{"id":1339185,"date":"2023-04-28T13:57:49","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T12:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/?post_type=issue_content&p=1339185"},"modified":"2023-05-02T17:13:16","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T16:13:16","slug":"top-le-mans-moments-60-51-alonso-wins-after-quadruple-sprint-newman-shines","status":"publish","type":"issue_content","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/june-2023\/95\/top-le-mans-moments-60-51-alonso-wins-after-quadruple-sprint-newman-shines\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Le Mans moments 60-51: Alonso wins after quadruple sprint & Newman shines"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

60 –<\/span> 2018 Alonso\u2019s star quintuple stint<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Footage of the safety car restarts proved how much Fernando Alonso<\/a> wanted a Le Mans victory on his CV. He was nigh on four wheels off on the high-speed run from Mulsanne Corner to Indianapolis on at least one occasion.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard, in what was presumed to be the twilight of his career, had set out to secure his legacy by completing the unofficial Triple Crown of motor sport with the addition of Indy 500 and Le Mans victories to his Monaco Grand Prix double in 2006-07. He\u2019d been in the mix to drive for Porsche in 2015 in the berth that went to Nico H\u00fclkenberg<\/a>, only for McLaren engine supplier Honda to veto the plan. But after making his Indy debut in 2017, he got a chance to race at Le Mans for the first time as part of Toyota\u2019s assault on the 2018-19 World Endurance Championship super-season.<\/p>\n

Alonso took the opportunity with both hands. He was aboard the Toyota TS050 Hybrid shared with S\u00e9bastien Buemi<\/a> and Kazuki Nakajima<\/a> during the defining period of the race in the small hours on Sunday morning. A quadruple stint turned into a quintuple and victory was all but secured.<\/p>\n

\n \"Fernano\n
\n

No one-trick pony: Fernando Alonso celebrates the first of his two Le Mans wins in 2018<\/p>\n

\n Getty Images\n <\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

\n

59 –<\/span> 1999 Toyota tyre blowout confirms BMW\u2019s win<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This year is remembered for the hat-trick of harrowing Mercedes flips (see #12), but it was another German manufacturer that sealed victory at only its second top-class attempt. Utilising superior fuel economy, BMW\u2019s Williams F1 team-developed V12 LMR inherited the win after the sister car crashed out and the faster Toyota GT-Ones hit trouble (including a punted shunt for Thierry Boutsen<\/a> that ended his career). The result made Yannick Dalmas<\/a> a four-time winner. BMW hasn\u2019t challenged for the overall win since, but an LMDh attack in 2024 might change that.<\/p>\n

\"BMW<\/p>\n

\n

58 –<\/span> 1972 Major track change enhances the challenge<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Plans for a permanent Mulsanne Straight never reached fruition, but the shape of the Circuit de la Sarthe still changed forever \u2013 and we\u2019d say for the better. A sweeping section of permanent track replaced the difficult and dangerous Maison Blanche, with a second chicane added to Virage Ford to accommodate a new pitlane entry. The work was financed by Porsche \u2013 hence the birth of the glorious Porsche Curves.<\/p>\n

\"Birds<\/p>\n

\n

57 –<\/span> 1996 Joest makes a Porsche out of a Jaguar<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Porsche WSC95 started life as a 1991 Jaguar XJR-14, converted in 1994 by TWR on Porsche\u2019s instruction into an IMSA-eligible, Porsche-powered open racer. But when IMSA tweaked the rules to slow the car before Daytona, Porsche pulled the plug. Joest rented the car for Le Mans in 1996 and promptly won. Part of the deal was that Reinhold Joest<\/a> could keep the car if it did, so he entered it again in 1997 \u2013 and won again, to beat the factory twice in succession.<\/p>\n

\"Joest<\/p>\n

\n

56 –<\/span> 1984 Jaguar returns to Le Mans<\/strong><\/h2>\n

About time. Jaguar returned to its spiritual sporting home 27 years after its last victory, but it would not be a happy reunion. The US-based Group 44 team brought its XJR-5s to La Sarthe, but the regular IMSA race winner struggled to stretch its legs at Le Mans \u2013 both entries failed to finish. It was a sobering return. But amid XJ-S glory in the European Touring Car Championship, a new partnership with TWR was soon brewing that would result in the potent XJR-6. Tom Walkinshaw<\/a> was nearly ready to pounce.<\/p>\n

\"Jaguar<\/p>\n

\n

55 –<\/span> 1965 Ferrari\u2019s phantom third driver<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ferrari\u2019s last overall win: Masten Gregory,<\/a> young firebrand Jochen Rindt<\/a>, North American Racing Team (NART) and its 250LM. But did American Ed Hugus<\/a> relieve the visually impaired Gregory for a brief stint during the night because the Kansas City Flash was spooked by the dark? The claim from the reserve driver only emerged in the late 1990s, long after the major players had died \u2013 and the evidence is stacked against it. But Ferrari\u2019s phantom third driver remains Le Mans\u2019 most intriguing mystery.<\/p>\n

\"Ferrari<\/p>\n

\n

54 –<\/span> 1930 Birkin and Caracciola face off<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The relationship between W.O. Bentley, Woolf Barnato<\/a> and Henry \u2018Tim\u2019 Birkin was complicated. W.O. detested Birkin\u2019s bolting of a Roots blower to his 4.4-litre \u2018four\u2019, while money man Barnato partly funded the build of the required 50 such cars.<\/p>\n

The smallest field in the race\u2019s history packed a hefty punch. Rudi Caracciola\u2019s<\/a> supercharged 7.1-litre Mercedes-Benz was the first German car to take the start \u2013 and it led by 18sec at the end of the first lap. Its driver-operated blower needed to be employed sparingly such was its effect on mpg, and so Bentley was expected to use its numerical superiority \u2013 three naturally aspirated 6.6-litre Speed Six and a couple of \u2018Blowers\u2019 \u2013 to keep the pressure up. Birkin fired its first and most memorable salvo. On lap four, with canvas breaker showing through a rear tread and two wheels on the grass, he passed Caracciola at an estimated 126mph \u2013 and broke the lap record. Though regular tyre failures blighted his progress thereafter, he had set the tone.<\/p>\n

The lone Merc didn\u2019t crumble \u2013 it lasted until its battery died at mid-distance \u2013 but the surviving Speed Six would finish 1-2.<\/p>\n

\n \"Le-Mans-1930---The-Parade\"\n
\n

Barnato and Glen Kidston\u2019s winning Bentley<\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

\n

53 –<\/span> 2006 Audi\u2019s diesel revolution<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Bar talk. That\u2019s all it was at first. Yet five years later Audi brought a diesel engine to Le Mans and broke every old perception about so-called oil-burners. But the whispering 5.5-litre V12 turbodiesel in the back of the R10 TDI that dominated on its Le Mans debut was far from trouble-free. A complex injector problem haunted the team into the race and helped delay one car. Yet the other, driven by Emanuele Pirro<\/a>, Frank Biela<\/a> and Marco Werner<\/a>, finished four laps ahead of the Judd-engined next-best from Pescarolo. Astonishing.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n

52 –<\/span> 1979 Bill Whittington saves Kremer\u2019s day<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In hindsight, Group C couldn\u2019t come soon enough amid fractured rules and manufacturer apathy. In the meantime, two sets of brothers made hay. The Kremers\u2019 heavily-modified K3 version of the 935 dominated once the Group 6 cars hit trouble, US siblings Don and Bill Whittington \u2013 sharing with Klaus Ludwig \u2013 finding themselves at dawn on Sunday with a 12-lap lead. But at 11am Bill stopped on the Mulsanne when a drivebelt jumped off the fuel injector pump. He lost 79 minutes before his Heath Robinson fix using a spare alternator belt got him back to the pits. A further 15 minutes were lost to repairs \u2013 but they got lucky as the rival Barbour 935 hit pit trouble with a stuck wheel. Ludwig won Le Mans twice more, again for a Porsche customer (Joest), while the Whittingtons headed for\u2026 infamy via criminal convictions for money laundering, tax evasion and drug smuggling!<\/p>\n

\"Bill<\/p>\n

\n

51 –<\/span> 1979 Newman shines<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Steve McQueen made the movie, but Paul Newman did it for real. Rolf Stommelen was the ace that delivered Dick Barbour and Newman second place. But Newman hated the frenzy of attention and never came back. Meanwhile, some bloke from Pink Floyd took a Lola T297 to second in class. \u201cThe press didn\u2019t care about some old drummer,\u201d says Nick Mason, happily.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

<< 70-61: from Hypercar era to Brundle’s winning Jaguar<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n

50-41: from Bentley’s begrudging entry to Porsche’s perfect ad<\/a> >><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"author":14862,"featured_media":1339197,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[118724],"tags":[34088,110032,27921,107],"issue_decade":[122153],"issue_year":[130364],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/1339185"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/issue_content"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14862"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1339185"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/1339185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1339920,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_content\/1339185\/revisions\/1339920"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1339197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1339185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1339185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1339185"},{"taxonomy":"issue_decade","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_decade?post=1339185"},{"taxonomy":"issue_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue_year?post=1339185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}