1997

No driver from the winning crew in 1996 is at Le Mans to defend the title they won, however, the car is there: the no. 7. It is on this car that the hopes of a new victory are resting. Its wheel is entrusted to two drivers famous for their careers in Formula 1, Stefan Johansson and Michele Alboreto, and an unknown Danish driver, who was contacted by Joest a few days before the race, Tom Kristensen.

The TWR-Porsche of the Joest team is one of the forty-eight cars that can claim victory. Porsche is the favourite with sixteen cars from the brand at the start of the race. Within this pack, can the no. 7 of a privateer pull out of the game and seal the 1996-1997 double?

The answer is yes, and the Joest stable would make its mark in style! At the end of a turbulent race, where only seventeen of the forty-eight cars who entered crossed the finishing line, the no. 7 achieved the performance of taking pole position and recording the fastest lap on the track before taking victory. 

The Joest team reached another landmark as it became the first to win with a single car at the start since Bentley in 1924 and Bugatti in 1939. Tom Kristensen was just beginning to enter folklore when he took part in the first of his eighteen races at Le Mans.

The Joest team claimed its fourth victory at Le Mans in 1997. The winning car always sports the same number, 7. It is also the second time that the team has won for two consecutive years with the same car after the double victory from Reinhold Joest's Porsche 956 in 1984 and 1985.