The 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: 72e 24 Heures du Mans) was a non-championship 24 hour automobile endurance race held from 12 to 13 June at the Circuit de la Sarthe near Le Mans, France, for teams of three drivers each fielding Le Mans Prototype and Grand Touring cars. It was the race's 72nd edition, as organised by the automotive group, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) since 1923. A test day was held eight weeks before the race on 25 April. Approximately 200,000 people attended the race.
Jamie Davies, Johnny Herbert and Guy Smith of Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx R8 started from pole position after Herbert set the overall fastest lap time in the fourth qualifying session. The car led for the majority of the first 18 hours, until a rear suspension issue caused handling issues that were resolved in the garage. The Audi Sport Japan Team Goh car of Seiji Ara, Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen took the lead, and despite catching fire during a pit stop, Ara held off the faster Herbert for the remainder of the race to win by 41.354 seconds. It was Ara's first Le Mans win, Capello's second and Kristensen's sixth. Kristensen tied Jacky Ickx's record of six overall victories and became the first driver to win the race five times in a row Audi's fourth overall victory since its first in the 2000 edition. The Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx car finished second, while Champion Racing's JJ Lehto, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner recovered from a crash in the second hour to finish third overall.
The Intersport Racing Lola B2K/40 car of William Binnie, Clint Field and Rick Sutherland won the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) category, finishing eight laps ahead of the Rachel Welter WR LM2001 car of Yojiro Terada, Patrice Roussel and Olivier Porta. The Le Mans Grand Touring Sport (LMGTS) class was won by a Chevrolet Corvette C5-R driven by Olivier Beretta, Oliver Gavin and Jan Magnussen, with the sister car of Ron Fellows, Max Papis and Johnny O'Connell finishing eleven laps behind in second place. Colin McRae, Rickard Rydell and Darren Turner finished third in their Prodrive Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello. Porsches took the first six places in the Le Mans Grand Touring (LMGT) class, with the White Lightning Racing Porsche 911 GT3-RSR of Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Long and Sascha Maassen winning for the second consecutive year.
Background and regulation changes
The 72nd 24 Hours of Le Mans took place from 12 to 13 June on the Circuit de la Sarthe road racing track near Le Mans, France. The race was first held in 1923 after the automotive journalist Charles Faroux, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) general secretary Georges Durand and the industrialist Emile Coquile agreed to hold a test of vehicle reliability and durability. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is considered one of the world's most prestigious motor races and is part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport.
The ACO announced changes to the Le Mans Prototype (LMP) classes in March 2003, which went into effect for the 2004 race. The former Le Mans Grand Touring Prototype and Le Mans Prototype 900 (LMP900) categories were merged and renamed Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1), with only manufacturers competing. Because the Le Mans Prototype 675 (LMP675) category lacked a car capable of challenging for the overall victory, the ACO renamed it Le Mans Prototype 2. (LMP2). LMP900 and LMP675 cars built in accordance with the ACO technical regulations for the LMP and LMGTP categories could enter until 31 December 2005. Skid blocks were thickened by and the air restrictor size was reduced by five per cent. LMP1 and LMP2 teams could choose between an open or closed cockpit. The maximum weight of LMP2 vehicles was established at and for LMP1 cars. Engine displacement for normally aspirated engines set at , turbocharged engines were limited to and engine displacement for diesel power units was restricted to .
Following a series of airborne accidents in sports car racing, such as those involving a Porsche 911 GT1 at the 1998 Petit Le Mans and a Mercedes-Benz CLR at the 1999 Le Mans race, the ACO altered the bottom of the new LMP1 and LMP2 cars to reduce the amount of downforce produced outside of their wheelbase and a reduction in rear overhang coupled with an increase in front overhang for less pitch sensitivity to reduce the possibility of such a crash occurring. The rear wing was moved forward and shortened from to . A plank was added to the underside of all new LMP1 and converted "hybrid" cars to force a ride height increase and reduce the effectiveness of underfloor aerodynamics.
Entries By the deadline for entries on 11 February 2004, the ACO had received 77 applications (40 for the LMP classes and 37 for the Grand Touring (GT) categories). It issued 50 invitations to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with entries split between LMP1, LMP2, Le Mans Grand Touring Sports (LMGTS), and Le Mans Grand Touring (LMGT).
Automatic entries Teams that won their class in the 2003 24 Hours of Le Mans received automatic entries. Teams that won Le Mans-based series and events in 2003, such as the Petit Le Mans, the 1000 km of Le Mans and the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), were also invited. Some second-place finishers also received automatic entries into specific series and races. Entries were also granted to the 2003 FIA GT Championship winners and runners-up in the GT and N-GT categories. Had the entry of the 2003 Petit Le Mans category winner been the same as the 2003 American Le Mans Series class champion, the second automatic entry would have been awarded to another team in that category under an agreement with the ACO and the ALMS. Because entries were pre-selected to teams, teams were not permitted to switch cars from one year to the next. They were allowed to switch categories as long as they did not change the car make and the ACO gave official permission for the switch.
The ACO published its initial list of automatic invitations on 20 November 2003. Team Bentley, Infineon Team Joest, Pescarolo Sport (after switching engine suppliers from Peugeot to Judd), RN Motorsport, Dyson Racing and Alex Job Racing declined their automatic entries; their places were taken by Champion Racing, Audi Sport Japan Team Goh and Lister Racing due to their performance in the GT category during the 2003 FIA GT Championship.
+Automatic entries for the 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans Reason Entered LMGTP/LMP900 LMP675 LMGTS/GT LMGT/N-GT 1st in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Team Bentley Noël del Bello Racing Veloqx Prodrive Racing Alex Job Racing 2nd in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Team Bentley RN Motorsports Corvette Racing Orbit Racing 1st in the Petit Le Mans Champion Racing Intersport Racing Prodrive Alex Job Racing 1st in the American Le Mans Series Infineon Team Joest Dyson Racing Corvette Racing Risi Competizione 1st in the FIA GT Championship BMS Scuderia Italia Freisinger Motorsport 2nd in the FIA GT Championship BMS Scuderia Italia JMB Racing 1st in the 1000 km of Le Mans Audi Sport Japan Team Goh Courage Compétition Care Racing Cirtek Motorsport 2nd in the 1000 km of Le Mans Pescarolo Sport Intersport Racing Care Racing Freisinger Motorsport
Entry list and reserves On 25 March 2004, the ACO's seven-member selection committee announced the full 50-car entry list for Le Mans, plus six reserves. Following the publication of entries, several teams withdrew their entries. Arena Motorsport withdrew its Dome S101 car, promoting the 4 Taurus Sports Racing Lola B2K/10-Judd vehicle. Thierry Perrier's Porsche 911 GT3-RS was allowed to race after one of pre-selected BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello's was withdrawn, because the team did not have enough time to make the car compliant with ACO regulations and it wanted to focus on the 2004 FIA GT Championship. Later, Risi Competizione's Ferrari 360 Modena GTC was replaced in the list of entries by XL Racing's Ferrari. Following that, Konrad Motorsport and Welter Racing were granted the fourth and fifth reserve entries, respectively, and XL Racing withdrew its Ferrari. A second Racing for Holland Dome car was promoted, giving the team two LMP1 entries.
On 21 April, the Car Racing team confirmed that its No. 67 Ferrari 550 was withdrawn due to financial problems from a lack of sponsorship and its place in the LMGT category was taken by a second Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport-entered TVR Tuscan 400R. Force One Racing withdrew its Pagani Zonda from the race after a heavy crash at the Vallelunga Circuit in Italy halted development. This allowed Seikel Motorsport's No. 84 Porsche into the race. When the Spinnaker Clan Des Team withdrew on 1 June due to a lack of preparation and testing, the No. 36 Gerard Welter car took its place. Officials required Courage Compétition and its satellite operation Epsilon Sport to withdraw one C65 chassis per team after an engine supply agreement with Mecachrome was terminated, and both outfits sourced replacement engines from JPX.
Testing On April 25, the circuit hosted a mandatory pre-Le Mans test day split into two daytime sessions of four hours each, involving all 50 entries and two of the six reserve cars. With six minutes to go, Allan McNish's No. 8 Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx R8 set the pace with a 3:32.613 lap, followed by Johnny Herbert's No. 88 Audi. Marco Werner of Champion Racing was third with Team Goh's Tom Kristensen fourth. The two fastest non-Audis were fifth-placed David Brabham's No. 22 Zytek 04S car and sixth-placed Hiroki Katoh's No. 9 Kondo Racing Dome S101 vehicle. Max Papis led the LMGTS class in the No. 63 Corvette Racing C5-R in the final minutes of the second session with a lap of 3:49.982, ahead of Oliver Gavin's sister No. 63 Corvette and Christophe Bouchut's No. 69 Larbre Compétition Ferrari. Tomáš Enge and Rickard Rydell's Prodrive Ferrari cars were fourth and fifth, respectively. Jörg Bergmeister's No. 90 White Lightning Porsche 911 GT3-RSR led LMGT with a lap of 4:05.975, followed by Marc Lieb's No. 87 Orbit Racing car, which was sidelined for hours with a broken steering rack after hitting the guardrail at Tertre Rouge corner. A seal failure in the Taurus Lola that mixed oil and diesel and leaked oil on the Mulsanne Straight, as well as a crash for Noël del Bello Racing's entry at Mulsanne Corner, caused further testing delays.
Qualifying On 9 and 10 June, all entrants had eight hours of qualifying, divided into four two-hour sessions. To qualify for the race, all entrants were required to set a time within 110 per cent of the fastest lap established by the fastest car in each of the four categories during the sessions. Audi led early on and Herbert's No. 88 car recorded a fastest lap of 3:34.907 on the session's final lap. Kristensen's Team Goh Audi was more than two seconds slower in second, and McNish in the No. 8 car was third. Jan Lammers' Racing for Holland Dome car was fourth, the fastest non-Audi. JJ Lehto's No. 2 Champion Audi was fifth with Soheil Ayari's No. 18 Pescarolo C60 finished sixth and Brabham's No. 22 Zytek 04S seventh. Pierre Kaffer damaged the No. 8 Audi Sport UK car when he went off the track at the first Mulsanne Chicane due to an error. With a lap of 3:46.020, Jean-Marc Gounon's No. 31 Courage C65 vehicle led in LMP2, more than eleven seconds ahead of its sister No. 35 Epsilon Sport car and the No. 24 Rachel Welter WR LM2001 entry. Olivier Beretta's No. 64 Corvette C5-R set the early pace in LMGTS, and his co-driver Gavin improved on his effort to set the class' best lap time of 3:54.359. Peter Kox's Prodrive Ferrari came second and Ron Fellows' No. 63 Corvette was third. The second Prodrive Ferrari finished fourth through rally driver Colin McRae's lap. Bergmeister's No. 90 White Lightning Porsche led LMGT with a lap of 4:09.679, followed by Stéphane Daoudi in the No. 70 JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena GTC.