For his second participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 30-year-old Kamui Kobayashi clinched the pole at the wheel of the #7 Toyota. The Japanese driver clocked a historic lap in 3'14.791! With 251.882 km/h, he established the highest average speed of all time.

24H Le Mans

24 Heures du Mans

The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) has revealed the names of two personalities to be honoured at the 92nd 24 Hours of Le Mans (12-16 June 2024).

Kazuki Nakajima, Grand Marshal of the 92nd 24 Hours of Le Mans

Kazuki Nakajima, three-time winner of the 24 Hours of the Mans, will have the privilege of guiding the 62 cars through the formation lap for the fourth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), shortly before 16:00 on 15 June.

Nakajima launched his karting career in 1996 and quickly made a name for himself, joining Toyota&rsquo;s young driver training programme a few years later.&nbsp;After a single-seater career that took him all the way to Formula 1, he joined the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) when it was introduced in 2012. He has competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans ten times, winning three consecutive races in 2018, 2019 and 2020. 
 
Following a successful driving career, Nakajima was appointed Vice-Chairman&nbsp;of Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe in 2021.

Deborah Mayer, Spirit of Le Mans&nbsp;2024

The Spirit of Le Mans Trophy honours the men and women who embody the values of endurance racing: involvement

Fuelled by her love of motorsport and her entrepreneurial skills, Mayer founded the Iron Dames project, which echoes her professional background as one of very few women to succeed in a fiercely competitive environment. Drawing on her own experience, Mayer is personally invested in helping passionate and motivated women prove themselves in the world of motorsport. 
&nbsp; 
As President of the FIA Commission for Women in Motorsport from 2022 to 2023, she spearheaded global initiatives that not only raised awareness but also inspired vocations and spurred a new momentum that has significantly advanced gender equality. 
&nbsp; 
Mayer&rsquo;s story illustrates the art of team building and leadership, emphasises the importance of providing optimal conditions for growth and performance, and inspires and encourages younger women to pursue their dreams.

Pierre Fillon, President of the Automobile Club de l&rsquo;Ouest:&nbsp;&ldquo;I am extremely honoured to welcome Deborah Mayer and Kazuki Nakajima. I would like to express my sincere thanks to these two people who have contributed so much to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and to motorsport. Together they exemplify perseverance, achievement and a passion for endurance. Kazuki Nakajima stands out as one of the rare drivers to have claimed three consecutive victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Meanwhile, Deborah Mayer has been at the forefront of a unique project with Iron Dames, sparking inspiration across the paddock and achieving remarkable success, culminating in Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting&#39;s FIA World Endurance Championship win at the 8 Hours of Bahrain at the end of 2023.&rdquo;

Kazuki Nakajima and Deborah Mayer honoured for their achievements

Porsche and Ferrari are two of the all-time greats in the history of the automobile, well beyond the framework of racing. Both carmakers have earned phenomenal legacies at the world's top circuits, regardless of political climate or weather conditions, with hundreds of thousands of spectators in attendance or none at all. They have won the hearts of fans as well as every trophy imaginable.

<h2>Porsche Catches&nbsp;Up</h2>

Ford was in the middle&nbsp;of a four-time winning streak&nbsp;at the 1968 24 Hours&nbsp;thanks to&nbsp;John Wyer Automotive Engineering&#39;s (JWA)&nbsp;GT40s in Gulf Oil liveries.&nbsp;Porsche, a regular&nbsp;at Le&nbsp;Mans&nbsp;in the lower&nbsp;categories since&nbsp;1951, had&nbsp;previously fielded&nbsp;a string of prototypes with one&nbsp;goal in mind: to win&nbsp;the legendary race. The&nbsp;presence of the 907s and distinctive 908s filled the grandstands like never before, but&nbsp;the superiority of JWA&#39;s&nbsp;Fords denied the German marque its coveted maiden&nbsp;victory.

<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/ferrari-vs-jaguar-when-titans-square-up-58405" target="_blank">Ferrari</a>&nbsp;scored its first win at&nbsp;the 24 Hours in&nbsp;1949 followed by&nbsp;eight more. After the Italian marque&#39;s clear&nbsp;domination during&nbsp;the first half of the&nbsp;1960s, Ford arrived to give Ferrari&nbsp;a run for its money and it worked: only older 250 LMs represented the Italians&nbsp;in 1968.

A serious contender stepped up&nbsp;the following year. Porsche had&nbsp;developed a veritable U.F.O.&nbsp;capable of stunning&nbsp;speeds and jaw-dropping lap&nbsp;times. <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/why-is-the-porsche-917-such-a-motorsport-icon-58241" target="_blank">The&nbsp;917 came to play</a>, but&nbsp;Ferrari returned with the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/24-hours-of-le-mans-the-unflinching-ferrari-312-pb-prototype-56986" target="_blank">new 312P&nbsp;prototype</a>.&nbsp;JWA&#39;s&nbsp;Fords were in the running again, and&nbsp;Matra (after abandoning its&nbsp;Formula 1 programme) had been&nbsp;delivering&nbsp;encouraging results. It was the dawn of a new golden age in the history of the 24 Hours, one of countless&nbsp;clashes between top competitors.&nbsp;

<h2>No Respite</h2>

The 1969 race&nbsp;kicked off with a bang.&nbsp;Jacky Ickx calmly walked to his #6 Ford GT40 while the other drivers rushed to the far&nbsp;side of the track and jumped in their cars,&nbsp;some even without attaching their safety harnass. As a sign of protest against the dangerous&nbsp;Le Mans-style&nbsp;start, Ickx took off dead last. Unfortunately, fate proved him&nbsp;right.

In the first lap, John Woolfe was killed in his&nbsp;private&nbsp;917. His fuel&nbsp;tank, detached&nbsp;and on fire, was quickly run over by Chris Amon&#39;s Ferrari 312P which&nbsp;in turn began to go up in flames.&nbsp;

The Porsche 917s also struggled, breaking down as the race went on until the last model was forced to retire on Sunday morning. Meanwhile, the second&nbsp;leading Ferrari had long since withdrawn with&nbsp;a problematic gearbox.

Porsche was&nbsp;counting on the 908 LH shared by&nbsp;G&eacute;rard Larrousse/<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/the-spell-binding-story-of-hans-herrmann-58510" target="_blank">Hans Herrmann</a>&nbsp;to duel&nbsp;the&nbsp;Ford GT40 of&nbsp;Jackie Ickx/Jackie Oliver for the win. In the end, the American car triumphed&nbsp;by only 120 metres. No&nbsp;917 or&nbsp;312P made it to the chequered flag, but it did not go unnoticed by&nbsp;Ferrari that the&nbsp;Porsche was vastly superior,&nbsp;even occuping the lead for quite some&nbsp;time. Matra too made an excellent&nbsp;impression.

Heading into the 1970 24 Hours, Porsche called upon John Wyer to run its official Gulf&nbsp;917s. Others were entered by private teams supported by the factory. The two different body styles of the cars dazzled spectators: one was short, rendering the&nbsp;prototype more manageable and&nbsp;stable, the other was longer,&nbsp;slimmer and faster in the Mulsanne Straight. The displacement of the flat-12 engine was&nbsp;increased&nbsp;up to 4.9 litres for some 917s compared to 4.5 litres for others. Porsche&#39;s pitbull&nbsp;was&nbsp;ready to be unleashed.

At the same time, Ferrari was pulling out all the stops. The sale of 50% of the company to Fiat in June 1969 made it possible to build 25 new prototypes, as Porsche had done for the 917. The 512 S, equipped with a 5-litre&nbsp;V12, set its sights on securing another long-awaited win at&nbsp;Le Mans. The Italian marque also put its trust in top notch private teams. Veteran drivers flocked to both camps, such as&nbsp;Ickx, Jo Siffert, Clay Regazzoni, Helmut Marko and&nbsp;Ronnie Peterson to name a few.

<h2>Ferrari Gets Knocked Out</h2>

Rarely had&nbsp;a worse start been seen at the 24 Hours&nbsp;for a single manufacturer. Immediately after the release of the field,&nbsp;this time without the Le Mans-style start, Ferrari suffered a parade of&nbsp;setbacks.&nbsp;Only seven laps in, the #6&nbsp;512 S driven by&nbsp;Nino Vaccarella broke down. Rain&nbsp;hit the circuit&nbsp;around&nbsp;17:30, causing&nbsp;Wisell in the #14&nbsp;512 entered by&nbsp;Scuderia Filipinetti to slow at&nbsp;Maison Blanche. He was then hit by Regazzoni in the official #8&nbsp;Ferrari just before&nbsp;Mike Parkes in&nbsp;the #15&nbsp;512 plowed directly into the pileup. Derek Bell&#39;s #7 Ferrari remained in the fight as he&nbsp;passed&nbsp;spectators on the pit straight, but just half a lap later, his car was forced to retire in the Mulsanne Straight. In the blink of an eye, Ferrari&#39;s chances of victory had been all but dashed.

Porsche had its own troubles. Two&nbsp;917s withdrew from the race before the sun even went down. But the car&#39;s speed advantage proved&nbsp;very real, and nighttime at the 24 Hours is&nbsp;essentially&nbsp;an elimination race. Favourite contenders&nbsp;dropped like flies, but one man rose&nbsp;above, as he has been known to do. Ickx, at the wheel of the #5 factory&nbsp;Ferrari, gained time in the rain, preferred weather for him, wowing the crowd. But, after midnight, his&nbsp;efforts went up in smoke as&nbsp;a&nbsp;broken rear brake caused him to fly into a mound of sand at the Ford chicane. His was the last works&nbsp;512 S still in the running. The flames emanating from the Ferrari were extinguished along with the marque&#39;s hope&nbsp;for a triumph.

The end of the race went slightly smoother. With two well-placed&nbsp;917s, Porsche was on its way to winning. The top step on the podium was claimed by the&nbsp;Austrian team led by Louise Pi&euml;ch, Ferry Porsche&rsquo;s sister.&nbsp;Herrmann/Attwood had won a truly surreal running of the 24 Hours, with only eight cars making it to the finish and 35 forced to retire. The German carmaker had finally conquered&nbsp;Le&nbsp;Mans.

<h2>An Important&nbsp;&quot;M&quot;</h2>

Ferrari was left shell-shocked. Le Mans had brought the&nbsp;outstanding&nbsp;512 S to its knees. Two private models, fielded by North American Racing Team (NART) and &Eacute;curie Francorchamps, finished fourth and fifth, respectively. But nine others were forced to withdraw, including the four official cars. All that remained was&nbsp;to go to work on a new version for 1971, the last year during which 5.0-litre&nbsp;behemoths would be&nbsp;authorised to take the start.

The authorities had&nbsp;sounded the death knell. In fact, both Porsche and Ferrari were entering two of the most extreme cars ever seen at the 24 Hours&nbsp;for one last hurrah. The German&nbsp;marque opted to&nbsp;keep the base of its&nbsp;917. The long&nbsp;version was reworked to handle almost as well as&nbsp;the short version without losing its main advantage: top speed. The car was clocked at&nbsp;more than&nbsp;380 kph in the Mulsanne Straight. A&nbsp;917 LH even secured the new track record during qualifying: <a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/going-all-out-the-insane-pursuit-of-the-track-record-at-le-mans-58456" target="_blank">03:13.9, one of the rare lap times below 03:15 achieved in a century of the 24 Hours</a>.

The ball was then in Ferrari&#39;s court. Staring down&nbsp;seven&nbsp;917s, including the iconic &quot;pink pig,&quot; the Italian constructor decided to go with&nbsp;nine entrants. In&nbsp;Maranello, they chose&nbsp;to do things a little differently. The base of&nbsp;the 512 S was retained to create a significantly improved&nbsp;Spyder version.&nbsp;The new car was&nbsp;wider, lighter,&nbsp;with a more refined body and slightly retooled&nbsp;engine, resulting in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/24-hours-of-le-mans-a-missed-opportunity-for-the-ferrari-512-m-56969" target="_blank">512 M, for&nbsp;Modificata</a>. The Scuderia Filipinetti team ran a&nbsp;512 F, a sort of&nbsp;modification&nbsp;of the modified version.

In a noteworthy twist, Ferrari did not officially take part in the 1971 24 Hours, preferring to begin work on its next prototype in compliance with 1972 regulations. Fortunately for Ferrari, there was&nbsp;no shortage of Scuderia customer teams.

<h2>The End of an Era</h2>

Once again, multiple impactful retirements were caused by the elevated pace set by the field. Ferrari clearly suffered the most, but&nbsp;Porsche had its own troubles. The&nbsp;512 Ms and other versions were never a real threat to the&nbsp;917s. By mid-race, Escuderia Montju&iuml;ch&#39;s&nbsp;#15&nbsp;512 M held the lead for an hour before its gearbox failed.

Start of the 1971 Le Mans 24 Hours

Départ des 24 Heures du Mans 1971

John Wyer&#39;s outfit, representing&nbsp;Porsche, dominated the start. but significant damage caused a delay&nbsp;at dusk. Both sides were forced into&nbsp;extensive repairs, but when Martini Racing&#39;s&nbsp;#22 Porsche 917 K snatched P1 in the 13th hour, it never let go.

The car driven by&nbsp;Gijs van Lennep/Helmut Marko&nbsp;won in 1971&nbsp;after covering&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/will-anyone-ever-reach-400-laps-at-the-24-hours-of-le-mans-58558" target="_blank">5,335 km, a record not beaten until&nbsp;2010</a>. JWA&#39;s #19&nbsp;917 K finished second and the first&nbsp;512 M, sporting the #12 and prepared by&nbsp;NART, rounded out the&nbsp;podium trailing by a whopping 31 laps. The list of retirements included five&nbsp;917s and seven&nbsp;512s.

The impact of this period on the legacy&nbsp;of the 24 Hours cannot be overstated. In just three years of competition&nbsp;before the introduction of new regulations, the 917 had made it into the race&#39;s hall of fame. Having&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fiawec.com/fr/team/6293" target="_blank">Ferrari</a>&nbsp;breathing down its neck made all the difference. After the Italian marque&#39;s&nbsp;revenge at last year&#39;s&nbsp;Centenary, the 499P and the 963 will face off again this 15-16&nbsp;June. Just like at the dawn of the 1970s, history is being written before our very eyes.

Clash of the titans: Porsche vs. Ferrari

Porsche will once again race for a good cause during the 92nd 24 Hours of Le Mans (12-16 June). For every lap completed by its Hypercars, the German marque will donate €750 to charities benefitting sick children and their families.

Like last year, each lap completed by&nbsp;the three&nbsp;Porsche 963 Hypercars fielded by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/porsche-looking-to-score-20th-win-at-2024-24-hours-of-le-mans-57973" target="_blank">Porsche Penske Motorsport</a>&nbsp;will earn&nbsp;select&nbsp;charities a donation of&nbsp;&euro;750. The total amount raised will then be disbursed&nbsp;to three charitable assocations&nbsp;supporting gravely&nbsp;ill children and their families.

The three&nbsp;worthy organisations&nbsp;are&nbsp;Kinderherzen retten e.V., Interplast Germany e.V. and the&nbsp;Ferry Porsche Foundation. In 2023, at&nbsp;the 24 Hours&nbsp;Centenary, the trio of&nbsp;Porsche 963s covered a total of 733 laps for a donation of&nbsp;&euro;549,750, which&nbsp;Porsche then increased to&nbsp;&euro;911,000.&nbsp;The&nbsp;initiative earned&nbsp;Porsche the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/a-look-back-at-the-centenary-porsche-wins-sustainable-endurance-award-by-dhl-58162">2023 Sustainable Endurance Award by DHL</a>.

Kinderherzen retten e.V. was able to offer heart operations to nine children from El Salvador, Syria, Albania and Afghanistan at the University Medical Center Freiburg in Germany. Interplast Allemagne e.V. used the donation to fund&nbsp;medical missions in Tanzania and Mozambique, among others, and the Ferry Porsche Foundation has continued to provide support to&nbsp;seriously ill children and their families.

At this year&#39;s 24 Hours, the #4, #5 and #6 Porsche 963s will once again sport &quot;Racing for Charity&quot; stickers on their liveries. The German carmaker&nbsp;is currently leading the FIA World Endurance Hypercar Manufacturers Championship ahead of Toyota and Ferrari.

Porsche continues “Racing for Charity” initiative

The private British team pulled off a surprise result in the third round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship today. In LMGT3, Iron Lynx's #60 Lamborghini chased down win in the final 20 minutes of the race.

There were plenty of surprise twists today at the 2024 TotalEnergies 6 Hours of&nbsp;Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium with&nbsp;88,180 spectators watching on in ideal Spring weather.

Proton Competition&#39;s #99 Porsche 963 Hypercar driven by&nbsp;Neel Jani and Julien Andlauer dominated the first three hours of the race until Ferrari AF Corse&#39;s #51&nbsp;499P snatched the lead. Pole-sitter Porsche Penske Motorsport&#39;s #5&nbsp;963 was forced to retire after butting the wall at the Bus Stop chicane.&nbsp;

With two hours remaining, Earl Bamber, fourth overall in the #2&nbsp;Cadillac duelling with the #99&nbsp;Porsche, made contact with Team WRT&#39;s #31&nbsp;BMW in the Kemmel straight.&nbsp;The shocking&nbsp;off-track exit&nbsp;forced&nbsp;race control to neutralise the race for repairs to the&nbsp;safety rail. The race was then resumed&nbsp;for the&nbsp;duration equivalent to the neutralisation, i.e. 1 hour 44 minutes.

Hertz Team JOTA&#39;s #12&nbsp;Porsche 963, unlike the #51&nbsp;Ferrari, opted to refuel&nbsp;prior to&nbsp;the&nbsp;neutralisation and reclaimed the race lead. Callum Ilott and&nbsp;Will Stevens finished ahead of Porsche Penske Motorsport&#39;&#39;s #6&nbsp;Porsche 963 and Ferrari AF Corse&#39;s #50 Ferrari 499P. Hertz Team JOTA&#39;s win is the first for a private team in the&nbsp;Hypercar era.

<h4>Provisional Hypercar&nbsp;top 5&nbsp;</h4>

1. #12 Porsche 963&nbsp;&ndash; Hertz Team JOTA &ndash; 141 laps 
2. #6 Porsche 963&nbsp;&ndash; Porsche Penske Motorsport 
3. #50 Ferrari 499P&nbsp;&ndash; Ferrari AF Corse 
4. #51 Ferrari 499P&nbsp;&ndash; Ferrari AF Corse 
5. #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid&nbsp;&ndash; TOYOTA GAZOO&nbsp;Racing

In LMGT3, though the Iron Dames team&#39;s #85&nbsp;Lamborghini Hurac&aacute;n LMGT3 Evo2 had clinched pole position, Manthey EMA&#39;s #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 led the field up until the race&nbsp;neutralisation. Once again&nbsp;underway, Michelle Gatting brought the #85&nbsp;Lamborghini back to the helm, but the Italian team lost all hopes of winning due to an error&nbsp;during&nbsp;refuelling.&nbsp;Iron Lynx was headed for the win&nbsp;with the #60 Lamborghini, but a final pit stop on the penultimate lap allowed the Manthey EMA&#39;s #91 Porsche&nbsp;to take the lead ahead of Manthey PureRxcing&#39;s #92 Porsche and the #60&nbsp;Lamborghini as well.

<h4>Provisional LMGT3 top 5</h4>

1. #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3&nbsp;&ndash; Manthey EMA &ndash; 130 laps 
2. #92 Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3&nbsp;&ndash; Manthey PureRxcing 
3. #60 Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2&nbsp;&ndash; Iron Lynx 
4. #85 Lamborghini Hurac&aacute;n LMGT3 Evo2&nbsp;&ndash; Iron Dames 
5. #59 McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo&nbsp;&ndash; United Autosports

The next round of the 2024 FIA WEC season is the&nbsp;92nd&nbsp;24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans (12-16 June). After three different winners in as many races so far, it&#39;s anyone&#39;s game!

Extended Highlights I 2024 TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa I FIA WEC

FIA WEC I Les meilleurs moments des TotalEnergies 6 Heures de Spa

FIA WEC – Hertz Team JOTA delivers upset at TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps

24 Heures du Mans 2017

Kamui Kobayashi (#7 Toyota): &quot;Mike Conway told me the car was perfect, so I set off fully confident and was never bothered by traffic. I had&nbsp;100% confidence in the car&nbsp;and when you&#39;re in that frame of mind, you can do great things. It was an incredible lap, the car was amazing, and we went after it without any trouble whatsoever with traffic. It surpassed all our hopes. It&#39;s rare to be able to say this, but it was a perfect lap. It&#39;s cool to be the fastest in the history of the 24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans! I didn&#39;t think I&#39;d run in 3&rsquo;14, more like 3&rsquo;16 or&nbsp;3&rsquo;15. When I saw the time as I crossed the line, I said to myself, wow! But it&#39;s a 24-hour race, so nothing is a done deal. It&#39;s just great to start out this way.&quot;

PHOTO: Kamui Kobayashi, driver of the #7&nbsp;Toyota.

24H LE MANS

24 Hours of Le Mans – Kamui Kobayashi (Toyota) reacts to scoring pole position

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