1994 24 Hours of Le Mans


The 1994 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 62nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 18 and 19 June 1994.
The 1994 race was won by a car that had its roots in a 10-year-old design. Porsche exploited an unusual quirk in the GT regulations at the time, using German fashion magnate Jochen Dauer in a plan to have a street-legal version of the outdated Porsche 962 built. Using this road car design, Porsche entered two racing modified Dauer 962s in the GT category. With factory support, the Dauer 962 was able to take the win, the other 962 coming in a close third. Toyota, having themselves dusted off a pair of Group C chassis after its 3.5-litre engined TS010 was no longer eligible, suffered transmission problems with 90 minutes to go, leaving Eddie Irvine to finish 2nd in his 94C-V.

Regulations and Entries

After the death of global Sports Car racing, GT racing came to the fore. Knowing that teams would always want to race prototype sports cars at Le Mans, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest came up with a pioneering equivalency formula to allow the production-based GT cars to compete for the outright win against its own LMP class and the IMSA WSC cars. These involved engine air-inlet restrictors, smaller fuel tanks and minimum weights to limit the prototypes' performance. The ACO also allowed the old 1990 Group C cars but they now had to be open-topped, with flat underfloors.
FISA's new GT rules had developed through 1993, aligning with the ACO, IMSA and Japanese JAF, defining a GT as a road-going car on sale to the public and registered for road-use in two of the following countries: France, Great Britain, Germany, USA or Japan. To allow time for entrants to prepare, the ACO was forced to issue its own GT regulations in September 1993, before FISA had completed their work.
A summary of the restrictions:
Minimum annual production levels were 25 for GT1, and 200 for GT2, however a crucial loophole in the rules allowed a manufacturer to apply for GT1 homologation even when still planning the car design and before any cars had been made, meaning a single prototype for a proposed model could be raced. Several manufacturers spot this exemption and would exploit it, most notably Porsche, whom managed to homologate the now decade old 962C.
's name was left on the Toyota 94C-V as a tribute.
Overall, interest was very high with the ACO receiving 83 applications, accepting 50 +reserves, to vie for the 48 starting places.
From the aging Group C population there were only 8 LMP1 cars and 4 LMP2 entries. Toyota was backing two Japanese teams driving their new Toyota 94C-V. Roland Ratzenberger was originally scheduled to drive in the SARD Toyota but was tragically killed in qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix. Eddie Irvine took his place on the team, and Ratzenberger's name was left on the car in tribute.
Yves Courage, still trying emulate Jean Rondeau with an owner/racer Le Mans win, had three of his own cars, and the Kremer brothers had a new spyder in Gulf Racing livery. Roland Bassaler also took the chance to run his old 1982-vintage ALPA one last time. Welter Racing again fielded two very fast little LMP2s. The two American WSC entries were later withdrawn, however there were three entrants for the IMSA GT-S silhouette category. These included the two Nissans from Clayton Cunningham's championship winning team that had earlier in the year won the Daytona and Sebring endurance races.
In GT, the two direct works entries were in GT2, with debutants Honda working with the Kremer brothers bringing three new NSX cars, and a pair of Lotus Esprit S300 entered by Hugh Chamberlain. The two Porsche 962 facsimiles were entered by Jochen Dauer and run by Joest Racing. All up there were 11 different marques represented in the GT field, including returns from Alpine-Renault, Bugatti, De Tomaso and Dodge. Ferrari was back in some force, as well as Reeves Callaway's new, modified Corvette.

Qualification

With the new LMP regulations trimming power, as well as reducing downforce by 50%, unsurprisingly the Group C cars struggled and were about 10 seconds slower than previously. Courage took confidence by gaining their first pole position, courtesy of former single-seat and Peugeot works driver Alain Ferté. Derek Bell was second-fastest in the Kremer spyder, then came the little WR from LMP2, of Patrick Gonin, punching well above its weight. But clutch problems prevented Marc Rostan from doing any qualifying laps so only Gonin and Petit were allowed to race. The Dauer 962s started 4th and 6th, on laps that were 20 seconds slower than a 962C's best lap, set by Oscar Larrauri in 1990, but 15 seconds faster than ADA Engineering's true LMP1 Porsche 962C.
The two Nissan 300SX in the GT-S category came in 9th and 12th amongst the rest of the LMP field, with the next fastest GT being the Ennea/Obermaier Racing Ferrari F40 starting in 14th, just ahead of the Jacadi Racing Venturi of ex-F1 racer Olivier Grouillard and Michel Ferté. With the GTs mixing it up with the sports cars, it was looking like the ACO had got the equivalence formula about right.

Race

Start

Initially, Bell's Kremer took the lead, but was soon overtaken by Ferté's Courage, the local favourite. Ricci's Courage and Regout's WR collided first time through the Porsche curves. After also spinning on the first lap, Stuck got his Dauer-Porsche into the lead, and with their 50% bigger fuel tank the two teammates, Stuck and Baldi, were soon running 1-2. After being initially strong, the Kremer and the Courages fell back, and both WR-Peugeots were having engine problems. So the pursuit was taken up by the two Toyotas. Danny Sullivan blew a tyre and spun his Dauer at the Ford chicane and, unable to get across to the pitlane, had to go all the way around again costing him 11 minutes. Eddie Irvine got his Toyota into the lead, but when he got held up with changing brake discs, the veteran Bob Wollek got the Nisso-Trust Toyota to the front as dusk fell. In GT, Anders Olofsson, the pro-driver in the Team Ennea Ferrari F40 was running in the top-10, just ahead of the Larbre Porsche 911 leading GT2, until electronics problems struck it.

Night

With the cooler evening temperatures, the Courages' tyres were far more effective and they came back into contention, with the Pescarolo/Ferté/Lagorce car getting up to 3rd by mid-evening. However, the second Courage retired with engine problems, and at 2am "Pesca's" Courage also succumbed. At 5am, the Nisso-Trust Toyota came into the pits from the lead with a severe vibration. It took nearly an hour to replace the differential, dropping it down to 5th. The SARD Toyota took over the lead, and had the pursuing Dauer-Porsche's covered. Thierry Boutsen had a scare during the night when his Dauer's headlights failed while doing 260 km/h approaching Tertre Rouge. Further delays dropped it 3 laps behind the leader.
With the demise of the Courages and the Kremer, it was the remaining Nissan 300SX of Millen/O'Connell/Morton that steadily moved up to 4th by dawn. One of the big surprises was the privateer Bugatti in GT1: driven hard by 1993 winner Éric Hélary with Alain Cudini and Jean-Christophe Boullion, catching and passing the Larbre Porsche and Callaway Corvette, and getting it up to 6th overall.

Morning

As morning broke, the SARD Toyota was still leading. The second Toyota was chasing the Nissan and finally overtook it for 4th at lunchtime when the latter had gearbox problems. Through the morning the unfortunate Bugatti needed all four of its turbos replaced. Dropping down the board, in the final hour, a tyre blowout pitched Bouillon into the barriers on the Mulsanne straight. Then, after leading for 9 hours and with only 90 minutes to go, Krosnoff came to a stop at the pit entrance without drive. He slammed it into 3rd gear and managed to get to his pitbox. Taking 13 minutes to repair a broken gear-linkage weld it dropped the Toyota to 3rd behind the two Dauer-Porsches, who were both now nursing fragile driveshafts themselves. Irvine got in and drove hard to catch up to Boutsen just 15 seconds ahead. He caught him with just 2 laps to go when Boutsen got held up behind back-markers. In turn, Boutsen fought to get back past, forestalling the usual parade-lap to the finish, but was unsuccessful.

Finish and post-race

The win gave Porsche its 13th victory, and for the drivers it was Haywood's 3rd, Dalmas' 2nd and the first for Mauro Baldi - who became the 100th different Le Mans winner.
For the second time in three years, Toyota had been pipped at the post. The thrilling battle of the leading three cars meant they finished 15 laps ahead of the second Toyota, itself 11 laps ahead of the GTS Nissan, and Derek Bell's Kremer after a race beset by niggly problems. The surviving Courage was fairly trouble-free and had been 7th for the last 6 hours, finishing over 450 km behind the leader. The first two GT2 cars home, in 8th and 9th, were Porsches from the Larbre and new Ecurie Biennoise teams - both had run like clockwork.
From the Le Mans success, Dauer Sportwagen subsequently sold a dozen 962 road cars.
Despite running into problems, all three Honda GTs finished, giving good heart to the Honda executives after their first foray to Le Mans.
This was also supposed to be Derek Bell's swansong Le Mans, driving the Porsche-powered Kremer. However, the lure of driving a McLaren F1 GTR with son Justin the following year proved too strong.

Official results

PosClassNoTeamDriversChassisTyreLaps
PosClassNoTeamDriversEngineTyreLaps
1LMGT136 Le Mans Porsche Team Yannick Dalmas
Hurley Haywood
Mauro Baldi
Dauer 962 Le Mans344
1LMGT136 Le Mans Porsche Team Yannick Dalmas
Hurley Haywood
Mauro Baldi
Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6344
2LMP1
/C90
1 Toyota Team Sard Eddie Irvine
Mauro Martini
Jeff Krosnoff
Toyota 94C-V343
2LMP1
/C90
1 Toyota Team Sard Eddie Irvine
Mauro Martini
Jeff Krosnoff
Toyota R36V 3.6 L Turbo V8343
3LMGT135 Le Mans Porsche Team Hans-Joachim Stuck
Danny Sullivan
Thierry Boutsen
Dauer 962 Le Mans343
3LMGT135 Le Mans Porsche Team Hans-Joachim Stuck
Danny Sullivan
Thierry Boutsen
Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6343
4LMP1
/C90
4 Nisso Trust Racing Team Steven Andskär
George Fouché
Bob Wollek
Toyota 94C-V328
4LMP1
/C90
4 Nisso Trust Racing Team Steven Andskär
George Fouché
Bob Wollek
Toyota R36V 3.6 L Turbo V8328
5IMSA
GTS
75 Cunningham Racing Steve Millen
Johnny O'Connell
John Morton
Nissan 300ZX Turbo317
5IMSA
GTS
75 Cunningham Racing Steve Millen
Johnny O'Connell
John Morton
Nissan VG30DETT 3.0 L Turbo V6317
6LMP1
/C90
5 Gulf Oil Racing Derek Bell
Robin Donovan
Jürgen Lässig
Kremer K8 Spyder316
6LMP1
/C90
5 Gulf Oil Racing Derek Bell
Robin Donovan
Jürgen Lässig
Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6316
7LMP1
/C90
9 Courage Compétition Jean-Louis Ricci
Andy Evans
Philippe Olczyk
Courage C32LM310
7LMP1
/C90
9 Courage Compétition Jean-Louis Ricci
Andy Evans
Philippe Olczyk
Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6310
8LMGT252 Larbre Compétition Jesús Pareja
Dominique Dupuy
Carlos Palau
Porsche 911 Carrera RSR307
8LMGT252 Larbre Compétition Jesús Pareja
Dominique Dupuy
Carlos Palau
Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6307
9LMGT254 Écurie Biennoise Enzo Calderari
Lilian Bryner
Renato Mastropietro
Porsche 911 Carrera RSR299
9LMGT254 Écurie Biennoise Enzo Calderari
Lilian Bryner
Renato Mastropietro
Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6299
10LMGT259 Konrad Motorsport Cor Euser
Patrick Huisman
Matjaž Tomlje
Porsche 911 Carrera RSR295
10LMGT259 Konrad Motorsport Cor Euser
Patrick Huisman
Matjaž Tomlje
Porsche 3.8 L Flat-6295
11LMGT257 Repsol Ferrari España Prince Alfonso de Orléans-Borbón
Tomás Saldaña
Andrés Vilariño
Ferrari 348 GTC-LM276
11LMGT257 Repsol Ferrari España Prince Alfonso de Orléans-Borbón
Tomás Saldaña
Andrés Vilariño
Ferrari 3.4 L V8276
12LMGT140 Rent-A-Car Racing René Arnoux
Justin Bell
Bertrand Balas
Dodge Viper RT/10273
12LMGT140 Rent-A-Car Racing René Arnoux
Justin Bell
Bertrand Balas
Dodge 8.0 L V10273
13LMGT260 Legeay Sports Mécanique Benjamin Roy
Luc Galmard
Jean-Claude Police
Alpine A610272
13LMGT260 Legeay Sports Mécanique Benjamin Roy
Luc Galmard
Jean-Claude Police
Renault PRV 3.0 L Turbo V6272
14LMGT248 Kremer Honda Racing Armin Hahne
Christophe Bouchut
Bertrand Gachot
Honda NSX257
14LMGT248 Kremer Honda Racing Armin Hahne
Christophe Bouchut
Bertrand Gachot
Honda 3.0 L V6257
15IMSA
GTS
74 Team Artnature Yojiro Terada
Franck Fréon
Pierre de Thoisy
Mazda RX-7 GTO250
15IMSA
GTS
74 Team Artnature Yojiro Terada
Franck Fréon
Pierre de Thoisy
Mazda 13J 2.0 L 3-Rotor250
16LMGT246 Kremer Honda Racing Philippe Favre
Hideki Okada
Kazuo Shimizu
Honda NSX240
16LMGT246 Kremer Honda Racing Philippe Favre
Hideki Okada
Kazuo Shimizu
Honda 3.0 L V6240
17LMGT268 Agusta Racing Team Jean-Louis Sirera
Antonio Puig
Xavier Camp
Venturi 400GTR225
17LMGT268 Agusta Racing Team Jean-Louis Sirera
Antonio Puig
Xavier Camp
Renault PRV 3.0 L Turbo V6225
18LMGT247 Kremer Honda/Team Kunimitsu Kunimitsu Takahashi
Keiichi Tsuchiya
Akira Iida
Honda NSX222
18LMGT247 Kremer Honda/Team Kunimitsu Kunimitsu Takahashi
Keiichi Tsuchiya
Akira Iida
Honda 3.0 L V6222
NCLMGT141 Rent-A-Car Racing François Migault
Denis Morin
Philippe Gache
Dodge Viper RT/10225
NCLMGT141 Rent-A-Car Racing François Migault
Denis Morin
Philippe Gache
Dodge 8.0 L V10225
NCLMGT130 BBA Sport et Compétition Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière
Bernard Chauvin
Hervé Poulain
Venturi 600LM221
NCLMGT130 BBA Sport et Compétition Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière
Bernard Chauvin
Hervé Poulain
Renault PRV 3.0 L Turbo V6221
NCLMGT137 ADA Engineering Dominic Chappell
Jonathan Baker
Phil Andrews
De Tomaso Pantera210
NCLMGT137 ADA Engineering Dominic Chappell
Jonathan Baker
Phil Andrews
Ford 5.0 L V8210
NCLMP1
/C90
6 ADA Team Nippon Jun Harada
Tomiko Yoshikawa
Masahiko Kondo
Porsche 962C GTi189
NCLMP1
/C90
6 ADA Team Nippon Jun Harada
Tomiko Yoshikawa
Masahiko Kondo
Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6189
NCLMGT265 Agusta Racing Team Stéphane Ratel
Franz Hunkeler
Edouard Chaufour
Venturi 400GTR137
NCLMGT265 Agusta Racing Team Stéphane Ratel
Franz Hunkeler
Edouard Chaufour
Renault PRV 3.0 L Turbo V6137
DNFLMGT134 Michel Hommell Alain Cudini
Éric Hélary
Jean-Christophe Boullion
Bugatti EB110 SS230
DNFLMGT134 Michel Hommell Alain Cudini
Éric Hélary
Jean-Christophe Boullion
Bugatti 3.5 L Turbo V12230
DNFLMP1
/C90
2 Courage Compétition Henri Pescarolo
Alain Ferté
Franck Lagorce
Courage C32LM142
DNFLMP1
/C90
2 Courage Compétition Henri Pescarolo
Alain Ferté
Franck Lagorce
Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6142
DNFLMGT131 Agusta Racing Team Riccardo Agusta
Michel Krine
Almo Coppelli
Venturi 600LM115
DNFLMGT131 Agusta Racing Team Riccardo Agusta
Michel Krine
Almo Coppelli
Renault PRV 3.0 L Turbo V6115
DNFLMGT138 Jacadi Racing Michel Ferté
Olivier Grouillard
Michel Neugarten
Venturi 600LM107
DNFLMGT138 Jacadi Racing Michel Ferté
Olivier Grouillard
Michel Neugarten
Renault PRV 3.0 L Turbo V6107
DNFLMP1
/C90
3 Courage Compétition Lionel Robert
Pascal Fabre
Pierri-Henri Raphanel
Courage C32LM107
DNFLMP1
/C90
3 Courage Compétition Lionel Robert
Pascal Fabre
Pierri-Henri Raphanel
Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6107
DNFLMP221 Welter Racing Patrick Gonin
Pierre Petit
WR LM93104
DNFLMP221 Welter Racing Patrick Gonin
Pierre Petit
Peugeot 2.0 L Turbo V6104
DNFLMGT133 Patrick Nève Racing Franz Konrad
Antônio Hermann de Azevedo
Mike Sommer
Porsche 911 Turbo100
DNFLMGT133 Patrick Nève Racing Franz Konrad
Antônio Hermann de Azevedo
Mike Sommer
Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6100
DNFLMP1
/C90
7 Stealth Engineering/SBF Dominique Lacaud
Sylvain Boulay
Bernard Robin
ALD 0696
DNFLMP1
/C90
7 Stealth Engineering/SBF Dominique Lacaud
Sylvain Boulay
Bernard Robin
BMW M88 3.5 L I696
DNFLMGT249 Porsche Flymo Mobil Alméras Jacques Laffite
Jacques Alméras
Jean-Marie Alméras
Porsche 911 Carrera RSR94
DNFLMGT249 Porsche Flymo Mobil Alméras Jacques Laffite
Jacques Alméras
Jean-Marie Alméras
Porsche 3.8 L Flat-694
DNFLMP222 Welter Racing Hervé Regout
Jean-François Yvon
Jean-Paul Libert
WR LM9386
DNFLMP222 Welter Racing Hervé Regout
Jean-François Yvon
Jean-Paul Libert
Peugeot 2.0 L Turbo V686
DNFLMGT258 Seikel Motorsport Thomas Bscher
Lindsay Owen-Jones
John Nielsen
Porsche 968 Turbo RS84
DNFLMGT258 Seikel Motorsport Thomas Bscher
Lindsay Owen-Jones
John Nielsen
Porsche 3.0 L Turbo I484
DNFLMP220 Didier Bonnet Georges Tessier
Pascal Dro
Bernard Santal
Debora LMP29479
DNFLMP220 Didier Bonnet Georges Tessier
Pascal Dro
Bernard Santal
Alfa Romeo 3.0 L V679
DNFLMP1
/C90
8 Roland Bassaler Nicolas Minassian
Patrick Bourdais
Olivier Couvrier
Alpa LM64
DNFLMP1
/C90
8 Roland Bassaler Nicolas Minassian
Patrick Bourdais
Olivier Couvrier
Ford Cosworth DFL 3.5 L V864
DNFLMGT250 Larbre Compétition Pierre Yver
Jack Leconte
Jean-Luc Chéreau
Porsche 911 Carrera RSR62
DNFLMGT250 Larbre Compétition Pierre Yver
Jack Leconte
Jean-Luc Chéreau
Porsche 3.8 L Flat-662
DNFLMGT262 Lotus Sport/Chamberlain Richard Piper
Peter Hardman
Olindo Iacobelli
Lotus Esprit Sport 30059
DNFLMGT262 Lotus Sport/Chamberlain Richard Piper
Peter Hardman
Olindo Iacobelli
Lotus 2.2 L Turbo I459
DNFLMGT255 Simpson Engineering Robin Smith
Stefano Sebastiani
Tetsuya Ota
Ferrari 348 LM57
DNFLMGT255 Simpson Engineering Robin Smith
Stefano Sebastiani
Tetsuya Ota
Ferrari 3.4 L V857
DNFLMGT245 Heico Service Ulrich Richter
Karl-Heinz Wlazik
Dirk Ebeling
Porsche 911 Carrera RSR57
DNFLMGT245 Heico Service Ulrich Richter
Karl-Heinz Wlazik
Dirk Ebeling
Porsche 3.8 L Flat-657
DNFLMGT129 Obermaier Anders Olofsson
Sandro Angelastro
Max Angelelli
Ferrari F40 GTE51
DNFLMGT129 Obermaier Anders Olofsson
Sandro Angelastro
Max Angelelli
Ferrari 3.0 L Turbo V851
DNFLMGT263 Chamberlain Engineering Rob Wilson
David Brodie
William Hewland
Harrier LR9C45
DNFLMGT263 Chamberlain Engineering Rob Wilson
David Brodie
William Hewland
Ford Cosworth YBT 2.0 L Turbo I445
DNFLMGT256 Elf Haberthur Racing Olivier Haberthur
Patrice Goueslard
Patrick Vuillaume
Porsche 911 Turbo 3.642
DNFLMGT256 Elf Haberthur Racing Olivier Haberthur
Patrice Goueslard
Patrick Vuillaume
Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-642
DNFLMGT266 Erik Henriksen Ray Bellm
Harry Nuttall
Charles Rickett
Porsche 911 Carrera RSR34
DNFLMGT266 Erik Henriksen Ray Bellm
Harry Nuttall
Charles Rickett
Porsche 3.8 L Flat-634
DNFLMGT261 Lotus Sport/Chamberlain Thorkild Thyrring
Klaas Zwart
Andreas Fuchs
Lotus Esprit Sport 30028
DNFLMGT261 Lotus Sport/Chamberlain Thorkild Thyrring
Klaas Zwart
Andreas Fuchs
Lotus 2.2 L Turbo I428
DNFIMSA
GTS
76 Cunningham Racing Eric van de Poele
Paul Gentilozzi
Shunji Kasuya
Nissan 300ZX Turbo25
DNFIMSA
GTS
76 Cunningham Racing Eric van de Poele
Paul Gentilozzi
Shunji Kasuya
Nissan VRH35 3.0 L Turbo V625
DNFLMGT264 Ferrari Club Italia Oscar Larrauri
Fabio Mancini
Joël Gouhier
Ferrari 348 GTC-LM23
DNFLMGT264 Ferrari Club Italia Oscar Larrauri
Fabio Mancini
Joël Gouhier
Ferrari 3.4 L V823
DSQLMGT251 Callaway Sport Frank Jelinski
Boris Said
Michel Maisonneuve
Callaway Corvette142
DSQLMGT251 Callaway Sport Frank Jelinski
Boris Said
Michel Maisonneuve
Chevrolet 6.2 L V8142

Statistics