24h Le Mans
When competitors speed past on the track, fans and racing professionals rely on the cars’ race numbers to identify them in an instant. We have taken those numbers and put together 24 snapshots of the 2017 season. This second instalment covers the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the World Endurance Championship, the European Le Mans Series and the Asian Le Mans Series.
24 - In 2017, the most sought-after number at the 24 Hours of Le Mans was sported by the Oreca 07-Gibson driven by Jean-Eric Vergne, Tor Graves and Jonathan Hirschi (CEFC Manor TRS Racing, LMP2).
65 - Denmark’s Christina Nielsen was the only female driver to compete in - and complete - the 85th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This was her second appearance in the French endurance marathon and she drove a Ferrari 488 GTE for American team Scuderia Corsa.
29 - Holder of the record for the most Grand Prix starts (323) in Formula One history, Brazilian Rubens Barrichello made his maiden outing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the wheel of a Dallara P217-Gibson. His teammates were Dutchmen Jan Lammers (winner in La Sarthe in 1988) and Frits van Eerd.
34 - In 2017, the iconic sky blue and orange of oil company Gulf, colours that have taken Le Mans victory three times (1968, 1969 and 1975), were donned by the Ligier JS P217-Gibson fielded by British team Tockwith Motorsports (LMP2), with Nigel Moore, Phil Hanson and Karun Chandhok at the wheel.
43 - Four manufacturers have been approved to build LMP2 class prototypes (Oreca, Onroak Automotive-Ligier, Riley-Multimatic and Dallara), but there was only a single Riley chassis on the grid at the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours. It belonged to American team Keating Motorsports. Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ricky Taylor shared driving duties in the car.
22 - For the second year running, Russian team G-Drive Racing took the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) LMP2 title.
27 - At the 4 Hours of Le Castellet, the fourth round of the 2017 ELMS, Matevos Isaakyan and Egor Orudzhev took the first win for the Dallara P217 chassis and for Russian outfit SMP Racing in the LMP2 class.
66 - British team JMW Motorsport took the 2017 ELMS LMGTE title with this number. However, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it grabbed the LMGTE Am class win with #84, as #66 was attributed to Ford in the World Endurance Championship.
77 - The Porsche 911 RSR took two wins in the LMGTE Am class of the World Endurance Championship for Dempsey-Proton Racing, and one in the LMGTE class of the ELMS for Proton Competition.
2 - American team United Autosports clinched its second consecutive LMP3 title in ELMS, with the Ligier JS P3-Nissan driven by John Falb and Sean Rayhall.
25 - Portuguese team Algarve Pro Racing took the LMP2 drivers (for Italian driver Andrea Roda) and team trophies with its Ligier JS P2 at the end of the 2016-2017 Asian Le Mans Series, its first title since its debut in the class in 2015.
6 - At the wheel of the Oreca 05-Nissan for Jackie Chan DC Racing x Jota, Thomas Laurent, Harrison Newey and Stéphane Richelmi triumphed in the first two races of the 2017-2018 Asian Le Mans Series. There are still two rounds to go - one in Buriram (Thailand, 13 January 2013) and the other in Sepang (Malaysia, 4 February 2018).
For more numbered snapshots from the 2017 endurance season, see
Highlights of 2017 - At the 24 Hours of Le Mans and in endurance, numbers count! (1/2)
Photo: At the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours, Christina Nielsen shared the wheel of the #65 Ferrari 488 GTE with Italian Alessandro Balzan and American Bret Curtis on American team Scuderia Corsa, the team that took the LGTE Am win in La Sarthe in 2016.
