Le Mans grids split

Three hundred and twenty cars from between 1923 and 1979 will celebrate the heritage of Le Mans during the fourth Le Mans Classic on July 11-13.

The field is split into six age-based groups which will race three times in the course of 24 hours – including at night – on the full La Sarthe circuit, starting at 4pm on Saturday.

Simon Diffey tops the pre-war grid in a Talbot 105 and will go up against the similar car shared by Gareth Burnett, Patrick Blakeney-Edwards and Julian Bronson.

Jaguar, Maserati and Ferrari will contest the first post-war grid, with four D-types including the car to be shared by Michael Schryver, Simon Hadfield and Irvine Laidlaw.

The 1959 Le Mans-winning Aston Martin DBR1 graces grid three for cars of the late 1950s, while grid four includes eight Ford GT40s and a gaggle of Ferrari 250LMs. Ray Bellm and Christian Glasel head the GT40 squadron.

Four Porsche 917s are in grid five for the cars of the late 1960s and early ’70s, with former Le Mans racer John Sheldon also taking part in his Chevron B16.

The final grid, for pre-1980 cars, includes four BMW M1s as well as sports prototypes from Lola, Sauber, Toj, Rondeau, Chevron and Mirage.