2016

An epic race

It is the American actor Brad Pitt who must get this race under way, which promises to be hotly disputed. The three manufacturers Toyota, Porsche and Audi will battle it out on equal terms with each entering two cars. Driving rain fell on the circuit just a few minutes from the start of the race and forced the race management team to send the competitors behind the safety car. This is a first in the history of the Le Mans 24 Hours. You will have to wait for six laps of the circuit (i.e. 52 minutes precisely) for the race to actually get going. The four-time winner of the event Yannick Dalmas achieved a perfect drift aboard the safety car during a spell of heavy rain. The tone has been set!

Frédéric Sausset was welcomed in “garage 56”, and became the first quadruple amputee driver both to start and cross the finish line of the endurance event. Frédéric Sausset created the first international network of high-level disabled drivers on the strength of this resounding performance in 2018 with the primary objective of taking a crew mainly composed of disabled drivers to the Le Mans 24 Hours. This objective was met with the commitment of ORECA LMP2 07 No. 84 in 2021. 

A thrilling and suspenseful end

This race was hotly contested until the end, especially between the Toyotas and one of the Porsches. The two Japanese cars and the German one were on the same lap until the 21st hour!

Unfortunately, the Toyota stopped in front of the stands and suffered a loss of engine power at the start of its final lap. This turnaround is one of the most significant in the recent history of the 24 Hours at Le Mans.

It therefore allowed the Porsche that wins the race through and allowed the German manufacturer to win the event unexpectedly for the eighteenth time. Among the winning trio, French driver Romain Dumas was victorious for the second time. 

June 1966: as usual, the bucket-fulls of champagne would await the winners. The corks would "blow” and accidentally spray people close by. The following year, the winner, amused by the 1966 incident, voluntarily and abundantly watered the audience: the tradition has been born!