1996 Le Mans

1996 — After a second place in the Daytona 24 Hours, Ferrari was somewhat more sanguine about the presence of a 333SP at Le Mans. It had been 31 summers since a Ferrari had won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but the World Sports Car concept seemed to be taking root, and the fans loved the howling 333SP. They didn’t seem to care, if they knew at all, that the 333SP was a Ferrari V12 in a Dallara chassis. The fans cheered for Ferrari without reservation, and that was good enough. Eric van de Poele’s top times in the Scandia 333SP during April pre-qualifying didn’t hurt the mood in Modena either. Team Scandia boss Andy Evans even hired design and engineering wizard Tony Southgate to create a new "Le Mans" aerodynamic package for the 333SP. As usual Southgate delivered.

The new American-designed and built Riley & Scott R&S Mk III Olds was making its Le Mans debut after winning Daytona and Sebring. Wayne Taylor was hopeful about winning "the Triple" – Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans. He, Scott Sharp and Jim Pace qualified a fine ninth despite loose talk that the Mk III was a bit of a brick, aerodynamically.

Mario Andretti fancied his Le Mans chances again and knew that the climb would be steeper in ’96. He returned to join chez Courage. Andretti had come excruciatingly close the year before with Bob Wollek and Eric Helary. If anything, Andretti’s partners were even stronger this year. He was in with proven and tenured Le Mans winners, Jan Lammers and Derek Warwick, aboard the No. 4 Courage-Porsche.

Porsche was at least as well represented. Reinhold Joest entered a pair of Tom Walkinshaw’s Ross Brawn-penned WSC95 (nee XJR-14) roadsters that were built originally for the 1995 Rolex 24 only to be withdrawn when IMSA announced a last-minute rules change that effectively strangled the new TWR-Porsche WSC prototype. But it found a happy if belated home on the pole at Le Mans.

Porsche’s biggest Le Mans news was the 911-flavored groundbreaking GT1, another loophole monster of sorts, with dominant 962 engineering DNA. The A.C.O. graciously approved the 911GT1, despite the tardy release of the road-going version of this genuine supercar. The new GT1 looked grand and futuristic on the all-Porsche front row next to Pierluigi Martini’s TWR-Joest Porsche WSC95.

The new Porsches had a solid tactical advantage beyond the potential comfort of an enclosed cockpit. The GT1 could run a lap farther than the Joest WSC roadsters that were able to stay on the course a lap longer than the best Ferraris and Courages; that was better by at least one more lap than the new Olds Aurora powered R&S Mk III.

The gods of PR smiled on the new Porsche GT coupe during the opening laps. It led away, getting the full attention of television and, as the broadcast eased into a commercial break, the Joest No. 7 of Davy Jones went into the lead. The American double-stinted and held the point even when swapping with co-driver Alexander Wurz. Bob Wollek, Thierry Boutsen and Hans Stuck kept the works 911GT1 near the front all evening, never more than a lap down to the Porsche-powered No. 7 Joest WSC roadster.

Andy Evans was seduced by Mulsanne and put his Scandia 333SP deep into the gravel. He escaped after two laps of hard digging only to run the No. 18 Ferrari out of gas trying to push the fuel window one lap too far. The Ferrari was the first retirement of the race.

No matter. Only Porsche-powered cars mattered at the Sarthe in ’96. The glorious McLaren F1s lacked the speed and reliability of the new Porsches. Without the rains of '95 to mute and conceal the tenderness of McLaren’s gearboxes, not even the brilliantly driven JJ Lehto/Raymond Bellm/James Weaver McLaren could run with the Porsches. By noon Sunday, the No. 33 McLaren, running well in third place, required a new gearbox. From there it got worse through the McLaren ranks. Andy Wallace said his Harrods McLaren was "undriveable"

None were on the pace of the Porsche GT1, which followed the Joest spyder respectfully until Saturday evening when it tangled with Philippe Alliot’s Courage and squandered 10 minutes getting well. Hans Stuck unraveled an amazing double-stint and brought the GT1 into second, within two laps of the leading Joest WSC Porsche by half distance.

Joest was having one of those perfect nights that seem happy to attend his careful operation. The only unplanned moments came in the sixth hour when a small contrail of smoke was spotted, but it cleared up before dark when a piece of loose bodywork required brief attention. Any problems aimed at chez Joest were reserved for the No. 8 Michele Alboreto/Martini/Didier Theys TWR-spyder. Loose bodywork distracted that effort, but they still spent the night cruising in fourth – sometimes third – overall. On Sunday morning, human error struck when Martini missed his braking point and ended up in the sand.

The last Scandia 333SP was gone before breakfast. Eric van de Poele was flying in the final hours of darkness and set the fastest race lap on his way up to fifth place. A sickly transmission nearly stranded van de Poele, who spun exiting the pits on cold tires. That was the end of the 333SPs.

With six hours to go the leading Joest car required some serious brake service and, for the first time since Saturday, lost the lead. Wollek, Stuck and Boutsen were the stars of the morning. They had kept the GT1 Porsche close to the Joest roadster hoping for this moment. When Joest’s longest (three whole minutes) pit stop came, the GT1 was positioned to profit. But only until its next scheduled pit stop when it went back to its natural place in the wake of the Joest roadster.

Andretti was again cast in the role of gallant knight, hustling his Courage along after co-driver Lammers was stranded at the entrance to the pits with a dead ECU unit early in the day. But the all-star Courage team was able to fight back after an hour’s delay. There was more; another ECU box failed, then two wheels nearly came off the No. 4 Courage at speed. Finally, a frustrated Andretti stepped across the invisible line at Indianapolis, bounced across the gravel and went to the pits for a long stay.

Wollek was again second; close enough to stand on the podium and drink the champagne but the perfection of a long overdue win on his 25th anniversary start at Le Mans was not to be. Reinhold Joest was simply too tough, even for the brilliant Norbert Singer who brought his men within a lap of victory for the new GT1 Porsche.

Joest’s squad of perfectionists had driven, worked and plotted a near-perfect race. They even came in four minutes under the mythic "55 minute pit maximum" window. Since the fuel consumption and safety rules of the early Seventies changed endurance racing, the best teams carefully cataloged their pit time. Most teams had a dedicated crewmember to catalog all stops, work performed and total time in the pits: the goal was to beat a total of 55 minutes. Spend more time than that in the pits a win was out of the question. The pit log is a pivotal tool that may well be the best use of the venerable hand held stopwatch. In '52 the Le Mans winning C-Type Jaguar spent just 10min in the pits over the entire 24 hours. In '96 Joest’s winner spent 51 minutes – three minutes better than the next most efficient team – in the pits. It was an instructive display of race management.

The WSC Porsche from Valpariso, Ind., had won on its maiden voyage albeit a year and a half later than expected. The No. 8 Joest-TWR-Porsche sister ship retired in the final hour, stranded with a broken driveshaft. It was a most painful mechanical retirement. Many recalled Jesus Pareja’s heartbreaking '90 DNF at 3:45 p.m.

Davy Jones and Alexander Wurz won their first 24 Hours with proven Mercedes-Benz hand Manuel Reuter, now a two-time winner in just seven attempts. The GT1s were a stunning second and third from a trio of surviving McLaren F1s. Ralf Kelleners, Guy Martignelli and Bruno Eichmann won a complete and symmetrical GT2 class victory for Fabian Roock from the class pole.

Honda’s sophomore appearance with the new NSX netted third place in the GT2 class. Hughes de Chaunac’s Chrysler Viper team debuted 21st overall and a distant 12th in the GT1 class. Hughes knew how to win. He had done it with grace for Mazda in '89 and began the hard work of turning a showroom PR monster into a genuine Le Mans grand touring racecar.

It was the second time Reinhold Joest had trumped the world with a brand new car. In '94 his "Porsche 962 GT" Le Mans winner was from an 11-year-old design. He was moving up. This Le Mans winner had only lain dormant under a tarp in TWR’s Indiana shops for a year.