With 19 victories thanks to six of its most legendary racing cars, Porsche holds the record for most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Porsche currently officially participates in the24 Hours of LeMans and FIA WEC in LMGTE Pro, and is hoping to make its mark on the race again in the newHypercar class.
With 19 overall and 108 class wins,Porsche's success at the 24 Hours of LeMans is unmatched. In honour of the marque's return to the race at the highest level, here is a look back at six of its most iconic racing cars.
Porsche 917 K, the "racing car of the century"
Fifty years ago on14 June 1970, Porsche secured its first overall win at the24 Hours thanks to the917 K and driversHans Herrmann andRichard Attwood. Nineteen years after its very firstparticipation, the Germanconstructor had finally reached its ultimate goal with the help of one of the most sensational machines to triumph at Le Mans.
Hans Hermann:"In 1969, we came so close to winning, but instead finished second behind theFord GT40 ofJacky Ickx andJackie Oliver. That's why we did everything we could to win the following year. The917 was fast and reliable which is what we needed to win. The team had a very close-knit feel to it. Ferry Porsche (Porsche's founder, Ed.) actedlike a father to me basically every day. I decided to end my career after1970, so you can imagine what that win meant to me."In 1971, Porsche clinched its second victory with the 917 K that was fielded by thePorsche Salzburg team and entrusted to Helmut Marko andGijs van Lennep.
Dubbed the "racing car of the century," for many fans thePorsche 917 K remains theultimate competition car despite a relatively short career on the track.
La Porsche 917 K victorieuse des 24 Heures du Mans 1970 avec Hans Herrmann et Richard Attwood
Porsche 936, victory in 1977 lackingacylinder
In 1976, thanks to Jacky Ickx and Gijs van Lennep (winner in 1971 with the917 K), thePorsche 936 becamethe first turbocharged prototype to win the24 Hours. The design of the 936 drew from several legendaryPorsches, includingthe917 and the911, and was powered by a flat-six turbo engine taken from the1974 Carrera RSR Turbo. At LeMans, the car experienced incredible highs and lows: the winfor its very first participation in 1976, the win in slow motion after losing a cylinder in 1977, the domination ofRenault-Alpine in 1978, the failure in 1979 due to lack of preparation and a third victory for its final appearance in 1981. These extreme ups and downs give the 936 a very special place in the history of the24 Hours of LeMans.
Porsche 962 C, reignin the 1980s
ThePorsche 962 Cfirst enteredintocompetition in the 1984IMSA Championship in the U.S. For its first start in the24 Hours the following year, the car scored thepole thanks to Hans-Joachim Stuck before finishing third overall, and in 1986 and 1987, the 962 C shared by Derek Bell, Al Holbert and Stuck reached the top step on the overall podium. The car had beengiven a livery in the colours of a British cigarette maker, catching the eye of anyone and everyone, so much so that in2018, in honour of its70thanniversary,Porsche paintedone of its four 911 RSRs in LMGTE Pro blue, white, red and gold. Four-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell:"The936 was the most stunning car and it will never be forgotten. It had an incredible ground effect. Theturbo engine needed a great deal of cooling. When we would let up on the acceleratoror went below 300 kph, flames would shoot out of theexhausts and it made for some extraordinary images. We had a 3.2-liter engine that developed almost 800 hpin qualifying."
Six Porsche gagnantes au classement général des 24 Heures du Mans.
Porsche 911 GT1-98, half a century celebrated with dignity
Ferry Porsche described the 911 as follows:"The911 is the only car with which one can go on Africansafari, run the24 Hours of Le Mans, head to the theatre or drive the streets of New York." The car – first seen at the race in 1966 – is and always will be a star.
In 1998, Porsche fielded two911 GT1s fundamentallytransformed from those entered two years earlier. To take onToyota, BMW, Mercedes andNissan, the911 GT1-98 was built around a carbon chassis, a design elementthe German marque was using for the first time. The race was merciless to Mercedes andBMW who were forced to retire after two and six hours, respectively. The66th edition then turned intoa German-Japanese duelbetween thePorsche 911 GT1-98 and theToyota GT-One. After agearbox failure forone of the Japanese cars, the #26911 GT1-98 driven byLaurent Aiello, Stéphane Ortelli andAllan McNish won the race ahead of the#25 sister car shared byWollek/Müller/Alzen. Porsche was able to celebrate its 50th anniversary by winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the17th time.
Porsche 919 Hybrid, the most technologically evolved of all
ThePorsche 919 Hybrid is the most complex racing car ever designed by the German constructor. Though it has beenmodified in some ways over three seasons of racing, the technical solutions developed by Porsche's engineers have remained the same. A turbocharged gasoline engine at the rear and an electric motor generator at the front were combined with two energy recovery systems to rechargethe batteries via exhaust gases and kinetic energy from braking.
The 919 Hybrid's firstparticipation ended with a retirement only an hour and a half from the end of the race. But in2015, 2016 and2017, the Porsche team not only won the 24 Hours,but also earned the Driver and Manufacturer titles in the FIA World Endurance Championship. A hat trick was added to Porsche's already outstanding track record at LeMans.
La Porsche 919 Hybrid victorieuse des 24 Heures du Mans 2017.
Don't miss the follow-up to this story,Key players in Porsche's success at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, tomorrow!
PHOTO (Copyright - Rémi Dargegen/Porsche)
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