The 11the edition of the Le Mans Classic is in the books and quite an entry it is. The 4-day spectacle saw more than 235,000 spectators while some 900 drivers piloted 800 race cars around the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe.
Of course, the magnitude of the event can be credited the Centenary Le Mans celebration which began in early June and culminated at this biennial extravaganza put on by Peter Auto and the ACO.
Look for more in the next issue of Vintage Motorsport.
Detailed results for the weekend:
Grid 1
The first heat was dominated by Gareth Burnett and Michael Birch in their Talbot AV105 1937 #2. The two drivers never let a win go to the opposition, taking first place in all three races. A unique performance for this edition of Le Mans Classic. Each race was won by a gap of more than 20 seconds. In the first race on Saturday, it was Albert Otten’s #54 1939 BMW 328 Roadster that finished in second place, but it was the #15 1934 Talbot AV105 shared by Max Sowerby, Daniel Balfour and Gareth Burnett that regained that position on Sunday night and again in the morning. This last race was animated at the start by a nice battle between this Talbot AV105 1934 #15 and the Aston Martin Speed Model 1939 #40 of Stephen Skipworth and James Dean. A pass through the second chicane at Mulsanne straight was particularly impressive, with crossed paths and drivers very close to each other, but never touching.
Grid 2
Comprising cars that took part in the Le Mans 24 Hours between 1949 and 1956, the second grid saw a great battle between British manufacturers, with Jaguar, Cooper and Aston Martin all taking part. It was a Jaguar that emerged victorious. The #16 1954 D-Type of Niklas and Lukas Halusa was the most consistent, with victory in the first race, a well-controlled second place overnight, and a hard-fought final victory on Sunday. The two Halusa brothers won ahead of the 1955 Cooper T38 #2 of Frederic Wakeman and Patrick Blakeney-Edwards by a margin of 130 milliseconds over the line on Sunday lunchtime. It was an exciting battle between the two cars, with the leadership being exchanged several times. The two cars were never more than ten meters apart, and the drivers even played the slipstream game on the Mulsanne straight. A joint effort to find the limit that allowed them to reach a top speed of over 240 km/h and cover the 13.626 kilometers of the circuit in just over five minutes.
Grid 3
At the Le Mans 24 Hours, the late 50s (which this grid 3 features) saw a rivalry between Ferrari and Jaguar. As a tribute to history, this duel returned to the track. Andy Wallace used all his driving skills to win the first two races. Wallace, who has taken part in 21 races – including a win on his debut in 1988 in a Jaguar XJR-9 LM – was almost faultless in the #49 1957 Jaguar D-Type. He was defeated by several Ferrari 250 GT SWBs and, in particular, the #65 1959 Lister Jaguar Costin in the final race. It was Emanuele Pirro, five-time winner at Le Mans, who faced him and won the final race. The only 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Breadvan, with its remarkable design by Giotto Bizzarrini, was also on show. The car, which was involved in an accident during the 2022 edition, was in the hands of Lukas Halusa and Alexander Ames and continues to attract a great amount of curiosity.
Grid 4
Built for high speeds and engineered to be responsive in all conditions, the Ford GT40 dominated endurance racing at the end of the 1960s, winning four Le Mans races in a row between 1966 and 1969. 14 GT40s were registered for grid 4, with no fewer than 10 models occupying the first five rows. Victory looked set to go to a GT40, and it did in all three races. Diogo Ferrao was the most consistent, winning two heats in the #74 1965 GT40. He only let the first race go to Christian Glasel and Seb Perez, also in a 1965 GT40. It was not just the driving that made the difference between the GT40s. As demonstrated in the final race, the #1, shared by James Farley and Eric Van de Poele, was in the lead and looked set for its first win of the weekend. But the left-hand door opened at high speed and the driver was powerless to close it, forcing him back into the pits. The 1965 GT40 finished 12th.
Grid 5
A distinctive car of the late 60s and early 70s, the Lola T70 won at Daytona and Watkins Glen but never managed to shine in the Le Mans 24 Hours. In grid 5, this model was well represented and was once again the benchmark… with three victories in three races. As in previous editions of Le Mans Classic, where T70s have often been seen at the front of the field, the 1968 Mk.3B #18 of Steve Brooks and the 1969 Mk.3Bs #63 (David and Olivier Hart) and #64 (Oliver Bryant) were among the leading contenders. It was the #63 that stood out the most with two victories, and sufficient gaps to win the overall classification. The domination of the T70s should not overshadow the wide range of entries on Grid 5. The 1965 Ford GT40 #65 of Hans Hugenholtz and Emanuele Pirro finished a fine fourth in the first race, while Mr John of B and Soheil Ayari finished third in the 1971 Ligier JS3 #24. Finally, the #57 1971 Chevron B19 of Nelson and Christian Vaglio-Giors finished sixth in the final race.
Grid 6
As was the case with the Ford GT40s on Grid 4, it was the Lolas that seemed to be unbeatable before the start of this series of races dedicated to cars from the 1972-1981 period. Five Lola types T286, T292 or T298 took the first six places on the starting grid. The first race was a true recital, with Maxime Guenat’s #50 1976 Lola T286 leading a quadruple. But in the early hours of the morning, the order was shaken up: Yves Scemama won in the #17 1976 TOJ SC304, with a comfortable lead built up over the 40 minutes of the race. At the very last start, the pressure was on. Could he keep his momentum going in front of the Lolas? Yes. Yves Scemama, at the wheel of the TOJ in its signature gold livery, was on the verge of another success. But a technical problem forced him to slow down… He then dropped down the rankings, leaving the lead to Maxime Guenat, who had already won on Saturday.
The 12th edition of the Le Mans Classic is set for June 26-30, 2025.