The 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 63rd Grand Prix of Endurance and took place on 17 and 18 June 1995 in one of the wettest races in the event's history with about 17 hours of steady rain. The race was won by a McLaren F1 GTR driven by JJ Lehto, Yannick Dalmas and Masanori Sekiya, a consecutive win by a GT car. This was McLaren's first win at Le Mans, at its first attempt – only Ferrari had accomplished the same feat, in 1949. What was seen as remarkable was that the cars were untested over 24 hours, yet they led for all bar thirteen laps and at the end filled four of the first five places.Moity & Teissedre 1995, p.28Moity & Teissedre 1995, p.213Clarke 2000, pp.84-5 Autocar Jun 21 1995 Despite a careful Balance of Performance adjustment to try and match the WSC and GT cars, it was expected that the lighter weight and better downforce of the prototypes would prove superior. However, the extensive period of rain proved a bigger equaliser and took pressure off the delicate McLaren drivetrains.
The small, light WRs of the LM P2 class scored a coup by locking out the front row of the grid, ahead of the Courage-Porsche of Bob Wollek. From the start, these three put a gap on the rest of the field. However, when the rain arrived at the end of the first hour the WRs were delayed, and it was the McLarens that came to the fore, with Jochen Mass in the DPR car ahead of the Courage. However, in the fourth hour the race was put on pause when Patrick Gonin, in the recovering WR, aquaplaned off the Mulsanne Straight at speed and somersaulted. He was sent to hospital with several broken bones and the race resumed after a half-hour. Soon after though, Mario Andretti spun the Courage avoiding a backmarker and hit the barriers. Repairs cost 6 laps and dropped them down to 25th. This left McLarens running 1-2-3-5, with the Larbre Porsche in fourth, and a privateer Porsche leading GT2 in 7th. But the weather was taking a heavy toll with engines and causing accidents including those two Porsches and the leading Gulf McLaren. Mass and Nielsen took back the lead and had it for over eight hours until stopped by a broken clutch at 3am. It was the sister DPR car of Wallace and the Bells, father and son, that picked up the lead into the day with the KK McLaren in pursuit. The rain finally eased mid-morning and, finally to show its speed on the drying track, the Courage had got back up to third after hard driving by Wollek, Andretti and Hélary, but two laps down. However, Derek Bell was having to race with a deteriorating gearbox. At the penultimate fuel-stop, a crucial five minutes were lost trying to get the car into gear. Dalmas swept past into the lead and then soon after the Courage got by. Going into the last hour, Wollek got back onto the lead lap but could get no closer and Dalmas brought the McLaren home to win by three-quarters of a lap. The best GT2 car was a privateer Honda NSX, winning a long tussle on Sunday against the Callaway Corvettes. After an engine fire in the race warm-up and losing 6 laps in the second hour of the race, better fuel economy and strong driving had seen the team through.
Regulations There was a fundamental change to the prototype regulations this year. With the ongoing good working relationship with IMSA, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) phased out its LM-P1 category, instead drawing up regulations based closely on IMSA's new World Sportscar (WSC) class (albeit not adopting them directly).Norris 1995, p.215 In return, IMSA agreed to allow turbo-engined cars into WSC, given the number of Group C chassis still in circulation.Spurring 2014, p.188. The ACO still used air-inlet restrictors to balance performance but now linked them to the car-weight as well as engine. The GT classes were now given smaller fuel-tanks, but also had their minimum weights reduced. The GT1 cars were entitled to bigger air restrictors to the GT2s that therefore gave them more power.Moity & Teissedre 1995, p.29 WSC max 4.0L production engine, or 3.0L for turbos, with rev limit of 8500 rpm (for 2-valve V8) or 10500 rpm (for 4-valve V12), fuel tank 80L, minimum weight graded according to engine size and type, max tyre width 18" LM P2: fuel tank 80L, min weight 620 kg, with production engines, max tyre width 12" LM GT1: fuel tank 100L, min weight 900 kg, max tyre width 14" LM GT2: fuel tank 100L, min weight 900 kg, max tyre width 12"
The previous year's "one-off model" rule, controversially exploited by Porsche in the 1994 race with the Dauer 962 Le Mans, stayed in place for GT1. However, GT2 cars had to be based on road-cars in series production since February 1995. With the great increase in interest, the ACO saw a need to build 2 further pit bays to increase potential capacity to 48 cars.Bernard et al 2023, p.83 For the first time, the committee would select 20 significant teams to give an automatic entry. From the rest, 50 would now be chosen to undergo a pre-qualifying session at the end of April and from that run-off a final additional 34 cars would qualify for the race, including four reserves.Norris 1995, p.221
A new tradition initiated this year was a drivers' parade through the city starting at the Place des Jacobins beside the cathedral, where the scrutineering took place. It drew a crowd of 40,000 as they were carried through the streets in classic cars.Williams 2023, p.345Bernard et al 2023, p.306
Entries Such was the resurgence of interest in endurance racing and the new regulations, that the ACO received 99 applications for this year's race. After the 20 chosen as automatic entries, the remaining starters came from the pre-qualifying event. The great majority of the 52 cars present for race-week were in the two GT classes, and there were only 12 prototypes.Spurring 2014, p.187 The BPR series was proving very popular often with over 30 cars at each race, from a number of manufacturers.
The WSC-class was expanding, with entries from Courage, Kremer, Mazda along with the first Ferrari prototype seen at Le Mans since 1973. The Japanese manufacturers had a strong presence at Le Mans. As well as Mazda in WSC, Nissan, Toyota and Honda backed multi-car teams in LM-GT1. They would be up against experienced teams currently competing in the BPR series.
Class Quantity Turbo andRotaryengines LM-WSC 9 / 6 4 / 4 LM-P2 4 / 3 3 / 3 LM-GT1 29 / 27 18 / 17 LM-GT2 13 / 12 6 / 6 Total Entries 55 / 48 31 / 30 Note: The first number is the number accepted, the second the number who started.
Class CarNbr Car Engine Weight(kg) AirMoity & Teissedre 1995, pp.32-42Restrictors bhpLM-WSC1Ferrari 333 SPFerrari 4.0L V128956304Kremer K8Porsche 3.0L F6 twin-turbo9105405Kudzu DG2/3Mazda tri-rotor (2.0L equiv)82048011Courage C41Chevrolet 5.0L V885056013Courage C34Porsche 3.0 F6 twin-turbo90034.5mm550LM-P28WR LM95Peugeot 1.9L S4 turbo64042mm45014Debora LMP295Cosworth 2.0L S4 turbo700400LM-GT122Nissan Skyline GT-RNissan 2.6L S6 twin-turbo117040024McLaren F1 GTRBMW 6.1L V12112539.4mm64026SARD MC8-RLexus 4.0L V8 twin-turbo127540.7mm60027Toyota Supra GT-LMToyota 2.1L S4 turbo124555.9mm65030Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1Chevrolet 6.2L V8128058.9mm57036Porsche 911 GT2 EvoPorsche 3.6L F6 twin-turbo114040.4mm60054Porsche 911 BiTurboPorsche 3.8L F6 twin-turbo116570040Ferrari F40 GTEFerrari 3.0L V8 twin-turbo111562044Venturi 600S-LMRenault 3.0L V6 twin-turbo106564047Honda NSX GT1Honda 3.0L V6 twin-turbo105560052Lister StormJaguar 7.0L V12127043.9mm62057Jaguar XJ220CJaguar 3.5L V6 twin-turbo117038.9mm600LM-GT270Marcos 600LMChevrolet 6.2L V8119036.4mm53076Callaway Corvette SuperNaturalChevrolet 6.2L V8112050.8mm48076Porsche 911 GT2Porsche 3.6L F6 twin-turbo117533.8mm45076Honda NSX GTHonda 3.0L V61055390
LM-WSC
With the withdrawal of the Peugeot and Toyota sports-prototypes, this left Courage Compétition in prime position to achieve Yves Courage's dream to win Le Mans. The lead car, carrying his traditional #13, was a C34 spyder - essentially a WSC conversion of the Group C-based C30 model, itself a design from the 1980s Cougars. It was fitted with the tried and tested 3-litre Porsche flat-6 twin-turbo engine, now trimmed to 550 bhp by its 34.5mm air-restrictors. A very experienced line-up was installed: Bob Wollek was back for the 25th time, every year since 1973, and still looking for his first outright win; Mario Andretti was attempting to complete the third leg of an elusive Triple Crown – winning Le Mans, Indianapolis and the Formula 1 Championship – a feat only achieved by Graham Hill. He had first raced at Le Mans in 1966, but only came on board at the beginning of June; Éric Hélary was a Le Mans-winner, having won as a rookie in 1993 for Peugeot.Spurring 2012, pp.194-5Clarke 2000, p.74 Autosport Jun 10 1995Moity & Teissedre 1995, p.33Moity & Teissedre 1995, pp.50-1 The Courage C41 was a purpose-built WSC contestant to race in IMSA and Le Mans. Built on a carbon-fibre monocoque with a carbon and kevlar bodyshell. Designed to be a customer car, it was deliberately built to accommodate any engine. The first model had a 5-litre Chevrolet "small-block" V8 which, with the 8000rpm IMSA limit, put out 600 bhp. Not ready for the 1994 season, it finally ran at the Le Mans test weekend where Eric van der Poele posted the second fastest time behind teammate Bob Wollek in the C34.Spurring 2012, pp.196-7 Two C41s were prepared at Courage's new factory. Van de Poele was joined by ex-F1 Larrousse driver Olivier Beretta and rookie Mathiaz Tomlje. For the second car, they once again got the experience of 52-year-old Henri Pescarolo, with former Ligier Formula 1 drivers Franck Lagorce and Éric Bernard. The team was confident after Wollek set the fastest time at the April pre-qualification in the C34, with van de Poele second in the new C41.
When it first appeared in the 1994 IMSA WSC series, the new Ferrari 333 SP prototype had had an instant impact, winning 5 of the 9 races. It was born from a concept by Giampiero Moretti and Enzo Ferrari's son Piero. The car had been designed in 1993 for the IMSA rules and then modified by Tony Southgate.Moity & Teissedre 1995, p.34 It was a flat-bottom carbonfibre monocoque with the bodyshell fabricated by Dallara and Michelotto in Italy. The WSC regulations were that the 4.0-litre engine had to be from a production model. The F310E V12 had five valves per cylinder and was related to its Formula 1 engine and the upcoming F50 supercar. With its Weber-Marelli fuel-injection, it produced up to 630 bhp. Special modification was also needed to run the V12 on European fuel, with its lower octane rating compared to American racing fuel (98 vs 103 octane).Clarke 2000, p.81 Motor Sport Jul 1995 Ferrari was not supportive of an entry as the car was unproven over the distanceClarke 2000, p.72 Autosport Jun 10 1995Clarke 2000, p.82 Motor Sport Jul 1995 (although the Scandia Ferrari had won this year's Sebring 12-hour race). However, Antonio Ferrari's EuroInternational team, who had received one of the first chassis, generated much interest from the press and the ACO gave it #1 in the entry-list, as the first Ferrari prototype at Le Mans since 1973. Lead driver, Jay Cochran, who had given the marque its first WSC victory in April 1994, would drive alongside co-owner Massimo Sigala and former Ferrari F1 driver René Arnoux. Despite the victory at Sebring earlier this year, question-marks still remained over the 333 SP's reliability over 24 hours.Moity & Teissedre 1995, pp.46-7Williams 2023, p.344