TOP 5 LMP1 CARS
PORSCHE WSC95 5
The story of the Porsche WSC95 takes some believing. It started life as a Jaguar XJR-14 Group C chassis minus its roof, got canned before it could race and was then dusted down at the suggestion of that wily old fox Reinhold Joest for Le Mans. He then won the 24 Hours with the car – and there were only two – that was built up around one of the
Silk Cut Jags. Joest got to keep the winning car as part of his agreement with Porsche, took it back to the Circuit de la Sarthe in defiance of the factory, and won again.
AUDI R8 3
A tally of five Le Mans victories puts the R8 on the coat tails of the Porsche 956/962 at the race that matters. A hat-trick of wins with the factory Joest car in 2000-02 was followed by two more for the car in the hands of customer teams Goh and Champion, both with works backing. The R8, in fact, never stopped winning. It triumphed on its debut at Sebring in 2000 and clocked up the last of its American Le Mans Series victories on its swansong more than six years later at Lime Rock in 2006 to end its career with 62 victories.
AUDI R10 TDI 1
Audi’s R10 TDI turbodiesel was a watershed machine that heralded the start of what might be described as the high-tech era. It re-established sportscar racing and Le Mans in particular as a proving ground for automotive technologies and paved the way for a new breed of hybrid rocketships. Not only that, but it was a super-successful racing car. The R10 was unbeaten in the hands of the factory Joest Racing team at Le Mans and, almost as if to secure its place in history, it played a starring role in the greatest Le Mans of them all.
PEUGEOT 908 4
Had Peugeot won Le Mans more than the once over the life of the 908 programme, it would be viewed very differently in history. The French manufacturer more often than not got the better of arch-rival Audi, with the exception of the one race that really mattered. The first version of the 908, the V12-engined HDI FAP that flew the Tricolore in 2007-10, won a third of the races it started in the hands of the factory. There should have been at least two more: Peugeot had a faster car than Audi at Le Mans in both 2008 and 2010.
PORSCHE 919 HYBRID 2
Porsche finally made its return to the pinnacle of sportscar racing with the first iteration of the 919 Hybrid in 2014. The car of the same name that followed after a down-tothe-tub redesign for 2015 swept all before it – and WEC incumbents Toyota and Audi out of the way. The second-generation 919 took a hat-trick of hat-tricks in the WEC – Le Mans win, drivers’ title and manufacturers’ crown – over its three-season career. What’s more, it won 16 of its 26 races to reinforce the Porsche motorsporting legend. Job done, the German manufacturer probably didn’t need to hang around in the top flight of endurance racing.