24 Hours of Le Mans - Nine 9s (7/9) - the 1989 race
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24 Hours of Le Mans - Nine 9s (7/9) - the 1989 race

The 57th running of the 24 Hours was the high point of the Mercedes Le Mans campaign run in partnership with Sauber from the mid 1980s.

Date: 10-11 June 1989

Number of competitors: 55

Number classified as finishers: 19

Winners: Jochen Mass, Manuel Reuter and Stanley Dickens (Sauber-Mercedes C9 #63)

Distance covered by the winners and average speed: 5,262 km (389 laps) at an average 219 kph

Pole position: Jean-Louis Schlesser (#62 Sauber-Mercedes C9) with a time of 3:15.04 at an average 249 kph

Highlights:

-Sauber was the first Swiss manufacturer to take pole and win the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

-Mercedes, Sauber’s official partner, claimed its second 24 Hours crown after its first Le Mans triumph in 1952.

-Former Formula One driver Jochen Mass added his name to the 24 Hours winners’ list on his tenth participation. He also boasts seven appearances as an official Porsche endurance driver.

-Manuel Reuter enjoyed a second victory at the 24 Hours in 1996, on the TWR-Porsche team with Alexander Wurz and Davy Jones.

-Other than the winning trio, there were four other former and future winners in the top ten: Mauro Baldi, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Jan Lammers and Henri Pescarolo.

Motorsport in 1989:

- The first ever Brazilian Formula One world champion (1972 and ’74), Emerson Fittipaldi took the first of his two Indy 500 victories.

-The Formula 3 calendar highlight, the Macao Grand Prix was won by a 20-year-old German driver... Michael Schumacher. Two years later, he swiped the fastest race lap at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Sauber-Mercedes.

What else happened in 1989?

-On 9 November, the Berlin Wall came down after the East German government announced the opening of the inner German border.

-The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Dalai Lama.

 

PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, LE MANS 24 HOURS, FINISH, SATURDAY 10 & SUNDAY 11 JUNE 1989. The three Sauber-Mercedes finished the race in the top five, with the #63 driven by Mass, Reuter and Dickens in first place, the #61 (Mauri Baldi, Kenny Acheson and Gianfranco Brancatelli) in second place and the #62 (Jean-Louis Schlesser, Jean-Pierre Jabouille and Alain Cudini) fifth.

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