On January 9, 1522, Adriaan Floriszoon was elected Pope under the name Adrien VI and became the last non-Italian Pope until Jean-Paul II and the first, and sole to-date, Dutch Pope. On June 13, 1971, Gijs van Lennep became the first Dutch driver to win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

24H Le Mans

Le Mans Legendes

24 Heures du Mans

Historique

Tailored to the spectator experience, the 24 Hours of Le Mans consistently provokes intense emotions-turned-memories throughout race week and the main event. Plenty of factors contribute to the visual spectacle, including racing car tints.

Variety on the track has always been the name of the game at Le Mans, now more so than ever with&nbsp;Hypercars competing since&nbsp;2021. As&nbsp;it is sometime&nbsp;difficult to differentiate between&nbsp;prototypes, colour plays a crucial role, in some cases representing a sponsor and in others&nbsp;a 100-year-old story.

<h2>The Past Fully Present</h2>

Some say motorsport was invented shortly after the second car was made. Though a slight&nbsp;exaggeration, it is true the development of current&nbsp;racing&nbsp;disciplines dates back. At the beginning of the&nbsp;20th century, the first European competitions brought together carmakers from various countries. So how to make individual&nbsp;provenance recognizable to everyone? By a clever colour code.

When the&nbsp;24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans was created in&nbsp;1923, the French&nbsp;chose blue, the Italians red, the Germans and Americans white, the Belgians yellow and the Brits green.&nbsp;

These colours have always played a major&nbsp;role in the visual impact of the race,&nbsp;though the tradition found itself forever altered by the arrival of sponsors in the late&nbsp;1960s. Some carmakers&nbsp;are keen, however,&nbsp;to honour their legacy, particularly at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

<h2>Back to Basics?</h2>

Certain teams managed to find sponsors whose colour palette matched their own, but that proved rare. In the mid-2000s&nbsp;on the other hand, the gradual disappearance of title sponsors, who reigned&nbsp;in the 1980s, revitalised the use of&nbsp;historic colours in a rather surprising way.&nbsp;A title sponsor&nbsp;on a racing car&nbsp;is a marque who&nbsp;takes up all the space, thereby controlling colour(s) on&nbsp;the entire bodywork&nbsp;without the possibility of displaying other sponsors. These days,&nbsp;constructors competing in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fiawec.com/en/" target="_blank">FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC)</a>&nbsp;make room for&nbsp;many different marques&nbsp;so that no specific&nbsp;one dominates.

<h2>A Legacy of Colour</h2>

Two examples illustrate the point perfectly&nbsp;and currently contribute greatly to the visual identity of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.&nbsp;Alpine, founded in&nbsp;1955 by&nbsp;Jean R&eacute;d&eacute;l&eacute;, spotlights blue&nbsp;on its&nbsp;A424. A fan favourite, the French carmaker embraces&nbsp;its origins. The same can be said for&nbsp;Ferrari of course. The colour red is&nbsp;indelibly linked&nbsp;and consistenly chosen to represent&nbsp;the Italian marque on the track. It is probably the most well-known hue in motorsport, possibly ahead of British Racing Green proudly preferred by&nbsp;Bentley, Jaguar, Lotus and&nbsp;Aston Martin across the years. With just a&nbsp;quick look&nbsp;at the winner of the 2023 and 2024&nbsp;24 Hours, any fan would know it was a Ferrari,&nbsp;simply&nbsp;from the colour. For the team&#39;s #83 499P fielded last year, AF Corse opted for a vivid yellow, a direct reference to Ferrari&#39;s second historic colour, that of its logo and the city of Modena.

Engineers work hard every year to ensure the fastest possible top speed for their cars.&nbsp;But the silhouette, logo, and above all&nbsp;the colour, are invaluable in sharing with&nbsp;spectators&nbsp;the history of the marque,&nbsp;transcending&nbsp;performance level.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/the-24-hours-of-le-mans-a-feast-for-the-eyes-59084" target="_blank">One glance</a>&nbsp;is enough to span the&nbsp;entire past century and connect us to&nbsp;the carmaker&#39;s&nbsp;future in the next century.

Emotions always run high at the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Le Mans, Ignite your Senses | At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, every detail counts, and the sense of touch plays a crucial role in the relationship between driver and car. Sarah Bovy, a driver with the Iron Dames team competing in the LMGT3 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, believes that the physical connection with the car is crucial to her performance and the sensations experienced on track.

In a racing car, each vibration, bump and kerb sends a message to the driver. Touch therefore plays a pivotal role in performance. &ldquo;The way you hold the steering wheel is fundamental,&rdquo; says&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/sarah-bovy-the-rise-of-a-passionate-and-committed-iron-dame-59183" target="_blank">Sarah Bovy, driver for Iron Dames</a>&nbsp;in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Race steering wheels are anything but one-size-fits-all. They are designed to ensure optimal grip while adapting to the preferences of each driver. &ldquo;I have very long hands, so if the wheel feels too thin, I&rsquo;ll add some extra thickness to it.&nbsp;My teammates with smaller hands prefer a different configuration.&rdquo; It is important to strike the right balance to achieve maximum precision and comfort during the race.

<h2>Vibrations: the language of the track</h2>

&ldquo;They say you drive a race car with your backside,&rdquo; Bovy smiles. Seated low in custom-moulded seats,&nbsp;drivers feel every vibration from the track. These vibrations are transmitted through the tyres, then via the steering column and chassis, prompting drivers to rapidly adjust their technique. Driving over a kerb is an intense physical experience: &ldquo;Although the&nbsp;sensations are pretty jarring, they help us keep control of the car.&nbsp;We work with our engineers to try and smooth out the sensations, to reduce any disruption to the car&rsquo;s stability and to optimise the driver&rsquo;s experience,&rdquo; Bovy explains.

<h2>Sensory awareness at the wheel</h2>

Endurance races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans put a driver&rsquo;s senses to the ultimate test. After hours at the wheel, things start to feel very different. &ldquo;In the final stints, we always feel like we&rsquo;re in zombie mode before getting into the car.&nbsp;But it&rsquo;s astonishing how quickly our senses are heightened as soon as we&rsquo;re back behind the wheel. Until we get in the car, we can&rsquo;t seem to shake off that brain-fog feeling. But as soon as the car hits the ground after a tyre change, we&rsquo;re jolted awake, and we return to the track with almost the same energy as at the start of the race.&rdquo;

To excel, a driver must be fully in synch with their car and the sense of touch plays a fundamental role in this. Drivers will&nbsp;detect changes such as a loss of grip or the car&rsquo;s response over a kerb, analysing the slightest&nbsp;differences in real time. This physical link is one of the keys to success at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It&rsquo;s proof that the iconic race really is a sensory experience, where&nbsp;driver and machine communicate through the subtle language of touch.

.

The power of touch at the 24 Hours of Le Mans: driver and machine in perfect synch

Team Peugeot TotalEnergies has named the drivers who will take the wheel of the two Peugeot 9X8s that will compete in the 2025 World Endurance Championship, including the season’s highlight, the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans (11-15 June).

The French manufacturer will field two Peugeot 9X8 Hypercars in the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship. Car #93 will be driven by Jean-Eric Vergne, Paul Di Resta and Mikkel Jensen. Meanwhile, Lo&iuml;c Duval, Stoffel Vandoorne and Malthe Jakobsen will share the wheel of #94.

Olivier Jansonnie, Technical Director of the Peugeot Sport FIA WEC programme, indicated how the two trios were put together. &ldquo;We have built our line-ups based on a precise balance between experience and dynamism,&quot; he said. &quot;Mikkel Jensen, Jean-&Eacute;ric Vergne and Paul Di Resta, in car #93, bring strong cohesion, proven expertise, and great consistency. While Lo&iuml;c Duval, Stoffel Vandoorne, and Malthe Jakobsen, in car #94, combine the strategic vision of seasoned drivers with the energy and boldness of a promising young talent. Th&eacute;o Pourchaire , who completed his first endurance tests in December, completes the 2025 line-up as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/theo-pourchaire-named-reserve-driver-for-team-peugeot-totalenergies-59178" target="_blank">test driver</a>&nbsp;for the new season. We look forward to seeing these drivers give their best on the track and thrilling fans around the world.&quot;

With such talent behind the wheel, backed by an ambitious programme, Team Peugeot TotalEnergies is ready to meet the challenge of the 2025 FIA WEC season and especially its home race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team invites fans to support them at the Qatar 1812 Km on 28 February for the opening round of a season that promises to be intense. Peugeot wrapped up the 2024 season in sixth place in the FIA Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers&rsquo; Championship.

Team Peugeot TotalEnergies reveals 2025 lineups

BMW M Motorsport has officially announced its driver line-up for the forthcoming LMGT3 FIA World Endurance Championship season. Nine-time Grand Prix Moto champion Valentino Rossi is on the list.

Valentino Rossi is about to embark on his second FIA WEC season at the wheel of the #46 LMGT3 BMW M4 GT3 EVO. He is to share the car, which bears his lucky number, with new recruit Kelvin van der Linde and Ahmad Al Harthy. &ldquo;I am very happy to continue my experience in the FIA WEC, as last year was a strong debut season. We had some good races including two podiums and we want to try to be stronger and faster. We will work hard together with BMW M Motorsport to improve our performance and be more competitive in every race. It&rsquo;s great to once again race at some fantastic tracks, that I know well from racing motorcycles, and this makes me enjoy racing in the FIA WEC. Le Mans is of course the most important one, we were unlucky last year, but we will fight for the podium in 2025!&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
Last November Rossi performed <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/fia-wec-valentino-rossi-impresses-at-the-rookie-test-in-the-bmw-m-hybrid-v8-59103vvv">an impressive FIA WEC Rookie Test in the BMW M Hybrid V8</a>.

The #31 The Bend Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 will be in the hands of Augusto Farfus, Timur Boguslavskiy and Yasser Shahin. Boguslavskiy competed in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe with BMW factory driver Raffaeke Marciello, taking the title in 2020 and 2023.

BMW M Motorsport team principal Andreas Roos: &ldquo;As with our Hypercar works programmes, we can look forward to great BMW M Motorsport driver line-ups in the GT3 customer racing programmes of the FIA WEC and IMSA series in 2025. I congratulate Team WRT on once again securing some of the best Silver and Bronze drivers for the cockpits of our two new BMW M4 GT3 EVOs. They will hopefully create many great moments alongside our three works drivers.&rdquo; 
Bj&ouml;rn Lellmann (Head of Customer Racing at BMW M Motorsport) added: &quot;In the 2025 season, the BMW M4 GT3 EVO makes its debut, and the FIA WEC and IMSA series are two of the most prestigious arenas for the car. Accordingly, our determination to achieve immediate success and demonstrate what the car is capable of is great. The strong driver line-ups of the WRT, provide the optimal conditions for this.&quot;

Team WRT finished last season in fourth and sixth place in the LMGT3 class of the FIA Endurance Trophy. The #31 BMW M4 LMGT3 in the hands of Leung/Gelael/Farfus achieved second place in LMGT3 at the last 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Valentino Rossi to take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the second time

24 Heures du Mans 1971

Eddie Hertzberger became the first Dutch driver to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1935 with his own team in an&nbsp;MG (retired), and it wasn&#39;t until&nbsp;1971 that a Dutch competitor claimed a podium finish. Gijs van Lennep clinched the victory with Helmut Marko in a Porsche 917K by setting the distance&nbsp;record unbeaten until&nbsp;2010. The Dutch driver won once again in 1976 after having finished second in 1974. Jan Lammers is the only fellow countryman of Gijs van Lennep to reach the top step on the&nbsp;podium at Le Mans, in 1988.

Photo (Copryight - Archives/ACO): The #22&nbsp;Porsche 917K that allowed&nbsp;Gijs van Lennep and&nbsp;Helmut Marko to win at the 1971&nbsp;24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans.

24H LE MANS

Today's Photo Story - Gijs van Lennep wins the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans

Related News

Emotions always run high at the 24 Hours of Le Mans

The power of touch at the 24 Hours of Le Mans: driver and machine in perfect synch

Team Peugeot TotalEnergies reveals 2025 lineups

Valentino Rossi to take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the second time

Major Partner

PREMIUM partners

OFFICIAL partners