All that has changed in 1985, as a result of the more restrictive fuel consumption rules. Le Mans, the showcase of the Stuttgart team, saw the works cars absolutely trounced by customer versions and even shown the way, for hours, by the splendid British EMKA-Aston Martin team. It took only a very minor problem on the Richard Lloyd Racing / Canon Porsche 956B driven by Jonathan Palmer and James Weaver to let the Joest Porsche 956 of Klaus Ludwig / Paolo Barilla / “John Winter” get clear away, leading for all but 26 of the 373 laps covered. The Lloyd Porsche was three laps behind, but still beat the record distance established in 1983, and the Rothmans-Porsche of Derek Bell and Hans Stuck was third and seven laps down, narrowly ahead of the Fitzpatrick Racing 956 of David Hobbs / Jo Gartner / Guy Edwards.
It was a race of odd contrasts. Like Mugello, Monza and Silverstone fuel economy was uppermost in the minds of all the drivers and team managers. The first couple of hours can only be described as boring, with the drivers using almost exaggerated caution. Gearchanging was slow and deliberate; fierce acceleration was avoided, and Ickx was in fourth gear, from the chicane, before he reached the pits.
Within four hours all three Rothmans-Porsches had been lapped, and it was quite clear that the factory team is in trouble with fuel economy. Joest, Lloyd, Kremer, even Brun’s less experienced team can achieve higher averages with better economy, as can the Lancias. Porsche’s 3-litre version, used to establish the fastest times in practice, was supposed to race for the first time at Hockenheim in July, but team manager Peter Falk now admits that it is not sufficiently economical. In his presence, it is better not to discuss the Lancia’s 3-litre engines.
