Race title	24 Hours of Le Mans
Track map
Venue	Circuit de la Sarthe
First race
Duration	24 Hours
Most wins driver	Tom Kristensen (8)
Most wins team	Joest Racing (12)
Most wins manufacturer	Porsche (16) }}

The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining mechanical damage to the car and manage the cars' consumables, primarily fuel, tyres and braking materials. The endurance of the drivers is likewise tested as drivers frequently spend stints of over two hours behind the wheel before stopping in the pits and allowing a relief driver to take over the driving duties. Drivers then grab what food and rest they can before returning to drive another stint. Today it is mandated that three drivers share each competing vehicle.

The race is organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and runs on the Circuit de la Sarthe, a circuit containing a mix of closed public roads and specialist motor racing circuit that are meant not only to test a car and driver's ability to be quick, but also to last over a 24 hour period. The competing teams will race in groups called classes for cars of similar specification while at the same time competing for outright placing amongst all of the classes. Originally the race was held for cars as they were sold to the general public which were then called Sports Cars compared to the specialist racing cars used in Grands Prix. Over time the competing vehicles evolved away from their publicly-available road car roots and today the race is made of two classes specialised enclosed-bodywork two-seat Prototype sports cars and two classes of Grand Touring cars which bear much closer resemblance to high performance sports cars as sold to the public.

Competing teams have had a wide variety of organisation, ranging from competition departments of road car manufacturers who are eager to prove the supremacy of their products, to professional motor racing teams who represent their commercial backers, some of which are also road car manufacturers attempting to win without the expense of setting up their own teams, to amateur race teams, racing as much to compete in the famous race as to claim victory for their commercial partners.

The race is held near the height of the European summer in June, leading at times to very hot weather conditions for the drivers, particularly in closed roof vehicles whose cabins can heat up to uncomfortably hot temperatures with generally poor ventilation; rain, however, is not uncommon. The race begins in mid-afternoon, racing through the night and following morning before finishing at the same time the race started, the following day. Over the 24 hour period modern competitors will complete race distances well over 5000 kilometres. The present record is 5410 kilometres, recorded in the 2010 race. It is a distance over six times longer than the Indianapolis 500, or approximately 18 times longer than a Formula One Grand Prix.

The race has over the years inspired imitating races all over the globe, popularising the 24 Hour format at places like Daytona, Nurburgring, Spa-Francorchamps, Sebring and Mount Panorama. Presently the American Le Mans Series and the European based Le Mans Series of multi-event sports car championships have been spun off from 24 Hours of Le Mans regulations. Other races include the Le Mans Classic, a race for historic Le Mans race cars of years past held on the Circuit de la Sarthe, a motorcycle version of the race which is held on the shortened Bugatti version of the same circuit, a kart race (24 Heures Karting) and a truck race (24 Heures Camions).

The race has also spent long periods as a round of the World Sportscar Championship, although Le Mans has always had a stronger reputation than the World Championship, and is presently a round of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. The race is also known as a leg of the informal Triple Crown of Motorsport which links Formula One, IndyCars and Sports Car racing to represent a career achievement for drivers. Additionally it is seen as a leg of Triple Crown of endurance racing, which links the three largest sports car races together with 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Daytona forming the other legs.

Purpose

At a time when Grand Prix racing was the dominant form of motorsport throughout Europe, Le Mans was designed to present a different test. Instead of focusing on the ability of a car company to build the fastest machines, the 24 Hours of Le Mans would instead concentrate on the ability of manufacturers to build sporty yet reliable cars. This encouraged innovation in producing reliable and fuel-efficient vehicles, because the nature of endurance racing requires cars that last the distance and spend as little time in the pits as possible.

At the same time, due to the layout of the Le Mans track, a need was created for cars to have better aerodynamics and stability at high speeds. While this was shared with Grand Prix racing, few tracks in Europe had straights of a length comparable to the Mulsanne. The fact that the road is public and therefore not maintained to the same quality as some permanent racing circuits also put more of a strain on parts, putting greater emphasis on reliability.

The demand for fuel economy created by the oil crisis in the early 1970s led the race organisers to adopt a fuel economy formula known as Group C, in which the amount of fuel each car was allowed to use during the race was limited. Although Group C was abandoned when teams were able to master the fuel formulae, fuel economy was still important to some teams as alternative fuel sources appeared in the early 21st century, attempting to overcome time spent during pit stops.

These technological innovations have had a trickle-down effect, with technology used at Le Mans finding its way into production cars several years later. This has also led to faster and more exotic supercars due to manufacturers wishing to develop faster road cars for the purposes of developing them into even faster GT cars.

The race

Cars

The total entry has usually consisted of approximately 50 competitors. Each car is required to have at least two seats, although in recent years only the ability to place a second seat in the cockpit has been required; the seat itself has not. No more than two doors are allowed; open cockpit cars do not require doors. Although all cars compete at the same time, there are separate classes. A prize is awarded to the winner of each class, and to the overall winner.

The number of classes has varied over the years, but currently there are four. Custom-built Le Mans Prototypes (LMP) are the top two classes, LMP1 and LMP2, divided by speed, weight, and power output. From 2011, the next two classes are production-based grand tourer (GT) classes, GT Endurance Pro and GT Endurance AM. Both of these classes use GT2 cars, with older GT1 cars allowed to complete in GTE AM class in 2011 only. Although the top class is the most likely winner of the event, lower classes have won on occasion due to better reliability.

Drivers

Originally, there were no rules on the number of drivers of a car, or how long they could drive. Although almost all teams used two drivers in the early decades, some Le Mans drivers such as Pierre Levegh and Eddie Hall attempted to run the race solo, hoping to save time by not having to change drivers. This practice was later banned. Until the 1980s, there were teams in which only two drivers competed, but by the end of the decade the rules were changed to stipulate that at least three drivers must drive each car.

By the 1990s, due to the speeds of the cars and the strain it put on drivers, further rules were added to improve driver safety. Drivers could not drive more than four hours consecutively, and no one driver could run for more than fourteen hours in total. This reduced driver fatigue during the races.

Unique rules and traditions

Although the 24 Hours of Le Mans was part of the World Sportscar Championship for most of its existence, it has regularly had rules which differed from those used in other series, partly due to the length of the event. Some rules are for safety reasons, while others are for the purposes of competition.

For many decades, cars were required to run at least an hour into the race before they were allowed to refill fluids for the car, such as oil or coolant, with the exception of fuel. This was an attempt by the ACO to help increase efficiency and reliability. Cars which could not last the first hour without having to replace lost fluids were disqualified.

Another rule that is unique to Le Mans is a requirement for cars to be shut off while they are being refueled in the pits. Based not only on the notion that it is safer and less of a fire hazard to do so, this also allows for another test of reliability, because cars have to test their ability to restart many times under race conditions. Another element of this rule is that mechanics are not allowed to work on the car or its tyres while it is being refueled, which has led teams to adapt innovative ways in which to decrease the time of these lengthy pit stops. As an exception to this rule, drivers are allowed to get out of the car and be replaced by another driver during refueling.

At Le Mans there are various traditions. One of the longest lasting is the waving of the French tricolor to start the race. This is usually followed by a fly-over featuring jets trailing blue, white and red smoke. A similar flag tradition is the waving of safety flags during the final lap of the race by track marshals, congratulating the winners and other finishers.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans was the venue for the first known instance at a major race of a winning driver celebrating by spraying champagne instead of drinking it. When Dan Gurney won the race with co-driver A.J. Foyt, the two drivers mounted the victory stand and Gurney was handed a magnum of champagne. Looking down, he saw Ford CEO Henry Ford II, team owner Carroll Shelby and their wives, as well as several journalists who had predicted disaster for the high-profile duo. Gurney shook the bottle and sprayed everyone nearby, establishing a tradition re-enacted in victory celebrations the world over for the next 40+ years. Gurney, incidentally, autographed and gave the bottle of champagne to a LIFE magazine photographer, Flip Schulke, who used it as a lamp for many years. He recently returned the bottle to Gurney, who keeps it at his home in California.

Schedule

The first race was held on 26 and 27 May 1923 and has since been run annually in June with exceptions occurring in 1956, when the race was held in July and 1968, when it was held in September due to nationwide political turmoil earlier that year (see May 1968). The race has been cancelled twice: once in 1936 (labour strike during the Great Depression) and from 1940 to 1948 (World War II and its aftermath).

The race weekend also usually takes place on the second weekend of June, with qualifying and practice taking place on the Wednesday and Thursday before the race, following an administrative scrutinizing of the cars on Monday and Tuesday. Currently these sessions are held in the evening, with two separate two hour sessions held each night. A day of rest is scheduled on Friday, and includes a parade of all the drivers through the centre of the town of Le Mans.

A test day was also usually held prior to the event, traditionally at the end of April or beginning of May. These test days served as a pre-qualification for the event, with the slowest cars not being allowed to appear again at the proper qualifying. However, with the cost necessary to transport cars to Le Mans and then back to their respective series in between the test and race weeks, the test day was moved to the first weekend of June for 2005. The notion of pre-qualifying was also eliminated in 2000, when all competitors invited to the test would be allowed into the race.

The Le Mans Legend races have also been part of the schedule since 2001, usually running exhibition races during qualifying days, a few hours prior to the sessions for the Le Mans entrants.

Traditionally, the race starts at 16:00 on the Saturday, although in 1968 the race started at 14:00 due to the lateness of the race on the calendar. In both 1984 and 2007, the start time was moved ahead to 15:00 due to the conflicting French General Election. In 2006, the ACO scheduled a 17:00 start time on Saturday, 17 June in order to maximize television coverage in between the FIFA World Cup games. In 2009 the race took place over 13–14 June and started at 15:00 local time (13:00 GMT), and to this day it has started at that time ever since.

Classification

Originally, the race results were determined by distance. The car which covered the greatest distance was declared the winner. This is known to have caught out the Ford team in . With a dominant 1–2 lead, the two cars slowed to allow for a photo opportunity at the finish line, with Denny Hulme slightly ahead of Bruce McLaren. However, since McLaren's car had actually started much farther back on the grid than Hulme, McLaren's car had actually covered the greatest distance over the 24 hours. With the margin of victory determined to be eight metres, McLaren and his co-driver, Chris Amon, were declared the winners. The greatest distance rule was later changed when a rolling start was introduced, and instead the winner is now the car that has completed the greatest number of laps.

To be classified in the race results, a car is required to cross the finish line after 24 hours. This has led to dramatic scenes where damaged cars wait in the pits or on the edge of the track close to the finish line for hours, then restart their engines and crawl across the line to be listed amongst the finishers. However, this practice of waiting in the pits was banned in recent years with a requirement that a team complete a set distance within the last hour to be classified as a finisher.

Another rule instituted by the ACO was the requirement that cars complete 70% of the distance covered by the overall winner. A car failing to complete this number of laps, even if it finished the race, was not deemed worthy of classification because of poor reliability or speed.

Le Mans start

The race traditionally began with what became known as the ''Le Mans start'', in which cars were lined up alongside the pit wall in the order in which they qualified. The starting drivers would stand on the opposite side of the front stretch. When the French flag dropped to signify the start, the drivers would run across the track to their cars, which they would have to enter and start without assistance, before driving away. This became a safety issue in the late 1960s when drivers would ignore their safety harnesses, which were then a recent invention. This led to drivers running the first few laps either improperly harnessed due to attempting to do it while driving or sometimes not even harnessed at all, leading to several deaths when cars were involved in accidents due to the bunched field at the start.

This starting method inspired Porsche to locate the ignition key switch to the left of the steering wheel. In a left-hand drive car, this allowed the driver to use his left hand to start the engine, and his right hand to put the transmission into gear, which in turn shaves off a few tenths of a second.

Another method for speeding up the start was developed by Stirling Moss. His car was waiting with 1st gear already engaged. When he jumped in, he switched the starter on without depressing the clutch. The car was immediately jerked forward by the starter motor, but the engine did not start due to low RPM. After a few seconds of motion, he then pushed the clutch down, allowing the engine to speed up and start while the car was moving.

Feeling this type of start was unsafe, in the event Le Mans debutant Jacky Ickx opposed it by walking across the track while his competitors ran. Although he was nearly hit by a faster competitor's car while walking, Ickx took the time to fasten his safety belts before pulling away. Privateer John Woolfe was killed in an accident on the first lap of that race. Ickx went on to win.

The traditional Le Mans start was changed for . Cars were still lined up along the pit wall, but the drivers were already inside and strapped in. At the dropping of the French tricolor, the drivers would then start their engines and drive away. However, in 1971 this method was done away with altogether, and instead a rolling start (sometimes known as an ''Indianapolis start'') was introduced and has been used ever since.

The circuit

The circuit on which the 24 Hours of Le Mans is run is named the Circuit de la Sarthe (Circuit of the Sarthe), after the department that Le Mans is within. It consists of both permanent track and public roads that are temporarily closed for the race. Since 1923 the track has been extensively modified, mostly for safety reasons, and currently is 13.629 km in length. Although it initially entered the town of Le Mans, the track was cut short in order to better protect spectators. This led to the creation of the Dunlop Curve and Tertre Rouge corners before rejoining the old circuit on the Mulsanne. Another major change was on the Mulsanne itself, when the FIA decreed that it would no longer sanction any circuit that had a straight longer than 2 km. This led to the addition of two chicanes, reducing the time that the cars spent travelling at very high speeds on the old 5 km long straight.

The public sections of the track differ from the permanent circuit, especially in comparison with the Bugatti Circuit which is inside the Circuit de la Sarthe. Due to heavy traffic in the area, the public roads are not as smooth or well kept. They also offer less grip because of the lack of soft tyre rubber laid down from racing cars, though this only affects the first few laps of the race. The roads are closed only within a few hours of the practice sessions and the race, before being opened again almost as soon as the race is finished. Workers have to assemble and dismantle safety barriers every year for the public sections.

History

:''For a list of individual race reports, see :Category:24 Hours of Le Mans races.''

1923–1939

The 24 Hours of Le Mans was first run on 26 and 27 May 1923, through public roads around Le Mans. Originally planned to be a three year event awarded the Rudge-Whitworth Triennial Cup, with a winner being declared by the car which could go the farthest distance over three consecutive 24 Hour races, this idea was abandoned in 1928 and overall winners were declared for each single year depending on who covered the farthest distance by the time 24 hours were up. The early races were dominated by French, British, and Italian drivers, teams, and cars, with Bugatti, Bentley, and Alfa Romeo being the dominant marques. Innovations in car design began appearing at the track in the late 1930s, with Bugatti and Alfa Romeo running highly aerodynamic bodywork in order to run down the Mulsannes Straight at faster speeds. In 1936 the race was cancelled due to general strikes in France, then with the outbreak of World War II in late 1939, the race went on a ten-year hiatus.

1949–1969

Following the reconstruction of the circuit facilities, the race was resumed in 1949 with renewed interest from major automobile manufacturers. After the formation of the World Sportscar Championship in 1953, of which Le Mans was a part, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, and many others began sending multiple cars backed by their respective factories to compete for overall wins against their competitors. Their competition sometimes resulted in tragedy, as in an accident during the race in which Pierre Levegh's car crashed into a crowd of spectators, killing more than 80 people. The incident led to the widespread introduction of safety measures, not only at the circuit but elsewhere in the motorsports world. However, even though the safety standards improved, so did the speed of the cars; the move from open-cockpit roadsters to closed-cockpit coupes resulted in speeds of over on the Mulsanne. Race cars of the time were still mostly based on production road cars, but by the end of the 1960s, Ford had entered the picture with their GT40s, taking four straight wins before the era of production-based wins came to a close.

1970–1981

For the new decade, the race took a turn towards more extreme speeds and automotive designs. These extreme speeds led to the replacement of the typical standing ''Le Mans start'' with a rolling ''Indianapolis start''. Although production-based cars still raced, they were now in the lower classes while purpose-built sportscars become the norm. The Porsche 917, 935, and 936 were dominant throughout the decade, but a resurgence by French manufacturers Matra-Simca and Renault saw the first victories for the nation since the 1950 race. This decade is also remembered for strong performances from many privateer constructors, with two scoring the only victories for a privateer. John Wyer's Mirage won in while Jean Rondeau's self-titled chassis took .

1982–1993

The rest of the 1980s was known for the dominance by Porsche under the new Group C race car formula that encouraged fuel efficiency. Originally running the effective 956, it was later replaced by the 962. Both chassis were affordable enough for privateers to purchase them en masse, leading to the two model types winning six years in a row. Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz returned to sports car racing, with Jaguar being the first to break Porsche's dominance with victories in 1988 and 1990 (with the XJR-9 and Jaguar XJR-12 respectively). Mercedes-Benz won in 1989, with what was seen as the latest incarnation of the elegant "Silver Arrows", the Sauber C9, while an influx of Japanese manufacturer interest saw prototypes from Nissan and Toyota. In 1989 too a W.M.-Peugeot set up a new record speeding at 406 km/h (253 mph) in the ''Ligne Droite des Hunaudières'', famous for its 6 km (3.7 mi) long straight. Mazda would be the only Japanese manufacturer to succeed, with their unique rotary-powered 787B winning in 1991. For 1992 and 1993, Peugeot entered the sport and dominated the race with the Peugeot 905 as the Group C formula and World Sportscar Championship were fading in participation.

The circuit would also undergo one of its most notable changes in , when the 5 km long Mulsanne was modified to include two chicanes in order to stop speeds of more than 400 km/h from being reached. This began a trend by the ACO to attempt to slow the cars on various portions of the track; although speeds over 320 km/h are still regularly reached at various points on a lap.

1994–1999

Following the demise of the World Sportscar Championship, Le Mans saw a resurgence of production-based grand tourer cars. Thanks to a loophole in the rules, Porsche succeeded in convincing the ACO that a Dauer 962 Le Mans supercar was a production car, allowing Porsche to race their Porsche 962 for one final time, dominating the field. Although the ACO attempted to close the loop hole for 1995, newcomer McLaren would win the race in their supercar's first appearance thanks to reliability, beating faster yet more trouble prone prototypes. The trend would continue through the 1990s as more exotic supercars were built in order to skirt the ACO's rules regarding production-based race cars, leading to Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Nissan, Panoz, and Lotus entering the GT categories. This culminated in the event, in which these GT cars were faced with the Le Mans Prototypes of BMW, Audi, and Ferrari. BMW would survive with the victory, their first ever.

This strong manufacturer influence led the ACO to lending the Le Mans name to a sports car series in the United States in 1999, known as the American Le Mans Series, which competes to this day and serves to qualify teams to enter Le Mans.

2000–2005

Many major automobile manufacturers withdrew from sports car racing after the 1999 event, because of the cost involved. Only Cadillac and Audi remained, and Audi easily dominated the race with their R8. Cadillac pulled out of the series after three years, and although Panoz, Chrysler, and MG all briefly attempted to take on Audi, none could match the R8's performance. After three victories in a row, Audi provided engine, team staff and drivers to their corporate partner Bentley, who had returned in 2001, and the factory Bentley Speed 8s were able to succeed ahead of privateer Audis in .

Since 2006

At the end of 2005, after five overall victories for the R8, and six to its V8 turbo engine, Audi took on a new challenge by introducing a diesel engined prototype known as the R10 TDI. Although not the first diesel to race, it was the first to win at Le Mans. This era saw other alternative fuel sources being used, including bio-ethanol, while Peugeot decided to follow Audi's lead and also pursue a diesel entry in 2007 with their 908 HDi FAP.

The 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans was a great race between the Audi R10 TDI and the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP. After 24 hours of racing, the Audi managed to win the race by a margin of less than 10 minutes. For the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans, Peugeot introduced a new energy-recovery system similar to the KERS used in Formula One. Aston Martin entered the LMP1 category, but still raced in GT1 with private teams. Audi returned with the new R15 TDI, but this time Peugeot prevailed, taking their first overall triumph since 1993.

A second ACO-backed series was also formed, similar to the American Le Mans Series, but concentrating on Europe. The Le Mans Endurance Series (later shortened to Le Mans Series), resurrected many well known endurance races, and was followed by the Asian-centered Japan Le Mans Challenge in 2006.

As of 2011, Porsche remains the most successful manufacturer with a record 16 overall victories, including a record seven in a row.

Innovations

Over its lifetime, Le Mans has seen many innovations in automotive design in order to counteract some of the difficulties that the circuit and race present. These have either been dictated by rules or have been attempts by manufacturers to outwit the competition. Some have made their way into the common automobile and are used nearly every day.

Aerodynamics

One of the keys to Le Mans is top speed, caused by the long straights that dominate the circuit. This has meant cars have attempted to achieve the maximum speeds possible instead of relying on downforce for the turns. While early competitors cars were street cars with their bodywork removed to reduce weight, innovators like Bugatti developed cars which saw the beginnings of aerodynamics. Nicknamed ''tanks'' due to their similarity to a drop tank, these cars used simple curves to cover all the mechanical elements of the car and increase top speed. Once Le Mans returned after World War II, most manufacturers would adopt closed bodies which were streamlined for better aerodynamics. A notable example in the changes brought about by aerodynamics are the 1950 entries by Briggs Cunningham. Cunningham entered two 1950 Cadillac Coupe de Villes, one nearly stock and the other completely rebodied in a streamlined aluminum shape developed by aeronautical engineers from Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation. The streamlined car looked so unusual that it was nicknamed "Le Monstre" by the French press. The smoothing of body shapes and fairing-in of various parts of the machine brought about by the continual search for reduction of aerodynamic drag led to a separation from Grand Prix cars, which rarely had large bodywork.

As the years went on, bodywork became larger while at the same time lighter. The larger bodywork was able to provide more downforce for the turns without increasing the drag, allowing cars to maintain the high top speeds. These extended bodyworks would usually concentrate on the rear of the car, usually being termed ''long tail''. The bodywork also began to cover the cockpit for less drag, although open cockpits would come and go over the years as rules varied. Aerodynamics reached its peak in 1989, before the Mulsanne Straight was modified. During the race, the crew of a W.M. prototype taped over the engine openings and set a recorded speed of 404 km/h (251 mph) down the Mulsanne in a publicity stunt, although the car was almost undrivable elsewhere on the circuit and the engine was soon destroyed from a lack of cooling. However, for the event, the Mercedes-Benz C9 reached 399 km/h (248 mph) under qualifying conditions.

Engines

A wide variety of engines have competed at Le Mans, in attempts to not only achieve greater speed but also to have better fuel economy, and spend less time in the pits. Engine sizes have also varied greatly, with the smallest engines being a mere 569 cc (Simca Cinq) and the largest upwards of 7986 cc (Chrysler Viper GTS-R). Supercharging was an early innovation for increasing output, first being raced in , while turbocharging would not appear until .

The first car to enter without an engine run by pistons would be in , when Rover partnered with British Racing Motors to run a gas turbine with mixed success, repeating again in . The American Howmet Corporation would attempt to run a turbine again in with even less success. Although the engines offered great power, they were notoriously hot and uneconomical for fuel.

Another non-piston engine that would appear would be a Wankel engine, otherwise known as the rotary engine. Run entirely by Mazda since its introduction in 1970, the compact engine would also suffer from fuel economy problems like the turbine had, yet would see the success that the turbine lacked. After many years of development, Mazda finally succeeded in being the only winner of the race to not have a piston-powered engine, taking the event with the 787B.

Alternative fuel sources would also play a part in more normal engine designs, with the first non-gasoline car appearing in . The Delettrez Special would be powered by a diesel engine, while a second diesel would appear in the form of the M.A.P. the following year. Although diesel would appear at other times over the race existence, it would not be until 2006 when a major manufacturer, Audi, would invest in diesels and finally succeed, with the R10 TDI.

Ethanol fuel appeared in 1980 in a modified Porsche 911, taking a class win. Alternative biological fuel sources would return again in with Team Nasamax's DM139-Judd. In 2008, the use of biofuels (10% ethanol for petrol engines and biodiesel respectively for diesel engines) were allowed. Audi was the first to use next generation 10% BTL biodiesel manufactured from biomass and developed by partner Shell.

From 2009 onwards the Le Mans regulations new from the ACO allow hybrid vehicles to be entered, with either KERS or TERS setups, however the only energy storage allowed will be electrical (i.e. batteries), seemingly ruling out any flywheel-based energy recovery systems. Cars equipped with KERS systems were allowed to race in 2009 with specific classification rules. From 2010 they will be able to compete for points and the championship.

Brakes

With increased speeds around the track, brakes become a key issue for teams attempting to safely bring their cars down to a slow enough speed to make turns such as Mulsanne Corner. Disc brakes were first seen on a car when the Jaguar C-Type raced at Le Mans in . The Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR would introduce the concept of an air brake in 1955, using a large opening hood on the rear of the car.

In the 1980s, anti-lock braking systems would become standard on most Group C cars as a safety measure, ensuring that cars did not lose control while still moving at approximately 320 km/h. By the late 1990s, reinforced carbon-carbon brakes would be adapted for better stopping power and reliability.

Successful marques and drivers

:''For a list of winning drivers, teams, and cars, see List of 24 Hours of Le Mans winners.'' Over the years, many manufacturers have managed to take the overall win, while even more have taken class wins. By far the most successful marque in the history of the race is Porsche, which has taken sixteen overall victories, including seven in a row from 1981 to 1987. Audi is next with ten, and Ferrari follows with nine, also including six in a row from 1960 to 1965. Recently the Audi marque has dominated the event, winning in ten of the thirteen years it has participated. Audi and Team Joest have had two hat-tricks, the first being in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Jaguar has seven wins, while Bentley, Alfa Romeo, and Ford all managed to win four races in a row, with Bentley recording two other victories in other years as well. The only Japanese marque to win the race so far has been Mazda, although nearly every major Japanese manufacturer has made attempts at the race. Mazda's 1991 victory is the only win by a rotary engine, one of Mazda's hallmarks.

Two drivers stand apart for their number of victories. Initially Jacky Ickx held the record at six, scoring victories between 1969 and , earning him an honorary citizenship to the town of Le Mans. However Dane Tom Kristensen has beaten this record with eight wins between and 2008, including six in a row. Three-time winner Woolf Barnato ( to ) and American racing legend AJ Foyt (1967) are still the only drivers to have won every Le Mans they participated in.

Henri Pescarolo has won the race four times, and currently holds the record for the most Le Mans appearances at 33. Japan's Yojiro Terada, currently still active as a driver, holds the record for the most Le Mans starts without a win. Graham Hill is the only driver to win the so-called ''Triple Crown of Motorsport'' which is defined as winning the Indianapolis 500 (won by Hill in 1966), Monaco Grand Prix (1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1969) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1972)

Accidents

With the high speeds associated with Le Mans, the track has seen a number of accidents, some of which have been fatal to drivers and spectators. The worst moment in Le Mans history was during the 1955 race in which more than 80 spectators and driver Pierre Levegh were killed. In the shock following this disaster, many major and minor races were cancelled in 1955, such as the Grand Prix races in Germany and Switzerland (the latter as a reaction having banned motorsport round-track races throughout the entire country to this day). This accident brought wide sweeping safety regulations to all motorsports series, for both driver and spectator protection. In Jo Gartner drove a Porsche 962C and crashed into the barriers on the Mulsanne straight, killing him instantly. His accident was the most recent fatality in the race itself, however there was the fatality of Sebastien Enjolras in 1997 during the practices.

In one of the most recognizable recent accidents, calamity would once again strike Mercedes-Benz, although without fatality. The Mercedes-Benz CLRs which competed in 1999 would suffer from aerodynamic instabilities that caused the cars to become airborne in the right conditions. After initially happening at the Le Mans test day, Mercedes claimed they had solved the problem, only to have it occur again at Warm Up hours before the race. Mark Webber was the unlucky driver to flip the car on both occasions. The final and most damaging accident occurred during the race itself when Peter Dumbreck's CLR became airborne and then proceeded to fly over the safety fencing, landing in the woods several metres away. No drivers were badly hurt in any of the three accidents, but Mercedes-Benz quickly withdrew their remaining entry and ended their entire sportscar programme.

In 2011, two horrific looking accidents would occur to two of the three factory Audis running in the LMP1 class. Near the end of the first hour, the #3 car driven by Allan McNish collided with one of the Ferrari GT class cars resulting in McNish's car violently smashing into the tyre wall and being thrown into the air at the Dunlop chicanes, resulting in pieces of bodywork flying over and nearly hitting many photographers on the other side of the barrier. In the eleventh hour of the race, another massive accident would occur this time to the #1 car driven by Mike Rockenfeller when he also appeared to have contact with another Ferrari GT car. On the run up to Indianapolis corner Rockenfeller's Audi was sent into the outside barrier at well over . Only the main cockpit safety cell of the car remained along with major damage being done to the barriers that needed to be repaired before the race was resumed. Nobody in either of these accidents was injured, despite both chassis' being written off, thus showing how racing cars continue to advance in safety over the years.

Appearances in media

The 1964 event plays a critical part in the Academy Award winning ''Un Homme et Une Femme'', in which the wife of the driver hero commits suicide when she mistakenly thinks that he has been killed in an accident during the race.

The 1969 event, known for its close finish, was documented in a short film entitled ''La Ronde Infernale''. This was given a limited cinema release but is now available on DVD.

The race became the center of a major motion picture in 1971 when Steve McQueen released his simply titled ''Le Mans'', starring McQueen as Michael Delaney, a driver in the 1970 event for the Gulf Porsche team. Likened to other motorsports films such as ''Grand Prix'' for Formula One racing and ''Winning'' for the Indianapolis 500, Le Mans is the best known film to center on sports car racing. It was filmed during the race using modified racing cars carrying cameras, as well as purchased Porsche 917s, Ferrari 512s and Lola T70s for action shots made after the race. The Porsche 908 which served as a camera car in the race actually finished, yet was so far behind the winners due to lengthy reel changes during pit stops that it was not classified in the results.

A modern film not centering on Le Mans yet featuring events from the race was ''Michel Valliant'', about a French comic book motorsports hero. Again using two camera cars to tape action during the race, the French film was not as widely accepted as ''Le Mans'' had been. The 1974 TV show ''The Goodies'' also featured an episode entitled ''The Race'', involving a comedic trio attempting to run Le Mans.

More recently, a documentary film called ''Truth in 24'', narrated by Jason Statham, covered the Audi team in its effort to win a 5th straight title in 2008. The race features prominently as the film covers the racing season leading up to the Le Mans race.

The race has also been used for several video games over the years, some of which have allowed players to compete for the full 24 hours. Although most used the Le Mans name itself, the PlayStation 2 game ''Gran Turismo 4'' also included the Circuit de la Sarthe and allowed players to run the full 24 hour races with and without the chicanes on the Mulsanne Straight. The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC game ''Race Driver: Grid'' also includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the end of each in-game season albeit being only 24 minutes in length by default. However the player can also choose to compete in the race for different lengths of time ranging from several minutes to a full 24 hours. The Xbox 360 game ''Forza Motorsport 3'' features the track in 3 different configurations: the full Circuit De La Sarthe, the old configuration without the chicanes, and the Bugatti circuit. ''Gran Turismo 5'' includes the 2005 version and 2009 version, with and without chicanes. ''Gran Turismo (PSP)''] included the 2005 version (with the chicanes on the Mulsanne Straight) and the old version (without the chicanes).

Coverage

Motors TV covered the Le Mans 24 Hours in the entirety in 2006 and 2007. This included coverage of the scrutineering, qualifying, driver parade, warm up and the whole race. In the United States, Speed Channel airs partial live coverage through a combination of coverage from the French host broadcaster and their own pit reporting crew. In 2008 Eurosport secured a multi-year deal to show the entire race including the qualifying and the motorcycle race. Every hour of the 2008 race was broadcasted in segments on the main channel and on Eurosport 2, however in recent years, a couple of Hours have been missed due to scheduling clashes with other sports. In addition live streaming video was provided on Eurosport's web page, albeit not for free. But since 2009, Eurosport and Eurosport 2 has been covering non-stop between those two channels, all 24 hours of action.

The race is also broadcast (in English) on radio by Radio Le Mans. Broadcast from the circuit for the full 24 hours as well as before and after, it offers fans at the race the ability to listen to commentary through radio. Radio Le Mans is also broadcast through internet radio on their website.

Vintage racing

Since 2001, the ACO has allowed the Le Mans Legend event to participate on the full Circuit de la Sarthe during the 24 Hours week. These exhibition races involve classic cars which had previously run at Le Mans or similar to ones that had. Each year, a set era of cars is allowed to participate, with the era changing from year to year. Though mostly amateur drivers, some famous drivers have appeared to race cars they had previously run, such as Stirling Moss.

Starting in 2002, the Le Mans Classic has taken place on the full 13 km circuit in July as a biannual event. The races take places over a full 24 hour day/night cycle, with starts on set times allowing cars from the same era to compete at the same time. A team typically consists of a car in each class, and the team with the most points accumulated over five or six classes declared the overall winner. The classes are based on the era in which the cars would have competed, the exact class requirements are re-evaluated for every event since for every event the age for the youngest entries is shifted by 2 years. Although the format of the first event saw 5 classes doing more short races, later events have seen 6 classes do fewer but longer races. With the upcoming 2008 event probably allowing early Group C contenders, this format could see yet another revision with either more classes or classes spanning longer periods in time. Drivers are also required to have an FIA International Competition license to participate. This event also includes a large concours and auction.

See also

24 Hours of Le Mans (motorcycle race)

24 Hours of LeMons

Endurance racing

Le Mans 24 Hours video games

List of 24 Hours of Le Mans winners

Triple Crown of Motorsport

References

Le Mans 1965 in Automobile Historique n°48 May 2005 24 heures du Mans 1973 in Automobile Historique n°49 June/July 2005

External links

Le Mans official website

Radio Le Mans – Le Mans history

Racing Sports Cars – historical photos and results

Category:Sarthe Category:Recurring events established in 1923 Category:Group C racing Le Mans

bg:24-те часа на Льо Ман ca:24 Hores de Le Mans cs:24 hodin Le Mans da:24-timers racerløbet i Le Mans de:24-Stunden-Rennen von Le Mans et:Le Mansi 24-tunni võidusõit es:24 Horas de Le Mans eo:24 Horoj de Manso eu:Le Manseko 24 Orduak fr:24 Heures du Mans gl:24 Horas de Le Mans ko:르망 24시 hr:24 sata Le Mansa io:24 hori apud Le Mans id:24 Hours of Le Mans it:24 Ore di Le Mans he:מרוץ 24 השעות של לה מאן lv:Lemānas 24 stundu sacīkstes lt:24 valandų Le Mano lenktynės li:24 oer van Le Mans hu:Le Mans-i 24 órás autóverseny ms:24 Jam Le Mans nl:24 uur van Le Mans ja:ル・マン24時間レース no:24-timersløpet på Le Mans nn:24-timarsløpet i Le Mans pl:24h Le Mans pt:24 Horas de Le Mans ro:Cursa de 24 de ore de la Le Mans ru:24 часа Ле-Мана sk:24 hodín Le Mans sl:24 ur Le Mansa fi:Le Mansin 24 tunnin ajo sv:Le Mans 24-timmars tr:Le Mans 24 Saat uk:24 години Ле-Мана zh:勒芒24小时耐力赛

Name	Le Mans
Region	Pays de la Loire
Department	Sarthe
Arrondissement	Le Mans
Insee	72181
Postal code	72000
Dialling code	(0)243
Mayor	Jean-Claude Boulard
Term	2001–2008
Intercommunality	Le Mans
Longitude	0.19844
Latitude	48.00773
Elevation m	51
Elevation min m	38
Elevation max m	134
Area km2	52.81
Population	148169
Population date	2006 }}

Le Mans () is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Mans. Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region.

Its inhabitants are called ''Manceaux'' and ''Mancelles''. It has been host to the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race since 1923.

History

First mentioned by Ptolemy, the Roman city ''Vindinium'' was the capital of the Aulerci, a sub tribe of the Aedui. Le Mans is also known as ''Civitas Cenomanorum'' (City of the Cenomani). Their city, seized by the Romans in 47 BC, lies in the ancient Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis. An amphitheatre built in the third century AD is still visible, but the ''thermae'' were demolished during the crisis of the third century to build the city's walls, which remain some of the most complete circuit of Gallo-Roman city walling that survives.

Gregory of Tours mentions a Frankish sub-king Rigomer, who was killed by King Clovis I in his campaign to unite the Frankish territories.

As the principal city of Maine, Le Mans was the stage for struggles in the eleventh century between the counts of Anjou and the dukes of Normandy. When the Normans had control of Maine, William the Conqueror was able to invade England successfully; however in 1069 the citizens revolted and expelled the Normans, which led to Hugh being proclaimed count of Maine. Geoffrey V of Anjou married Mathilde in the cathedral, where Henry II Plantagenet, king of England, was baptized.

World War II

Soon after Le Mans was liberated by the U.S. 79th and 90th Infantry Divisions on 8 August 1944, engineers of the Ninth Air Force IX Engineering Command began construction of a combat Advanced Landing Ground outside of the town. The airfield was declared operational on 3 September and designated as "A-35". It was used by several American fighter and transport units until late November when the airfield was closed.

Main sights

Le Mans has a well-preserved old town (''Cité Plantagenêt'', also called ''Vieux Mans''), where the cobbled streets and half-timbered house fronts provided setting for Gérard Depardieu in ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' (1989) and a cathedral: Cathédrale St-Julien, is dedicated to St Julian of Le Mans, who is honoured as the city's first bishop.

There are remnants of a Roman wall in the old town and Roman baths by the river. These wall are highlighted every summer (July and August) evening in a light show that tells the history of the town.

Arboretum de la Grand Prée

Jardin des Plantes du Mans

Musée de la reine Bérengère, a museum of Le Mans history located in a gothic manor house.

Musée de Tessé, the fine arts museum of the city, displaying painting (including artworks by Philippe de Champaigne, Charles Le Brun, François Boucher, John Constable, Ingres, Théodore Géricault and Camille Corot) and archeological collections as well as decorative arts.

Demographics

At the 1999 French census, there were 293,159 inhabitants in the metropolitan area (''aire urbaine'') of Le Mans, with 146,105 of these living in the city proper (commune).

Transportation

The Gare du Mans is the main railway station of Le Mans. It takes 1 hour to reach Paris from Le Mans by TGV high speed train. There are also TGV connections to Lille, Marseille, Nantes, Rennes and Brest. Gare du Mans is also a hub for regional trains. Le Mans inaugurated a new light rail system on 17 November 2007.

Sport

Motorsport

The city is best known for its connection with motorsports. There are actually two separate racing tracks at Le Mans, though they share certain portions. The smaller is the Bugatti Circuit (named after Ettore Bugatti, founder of the car company bearing his name), a relatively short permanent circuit which is used for racing throughout the year. The longer and more famous Circuit de la Sarthe is composed partly of public roads, which are closed to the public when the track is in use for racing, and has been host to the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race since 1923. Boutiques and shops are set up during the race selling merchandise and promoting products for cars. The first French Grand Prix took place on a 64-mile (103 km) circuit based at Le Mans in 1906. The "Le Mans start" takes its name from the way racers lined up across the street from their cars and ran across the street and jumped into their cars to begin.

Basketball

Le Mans Sarthe Basket

Football

Le Mans UC72

Cycling

Circuit de la Sarthe (cycling)

Notable people

Le Mans was the birthplace of:

Henry II of England, born 1133

Geoffroy V d'Anjou, born 1113

Geoffrey de Goreham or Gorron, became Abbot of St Albans, Hertfordshire, UK, in 1119

Dom Louis Le Pelletier, born 1663, linguist of the Breton language

Gilles-François de Beauvais, born 7 July 1693, was a Jesuit writer and preacher.

Basil Moreau,C.S.C, born 1799, a priest of Le Mans founded the Congregation of Holy Cross. Beatified in Le Mans 2007.

the Papin sisters whose act of murder (1933) inspired Jean Genêt's ''The Maids''.

Jean Françaix, born in 1912, composer

Jean Rondeau, born in 1946, racecar driver and constructor

François Fillon, born in 1954, Prime Minister of France.

Julien Cottereau, born 1969, actor and clown – Cirque du Soleil, now in his own show Imagine Toi.

Sébastien Bourdais, born 1979, racecar driver

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, born 1985, professional tennis player.

Guillaume Loriot footballer

Gilles Villeneuve, lived temporarily in Le Mans in 1973.

David Jason, English actor, lived in Le Mans between 1965–1968 and 1999–2001.

Andy Wallace, born 1961, racecar driver

Leslie, born 4 February 1985, French singer

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Le Mans is twinned with: Bolton, England, United Kingdom Haouza, Western Sahara Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany—officially since 1967, traditionally since 836 (oldest partnership of its kind in Europe). Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Oblast, Russia Suzuka, Japan Volos, Greece Xianyang, Shaanxi, China Alexandria, Egypt

Gastronomy

The culinary specialty of Le Mans is ''rillettes'', a shredded pork pâté.

Landmarks

At Mayet, near Le Mans, and with a height of 342 m, the Le Mans-Mayet transmitter is one of the tallest radio masts in France.

See also

Communes of the Sarthe department

References

INSEE

External links

Official website Virtual visit Le Mans Nights – Unique experience in Europe. Le Mans 24 Hours official site lemans-history.com – The history of a Legend (Luis Santos)

Le Mans Portugal – All (or almost) about the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Le Mans Series... in Portuguese

Category:Communes of Sarthe

af:Le Mans ar:لو مان bn:ল্য মঁস br:Ar Mañs bg:Льо Ман ca:Le Mans ceb:Le Mans cs:Le Mans cy:Le Mans da:Le Mans de:Le Mans et:Le Mans es:Le Mans eo:Le Mans eu:Le Mans fr:Le Mans ko:르망 id:Le Mans it:Le Mans he:לה מאן kl:Le Mans ka:ლა-მანი sw:Le Mans lad:Le Mans la:Cenomanum lt:Le Manas hu:Le Mans nl:Le Mans (stad) ja:ル・マン no:Le Mans nn:Le Mans oc:Lo Mans pnb:لی مانس pl:Le Mans pt:Le Mans ro:Le Mans ru:Ле-Ман simple:Le Mans sk:Le Mans sl:Le Mans sr:Ле Ман fi:Le Mans sv:Le Mans tr:Le Mans uk:Ле-Ман vi:Le Mans vo:Le Mans war:Le Mans zh:勒芒

24 Hours or Twenty Four Hours may refer to:

Day

Nychthemeron, any period of 24 consecutive hours

Newspaper (Serbian: 24 sata), a newspaper from Serbia

In fiction:

''24 Hours'' (1931 film), a 1931 drama

''24 Hours'' (2002 film), a Croatian anthology film

''24 Hours'' (2010 film), a Malayalam language film

''24 Hours'' (magazine), the previous name of ''Limelight'', an Australian classical music and arts magazine

''24 Hours'' (novel), a novel by Greg Iles

''24 Hours'' (TV series), a BBC documentary series

''24'' (TV series), an American TV series that takes place in "real time" over a span of 24-hours

''24H'' (newspaper), formerly ''24 Hours'', a chain of free daily newspapers published in Canada

''24Hours'', the name of CBWT Winnipeg's local newscast between 1970 and 2000

In music:

''24 Hours'', a 2008 album by Tom Jones

''24 Hours'' (album), an album by The Kleptones

"24 Hours" (song), a song from the Canadian TV series ''Instant Star''

"24 Hours" (Andrea Corr song)

"24 Hours" (or "Twenty Four Hours"), a song by Eddie Boyd

"Twenty Four Hours", a song by Joy Division from ''Closer''

"Twenty Four Hours / Stand in the Sun", a single by Athlete

See also

24 (disambiguation)

24-hour clock

24/7, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

;Foreign languages

24 Heures (disambiguation)

''24 sata'' (Croatia), a Croatian newspaper

''Il Sole 24 Ore'', an Italian daily business newspaper

''24 Chasa'', a Bulgarian newspaper

''24 Oras'', a Philippine early evening newscast

fr:24 heures it:24 ore ja:24時間 pl:24 godziny ru:24 часа sh:24 sata zh:24小時

{{infobox f1 driver| name	Allan McNish | image Allan McNish 2006 EMS.jpg | nationality British | birth_date December 29, 1969 | Years | Team(s) Toyota, Renault (Test Driver) | Races 17 (16 starts) | Championships 0 | Wins 0 | Podiums 0 | Poles 0 | Fastest laps 0 | Points 0 | First race 2002 Australian Grand Prix | First win | Last win | Last race 2002 Japanese Grand Prix | }}

{{infobox le mans driver | years	1997 - 2000, 2004 - | Team(s) Roock Racing, Porsche AG, Toyota Motorsports, Audi Sport Joest, Audi Sport UK, Champion Racing | Best Finish 1st (1998, 2008) | Class Wins 2 (1998, 2008) | }}

Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a Scottish racing driver. He is a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2008, and two-time American Le Mans Series champion.

Early life

McNish who was born in Dumfries, Scotland played football while at school. He was a fan of Nottingham Forest and also supported his local club Queen of the South. It wasn't until McNish began in karting that he found something at which he excelled.

Early career

McNish began his career in karting like fellow Dumfries and Galloway driver David Coulthard. McNish credited the start given to both of them and Dario Franchitti as being largely down to David Leslie senior and junior.

McNish and Coulthard both were recognised with a McLaren/Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year award having moved up to car racing. In 1988 he won the Formula Vauxhall Lotus championship and in 1989 finished runner up to David Brabham in a close fought British Formula Three Championship. During the late 1980s McNish shared a house with team mate Mika Häkkinen.

Tipped as a future F1 driver, he tested with both McLaren and Benetton, whilst also competing in F3000, then the recognised second tier of European motorsport, in 1990-1992. Whilst racing his first season in F3000, McNish suffered a crash at a race in Donington Park where a bystander was fatally injured. He went on to finish 4th overall in the championship that season. Concentrating on F1 opportunities meant he appeared in F3000 only once during 1994, at Pau.

When an F1 drive failed to materialise, he returned to F3000 in 1995 with Paul Stewart Racing (run by the son of Sir Jackie Stewart who went on to form Stewart Grand Prix). While he was arguably the fastest driver of the year, a series of mishaps saw him well beaten by Super Nova drivers Vincenzo Sospiri and Ricardo Rosset in the title race. McNish's career appeared to stall in early 1996 after a deal to race in Formula Nippon fell through and Mark Blundell was preferred for a drive with the PacWest CART team. He also tested for Benetton during the year.

Sports cars

Having devoted his career to the pursuit of an F1 chance, it is ironic that McNish has become one of the world's most highly rated sportscar drivers. His sportscar career began in 1996 with Porsche, at a time when their 911 GT1 model revolutionized sportscar racing. With the factory team he took this car to victory in the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans, partnered by Laurent Aïello and Stephane Ortelli. He subsequently appeared for Toyota and Audi in the race, and after losing a likely victory in the dying stages of the 2007 event, scored a second triumph in 2008 with Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello driving an Audi R10. He has also raced with great success for Audi in the American Le Mans Series, winning the title with Dindo Capello in 2006 and 2007, and taking three overall victories at the 12 Hours of Sebring (2004, 2006 and 2009).

Formula One

McNish finally found an opening into Formula One in 2001, when the newly formed Toyota F1 team required a development driver. Given his link with Toyota through sportscars he was an obvious choice for this role, and after impressing in testing he was hired to race for the season. He did not score any points during the season's 17 races, and he and team-mate Mika Salo were replaced with a new line-up of Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta for 2003. Salo had scored points for the team on their debut in Melbourne and McNish had very nearly done the same in the Malaysian Grand Prix, only for a pit lane mistake by the team to cost him the result. Both drivers were told of their replacement before Da Matta was announced, and ITV's Martin Brundle commented that "replacing Salo and McNish with Panis and A.N. Other" was not, in his view, a step forward .

McNish had a dramatic accident at the 130R corner while practising for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, but escaped serious injury. This led to the corner being reprofiled the following year .

After Formula One

In 2003 he was a test driver for Renault F1, also doing a little TV work for ITV, but the next year he returned to his successful sports car racing career, winning the 12 Hours of Sebring, combining this in 2005 with a venture into the highly competitive DTM (German Touring Car Championship), where he competed against the likes of former F1 men Mika Häkkinen and Jean Alesi. He also won Sportscar Driver of the Year awards from the Autosport and Le Mans magazines and the (Jackie) Stewart Medal Award for services to Scottish Motor Sport. He was made the President of the Scottish Motor Racing Club at their annual Prize Giving and Dinner in 2007, succeeding Sir Jackie Stewart.

In 2006, he continued racing with the Audi factory team and was part of the driving line up which won the 12 Hours of Sebring in the new Audi R10 TDI diesel, setting pole position and breaking the lap record. In 2008, McNish won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Audi alongside Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello. It was his first win at la Sarthe since .

Since Formula 1 has introduced the Drivers' Representative on the stewards panel at all Grands Prix, McNish has featured as the Drivers' Representative twice in the 2011 season, in Monaco and most recently in Hungary and on both occasions he has penalised the McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton for various trangressions. He has also appeared in a Scania video test driving their new R730 V8.

Other formulae

As well as those above, McNish has also raced in the following racing series:

Karting

Formula Ford

Vauxhall Lotus

British Formula 3

North American GT

FIA GT

Personal life

He lives in Monaco with his wife Kelly. Prior to his marriage, McNish's stag party in Dumfries was attended by Dario Franchitti and Marino Franchitti and included taking in a Queen of the South football match.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.)

! Year

! Entrant

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! DC

! Points

! Pacific Racing

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! NC

! 0

! DAMS

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bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#dfffdf"

bgcolor="#dfdfdf"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

! 4th

! 26

! DAMS

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bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFCFCF"

bgcolor="#dfffdf"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

! 16th

! 2

! 3001 International

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#dfffdf"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#dfffdf"

! 11th

! 8

! Vortex Motorsport

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

! 9th

! 6

! Paul Stewart Racing

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#dfdfdf"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#dfffdf"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

! 7th

! 11

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

! Year	! Team	! Car			! Team mate	! Team mate	! Position
	Rook Racing		Karl Wendlinger	Stephane Ortelli	DNF
	Porsche AG		Laurent Aiello	Stephane Ortelli
		Toyota GT-One	Thierry Boutsen	Ralf Kelleners	DNF
	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R8	Laurent Aiello	Stephane Ortelli
	Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx	Audi R8	Frank Biela	Pierre Kaffer	5th
		Audi R8	Frank Biela	Emanuele Pirro
		Audi R10 TDI	Tom Kristensen	Rinaldo Capello
		Audi R10 TDI	Tom Kristensen	Rinaldo Capello	DNF
		Audi R10 TDI	Tom Kristensen	Rinaldo Capello
	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R15 TDI	Tom Kristensen	Rinaldo Capello
	Audi Sport Team Joest		Tom Kristensen	Rinaldo Capello
		Audi R18 TDI	Tom Kristensen	Rinaldo Capello	DNF

Complete American Le Mans Series results

! Year

! Entrant

! Class

! Chassis

! Engine

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! Rank

! Points

! Champion Racing

! LMP

Porsche 911 GT1#911 GT1 Evo>Porsche 911 GT1 Evo

! Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

! 25th

! 47

rowspan=2

!rowspan=2

LMP

Audi R8 (race car)>Audi R8

Audi 3.6L Turbo V8

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bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

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bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

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bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

! Audi R8R

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

! Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx

! LMP1

Audi R8 (race car)>Audi R8

! Audi 3.6L Turbo V8

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

! 7th

! 26

ADT Security Services>ADT Champion Racing

! LMP1

Audi R8 (race car)>Audi R8

! Audi 3.6L Turbo V8

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

! 10th

! 22

rowspan=2

!rowspan=2

LMP1

! Audi R10 TDI

Audi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel engine>Diesel)

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

Audi R8 (race car)>Audi R8

! Audi 3.6L Turbo V8

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

Champion Racing>Audi Sport North America

! LMP1

! Audi R10 TDI

Audi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel engine>Diesel)

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

Champion Racing>Audi Sport North America

! LMP1

! Audi R10 TDI

Audi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel engine>Diesel)

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

! 8th

! 60

Joest Racing>Audi Sport Team Joest

! LMP1

! Audi R15 TDI

Audi 5.5L Turbo V10 (Diesel engine>Diesel)

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

! 10th

! 30

Joest Racing>Audi Sport Team Joest

! LMP1

! Audi R15 TDI plus

Audi 5.5L Turbo V10 (Diesel engine>Diesel)

bgcolor="#FFDF9F"

! NC

! NC

Joest Racing>Audi Sport Team Joest

! LMP1

! Audi R15 TDI plus

Audi 5.5L Turbo V10 (Diesel engine>Diesel)

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

! NC*

! NC*

* Season in progress.

Complete Formula One results

(key)

! Year

! Entrant

! Chassis

! Engine

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! 13

! 14

! 15

! 16

! 17

! WDC

List of Formula One World Championship points scoring systems>Points

! [[Panasonic Corporation

! [[Toyota F1

! [[Toyota F1

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

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bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

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bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFFFFF"

! 19th

! 0

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! [[Renault F1

[[Renault F1

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! [[Renault F1

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Complete DTM results

(key)

! Year

! Team

! Car

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! Pos

! Points

! Abt Sportsline

Audi A4#B7>Audi A4 DTM 2005

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! 10th

! 13

References

External links

Allan McNish's official website

Allan McNish's official blog

Richard's F1 interview with Allan McNish

Profile - by FIA GT Championship official website

Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:Scottish Formula One drivers Category:Scottish racecar drivers Category:British Formula Three Championship drivers Category:DTM drivers Category:FIA GT Championship drivers Category:24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Category:People from Dumfries Category:American Le Mans Series drivers Category:International Formula 3000 drivers Category:Segrave Trophy recipients Category:Le Mans Series drivers Category:People educated at St. Joseph's College, Dumfries

bs:Allan McNish ca:Allan McNish cs:Allan McNish de:Allan McNish es:Allan McNish fr:Allan McNish id:Allan McNish it:Allan McNish lv:Alans Maknišs hu:Allan McNish nl:Allan McNish ja:アラン・マクニッシュ nn:Allan McNish pl:Allan McNish pt:Allan McNish ro:Allan McNish ru:Макниш, Алан sl:Allan McNish fi:Allan McNish sv:Allan McNish

{| style="float:right; background:transparent;" |

name	Mike Rockenfeller
nationality	German
birth date	October 31, 1983
birth place	Neuwied (Germany)
current series	DTM
first year	2007
current team	Audi Sport Team Rosberg
car number	11
starts	31
wins	1
poles	0
fastest laps	2
best finish	11th
year	2008
prev series	Le Mans SeriesRolex Sports Car SeriesFIA GTGerman Carrera CupFormula König
prev series years	2008200620052002-20042001
titles	Le Mans SeriesFIA GT Championship GT2German Carrera Cup
title years	200820052004
award years	}}

|} Mike Rockenfeller (born October 31, 1983 in Neuwied), nicknamed "Rocky", is a German race car driver, currently an Audi factory driver competing in the Le Mans Series and DTM.

Career

Rockenfeller began racing karts in 1995 at age of 11, winning the Bambini North state championship. He competed in various local and national karting series in the 1990s. In 2002, he won the Jörg van Ommen Kart Cup Super Series.

In 2001, Rockenfeller moved to cars, and finished 4th in the Formula König championship, winning one race. In 2002, he joined the Porsche Junior team and raced in the German Carrera Cup, finishing 10th, and in a partial Porsche Supercup season. In 2003, he finished 2nd in the German Carrera Cup championship, and made his American Le Mans Series debut at Petit Le Mans, finishing 10th in GT2 class. In 2004, Rockenfeller won the German Carrera Cup and also won two races in Porsche Supercup. At that year he also raced at the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 1000km of Nürburgring, and Petit Le Mans.

2005 became Rockenfeller's breakthrough year. He became a full Porsche factory driver and won the GT2 class driver championship title in the FIA GT Championship driving with Marc Lieb for GruppeM Racing. He collected 6 class wins, including the Spa 24 Hours. Rockenfeller also won the GT2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving with Lieb and Leo Hindrey for Alex Job Racing. 2006 saw him race again in the ALMS and Grand-Am series for Alex Job. He won in the ALMS at Houston and finished second in LMP2 class at Petit Le Mans, driving a Porsche RS Spyder for Penske Racing. He also took two Grand-Am wins.

For 2007, Rockenfeller became an Audi factory driver and raced an A4 DTM for Audi Sport Team Rosberg in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. He also participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving an Audi R10. In addition to DTM and having already moderate experience with Le Mans Prototype cars, in 2008 he drove for Audi Sport Team Joest in the Le Mans Series, alongside Alexandre Prémat. Despite not winning any races, Rockenfeller and Prémat won the title at the 2008 1000 km of Silverstone, after an accident on lap 46 for the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP of Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gené. He also participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, occupying the third Audi entry with Prémat and Lucas Luhr. After qualifying fifth, their entry finished in fourth place overall, seven laps down on winning team-mates Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish.

For 2009, Rockenfeller continues in the DTM with Team Rosberg.

Rockenfeller starts the 2010 racing season winning the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona overall in the Action Express Racing Porsche Riley with teammates João Barbosa, Terry Borcheller, and Ryan Dalziel.

In the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans, Rockenfeller was involved in a horrific accident at Porsche corner while passing a slower GTE vehicle at 5:49 into the race. Shortly after nightfall, he was involved in a violent crash at the kinks on the straight between Mulsanne Corner and Indianapolis after near contact with the number 71 car of Robert Kauffman. Rockenfeller then climbed from his car and jumped to safety over the Armco barrier. He sustained a small flesh wound on his right arm and was admitted into a hospital overnight for observation.

Accolades

FIA GT Championship GT2 Champion: 2005

24 Hours Nürburgring overall winner: 2006

24 Hours of Le Mans GT2 winner: 2005

Spa 24 Hours GT2 winner: 2005

24 Hours of Daytona overall winner: 2010

24 Hours of Le Mans overall winner: 2010

Racing record

Complete DTM results

(key)

! Year

! Team

! Car

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! Pos

! Points

! Team Rosberg

Audi A4#B7>Audi A4 DTM 2006

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! 12th

! 11

! Team Rosberg

Audi A4#B7>Audi A4 DTM 2007

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! 11th

! 6

! Team Rosberg

Audi A4 (B8)>Audi A4 DTM 2008

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! 14th

! 4

Phoenix Racing>Team Phoenix

Audi A4 (B8)>Audi A4 DTM 2008

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! 7th

! 22

! Abt Sportsline

Audi A4 (B8)>Audi A4 DTM 2009

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! 6th

! 20

24 Hours of Le Mans results

! Year	! Class	! No	! Tyres	! Car	! Team	! Co-Drivers	! Laps	! Pos.	! ClassPos.
2004 24 Hours of Le Mans>2004	GT	87					223	DNF	DNF
2005 24 Hours of Le Mans>2005	GT2	71					332	10th
2007 24 Hours of Le Mans>2007	LMP1	3		align="left"| Audi R10 TDIAudi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12(Diesel)			23	DNF	DNF
2008 24 Hours of Le Mans>2008	LMP1	3		align="left"| Audi R10 TDIAudi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12(Diesel)			374	4th	4th
2009 24 Hours of Le Mans>2009	LMP1	2		align="left"| Audi R15 TDIAudi TDI 5.5L Turbo V10(Diesel)			104	DNF	DNF
2010 24 Hours of Le Mans>2010	LMP1	9		align="left"| Audi R15 TDI plusAudi TDI 5.5L Turbo V10(Diesel)			397
2011 24 Hours of Le Mans>2011	LMP1	1		align="left"| Audi R18 TDIAudi TDI 3.7L Turbo V6 (Diesel)			116	DNF	DNF

References

External links

Official website

Fourtitude Magazine profile

Category:German racecar drivers Category:People from Neuwied Category:DTM drivers Category:Living people Category:1983 births Category:Kart racing drivers Category:24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Category:24 Hours of Daytona drivers Category:American Le Mans Series drivers Category:Le Mans Series drivers

de:Mike Rockenfeller fr:Mike Rockenfeller hu:Mike Rockenfeller pt:Mike Rockenfeller ru:Роккенфеллер, Майк fi:Mike Rockenfeller sv:Mike Rockenfeller