24h Le Mans
This year sees the 70th anniversary of a famous double with the 1952 victory by Hermann Lang, Fritz Riess and Mercedes, the first driver duo and manufacturer from Germany to win the 24 Hours. To celebrate the occasion, we look back through 70 years of history with 24 stories that have placed German marques and their drivers at the pinnacle of the Le Mans legend.
The Centenary race in 2023 will undoubtedly see Porsche go in search of a twentieth overall victory, adding a remarkable chapter to Germany’s history at the legendary French race.
German manufacturers have come out on top in almost half of the Le Mans 24 Hours raced since 1952 with 19 wins for Porsche, 13 for Audi, and one each for Mercedes and BMW. We could arguably add two more as Mercedes partnered Sauber for its 1989 triumph while the 1995 winning McLaren F1-GTR was powered by a specially designed BMW V12 engine.
The maiden win by a German manufacturer was a veritable triumph! Mercedes scored a sensational 1-2 victory with the 300 SLs driven by Hermann Lang and Fritz Riess (winners) and Theo Helfrich and Helmut Niedermayr (runners-up).
Eighteen German drivers have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 1952, recording a total of 31 victories. In chronological order, they are Hermann Lang, Fritz Riess, Hans Herrmann, Jürgen Barth, Klaus Ludwig, John Winter, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Jochen Mass, Manuel Reuter, Volker Weidler, Joachim Winkelhock, Frank Biela, Marco Werner, Timo Bernhard, Mike Rockenfeller, André Lotterer, Nico Hülkenberg and Marc Lieb.
With five wins in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2007, Frank Biela is the most successful German driver at the 24 Hours. He lies in third spot (tied with Derek Bell and Emanuele Pirro) in the all-time rankings of Le Mans winners. Only Tom Kristensen and Jacky Ickx, with nine and six wins respectively, have been more successful. Hans-Joachim Stuck held the record for the fastest qualifying time from 1985 until it was broken in 2017 by Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi.
Between them, the top five drivers in the history of the 24 Hours of Le Mans have totalled 30 wins. No fewer than 26 of those have been achieved in a Porsche or an Audi: Tom Kristensen (eight wins out of nine), Jacky Ickx (four out of six), Derek Bell (four out of five), Emanuele Pirro and Frank Biela (both five out of five).
In 2010, Timo Bernhard and Mike Rockenfeller, partnered by Frenchman Romain Dumas, set the current 24 Hours of Le Mans distance record in an Audi R15 TDI Plus. The trio covered 5,410.713 kilometres at an average speed of 225.228 kph.
The Audi R8 is the most successful German prototype at the 24 Hours with five wins in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005. Then comes the Audi R18 with four victories split between the TDI (2011) and the e-tron quattro (2012, 2013, 2014). With three wins each, the Porsche 936 (1976, 1977, 1981), the 956 (1982, 1983, 1984), the 919 Hybrid (2015, 2016, 2017) and the Audi R10 TDI (2006, 2007, 2008) complete the Top 6.
Adler was the first German manufacturer to reach the Top 10, finishing sixth and eighth in 1937, and sixth and seventh in 1938. In 1939, BMW climbed higher up the standings with its 328 Touring Coupe, which broke into the Top 5 (fifth) as well as achieving seventh and ninth-placed finishes that year.
Ferdinand Porsche having passed away in February 1951, it was his son Ferry who oversaw the marque’s Sarthe début later that year. With local driver Edmond Mouche and Porsche’s French importer Auguste Veuillet sharing the wheel, the 356 sporting the number 46 finished 20th overall and first in its class. Porsche has been ever-present since that day 71 years ago.
After Mercedes broke the duck in 1952, 18 years elapsed before another German manufacturer won at Le Mans. In 1970, Porsche clinched victory in every category on the track, winning overall (and the Sport class) with the 917 driven by Richard Attwood and Hans Herrmann. The 908 of Rudi Lins and Helmut Marko (third overall) took the 3-Litre Prototypes crown, the 914/6 of Claude Ballot-Léna and Guy Chasseuil (sixth overall) won the 2-Litre GT class and the 911 S triumphed in the 2.5-Litre GT class with Nicolas Koob and Erwin Kremer (seventh overall).
Porsche and Audi have won more than one-third of the 24 Hours since the race began. While Porsche’s 19 wins cover almost half a century (1970 to 2017), Audi’s 13 successes were concentrated within a much shorter timeframe – 2000 to 2014 – and in far fewer appearances (17 from 1999 to 2016).
Germany holds the distance record at the 24 Hours since 1971, firstly through Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep (Porsche 917) and then Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Mike Rockenfeller (Audi R15 TDI Plus) since 2010.
Le Mans’ own Anny-Charlotte Verney holds the record number of appearances in the race for a woman. The first nine of her ten starts in the 24 Hours between 1974 and 1983 were at the wheel of a Porsche, with a sixth place in 1981 her best finish.
The 43rd 24 Hours of Le Mans saw the appearance of the first BMW Art Car, a concept devised by auctioneer and gentleman driver Hervé Poulain. The 3.0 CSL with a livery created by Alexander Calder was driven by Poulain himself, American Sam Posey, and Poulain’s fellow Frenchman Jean Guichet, who won in 1964 in a Ferrari. Calder was followed by Frank Stella in 1976, Roy Lichtenstein in 1977 and then Andy Warhol in 1979 for the best result achieved by a BMW Art Car at the 24 Hours when Poulain, Marcel Mignot and Manfred Winkelhock finished sixth overall. The last BMW to adopt this concept at the 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 2010 entry decorated by Jeff Koons.
Klaus Ludwig was the first German driver to win Le Mans more than once, triumphing with Porsche in 1979, 1984 and 1985. He has since been joined by Frank Biela (five wins), Marco Werner, André Lotterer (three wins each), Hans-Joachim Stuck, Manuel Reuter and Timo Bernhard (two each).
Paul Newman, on his sole Le Mans appearance, finished second overall and won his class in 1979. He shared the wheel of a Porsche 935 with Dick Barbour and Rolf Stommelen. In 2013, Patrick Dempsey raced in a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR for his second 24 Hours. In partnership with German outfit Proton Competition, he took the wheel again in 2014 and 2015, seeing the chequered flag three years in succession. As boss of Dempsey-Proton Racing, he then won the LMGTE Am class in 2018, with Julien Andlauer, Matt Campbell and Christian Ried sharing the driving duties.
Five French drivers have chalked up wins in their “home” race at the wheel of German cars. Henri Pescarolo led the way in 1984 in a Porsche 956 – his fourth Le Mans title. Another four-time winner Yannick Dalmas found success with Dauer-Porsche in 1994 and BMW in 1999. Romain Dumas won the race twice, with Audi (2010) and Porsche (2016). Two other French drivers reached the top of the 24 Hours podium with Audi: Benoît Tréluyer (2011, 2012, 2014) and Loïc Duval (2013).
As seen earlier, Porsche and Audi totalled 32 Le Mans wins between them. During that long period, Reinhold Joest became the most successful team owner of all time at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with 15 wins. Initially competing as a privateer or semi-official entry with Porsche, Joest went on to head the Audi factory team’s record-breaking venture.
First seen at Le Mans as a Jaguar XJR 14 in 1991, and then as a Mazda MXR-01 a year later, it subsequently lost its roof, swapped its 3.5-litre naturally aspirated engine for a Porsche 3-litre turbocharged engine and became a Joest-Porsche WSC! This third guise proved to be the right one as it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice in a row. Davy Jones, Alex Wurz and Manuel Reuter triumphed in 1996 and Michele Alboreto, Stefan Johansson and Tom Kristensen the following year.
Porsche has celebrated two significant anniversaries at the Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans. In 1998, the marque popped the champagne corks for its half-century by clinching its 16th outright Le Mans win with its most famous model – the 911. And for the brand’s 70th anniversary in 2018, the 911 did the honours once again by taking the LMGTE Pro trophy (15th overall).
In 1998 and 1999, BMW entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a prototype designed in conjunction with Williams Engineering. After the double retirement for the V12 LM in 1998, BMW and Williams presented an improved version – the V12 LMR – the following year. Tom Kristensen, JJ Lehto and Jörg Müller had built a commanding lead but their race ended in the Porsche curves. Yannick Dalmas, Pierluigi Martini and Joachim Winkelhock in the sister car saw out the remaining hours to take the honours. The privately entered V12 LM driven by Bill Auberlen, Thomas Bscher and Steve Soper finished in a most respectable fifth place. In 2000, BMW and Williams switched their joint venture to Formula 1, until 2005.
Audi made its Le Mans début in 1999. That year, it entered two open-top prototypes named R8R (for Roadster) and two with closed cockpits, dubbed R8C (for Coupé). In 2012, the marque followed the same principle, fielding two different versions of its R18 prototype: two TDI turbo diesels and two e-tron quattro hybrids.
Hybrid power first made its mark on the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the one-two scored by the Audi R18 e-tron quattro prototypes. Winners Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer were followed home by Dindo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish. Since then, every winner has adopted the technology with six successive wins for Germany (Audi in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and Porsche in 2015, 2016, 2017) before Toyota’s reign began in 2018.
Before Nico Hülkenberg teamed up with Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy to win the 83rd 24 Hours of Le Mans, Porsche offered the seat in its third 919 Hybrid to two other Formula One drivers. However, neither Fernando Alonso nor Jean-Eric Vergne could take up the invitation.
PHOTOS (© ACO ARCHIVES): LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, 1952-2012 – From top to bottom: the Mercedes 300 SL, the first German car to win the 24 Hours in 1952; the 1952 victors from left to right: Hermann Lang, Mercedes team boss Alfred Neubauer, and Fritz Riess; first win and first clean sweep for Audi in 2000; Adler, first German manufacturer to make the Top 10 at the 24 Hours in 1937; the 917 of Richard Attwood and Hans Herrmann wrap up the first of Porsche’s 19 victories; the Porsche 935 K3 of Anny-Charlotte Verney, partnering Americans Bob Garretson and Ralph Cooke at the 1981 race; the BMW M1 painted by Andy Warhol in 1979; Paul Newman’s Porsche in 1979; the triumphant TWR-Porsche in 1997, with Michele Alboreto at the wheel; the LMGTE Pro class-winning Porsche 911 in 2018 for the marque’s 70th anniversary; Joachim Winkelhock congratulates teammate Pierluigi Martini in their BMW after crossing the finish line in 1999; the four Audi R18s at the 2012 24 Hours: the e-tron quattro hybrid version in the foreground, with the two turbo diesel prototypes behind.
