24h Le Mans
Throughout this month, we will bring you a very special Advent calendar dedicated to remarkable stories and anecdotes from the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. Today, here is a look back at Alex Wurz's win at the race in 1996 which earned him a car in Formula 1.
When Alex Wurz took his rookie start in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1996, he was 22 years old. The son of a racing car driver (his father, Franz, is a former multiple European rallycross champion), the young Austrian enjoyed an impressive stint in promotion formulas in Germany where he won a Formula Ford title in 1992 then finished runner-up in Formula 3 two years later. This gifted and eclectic personality (he wears two different color racing boots) joined Joest-Porsche TWR and teamed up with American driver Davy Jones and German driver Manuel Reuter, winner at the 1989 24 Hours with Sauber-Mercedes, fellow countryman Jochen Mass and Swedish driver Stanley Dickens.
Though the hourly timesheets at the 64th 24 Hours showed the car in the lead 24 out of 24 hours, the #7 Joest-Porsche TWR of Wurz/Jones/Reuter still had to keep an eye on the two factory Porsche 911 GT1s. Though they proved highly competitive, in the end the 911s were delayed with various problems, while the winning trio demonstrated a metronomic constistency, with 4,559 km in the lead over a total 4,814 km.
The victory earned Alex Wurz a spot in Formula 1. Shortly before the 24 Hours, the Austrian had met Flavio Briatore. The managing director of the Benetton team at the time, he promised to give Wurz a chance if he won Le Mans. Did the Italian team manager genuinely believe Wurz capable of such a performance for his first participation in the race? Only he knows, but he did keep his word: after competing in three Grand Prix with Benetton in 1997, Wurz officially joined the team for 1998, 1999 and 2000 seasons.
After a decade in Formula 1 as both a race and test driver, Wurz returned to endurance and became one of the discipline's spearheads from 2008 to his retirement in 2015. With Peugeot, he won his second 24 Hours (2009), the 12 Hours of Sebring (2010) and Petit Le Mans (2011).
For the renaissance of the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2012, he joined Toyota and gave the Japanese marque its first win in the FIA WEC that same year with French driver Nicolas Lapierre. In 2014, he almost gave Toyota its second victory, this time at the 24 Hours. The longtime leader, the Toyota he shared with Kazuki Nakajima and Stéphane Sarrazin was forced to retire after a fire resulting from an electrical problem.
Currently an advisor to Toyota (and also to Mercedes in Formula 1) and also President of the GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers Association) since his retirement from competition, Wurz certainly boasts a remarkable career in Formula 1 and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
PHOTOS (Copyright - ACO ARCHIVES): LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 1996 24 HOURS OF LE MANS. For his first participation, Alex Wurz (at the wheel in the photo above) teamed up with previous winner, German driver Manuel Reuter (at the wheel in the top photo).
