche 956, second with Derek Bell). Since then, only French driver Stéphane Sarrazin has matched the achievement, with Peugeot in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
1985 - The win for the 956 of Klaus Ludwig-Paolo Barilla-"John Winter" allowed Porsche, with a second win at Le Mans, to snatch the win record from Ferrari, and proceed to take it to 16 in 1998.
1996 - At the wheel of the Joest-Porsche TWR shared with American driver Davy Jones and German driver Manuel Reuter, at 22 years old Alexander Wurz became the youngest driver to win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
2013 - The two class wins in LM GTE Pro clinched by Romain Dumas-Marc Lieb-Richard Lietz and in LM GTE Am by Raymond Narac-Jean Karl Vernay-Christophe Bourret allowed Porsche to reach 100 victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, all classes considered.
Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO
Photo: Copyright - MICHEL JAMIN, ACO
Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SATURDAY JUNE 22 2013, RACE. Victorious overall in 1998, 15 years later the 911 allowed Porsche (here the Dumas-Lieb-Lietz car) to reach 100 wins at Le Mans, all classes considered.
