Photo : DOMINIQUE BREUGNOT/ACO

 

When Porsche raced for the first time in the Sarthe in 1951, Ferrari had won two years earlier their first victory at Le Mans with their first entry. But it was not until 1970 that these two manufacturers fought against each other for the win, with two exceptional cars: the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512. After a duel made ​​very difficult by the rainy weather, Porsche finally won their first success with Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood.

Given the impressive number of cumulative Le Mans wins of Porsche and Ferrari (twenty-five victories between them!), Aston Martin has won only once, in 1959. But this success earned them a special place in history after a battle that caused the abandonment of the leading Ferrari of Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill, the Briton Roy Salvadori and American Carroll Shelby won the only edition of the 24 Hours at the time that had escaped the Prancing Horse since 1958, winning then and going undefeated from 1960 to 1965.

At the finish of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2013, Porsche 911, Aston Martin Vantage GTE and Ferrari 458 Italia occupied five of the top six places in the LM GTE Pro class. Before the 6 Hours of Shanghai, the penultimate round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, which will take place on Saturday, November 9, Ferrari, Aston Martin and Porsche are separated by 16.5 points in the constructors classification.

Porsche: sixteen victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1970-71-76-77-79-81-82-83-84-85-86-87-94-96-96-98)
Ferrari: nine victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1949-54-58-60-61-62-63-64-65)
Aston Martin: a victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1959)

The next edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place on 14 and 15 June 2014.

Jean-Philippe Doret/ACO - Translated by Tony Light/ACO

Photo: CIRCUIT OF THE 24 HOURS (Le Mans, Sarthe), 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, PRE-RACE, June 22, 2013. The first car to win Porsche victory at Le Mans, the 917 of Herrmann and Attwood was back in the Sarthe for the 90th anniversary of the 24 Hours.