1968 24 Hours of Le Mans

1968 24 Hours of Le Mans
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Index: Races | Winners

The 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 36th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 28 and 29 September 1968. It was the tenth and final round of the World Sportscar Championship.

The race was originally planned for June 15 and 16, but had to be delayed until September due to massive protests in France during May. The rescheduled race increased the chances of the Prototypes against the Sports, as the new Prototype cars had matured during the season.

Pre-race

Prior to the 1968 race, modifications were made in the run from Maison Blanche to the pit straight, involving the installation of the first Ford chicane to slow speeds along the open pit area. The changes added around 10 seconds to a lap.

In 1968, the rules of sports car racing were changed to reduce speed. Cars with engines larger than 5.0 L were banned from competing in the Sports categories, which was the end for the big block Ford Mk II and Mk IV GT40 and Chevrolet-powered Chaparral at Le Mans. A 3.0 L limit on engines was adopted for the Sports Prototype class, facilitating the use of Formula One motors to save development costs. Cars with up to 5.0 L engines were still allowed to compete in the Sport category if there were at least 50 cars built. This allowed old customer cars like the Ford GT40, the Lola T70 and the Ferrari 275LM to compete against factory prototypes powered by sophisticated 3.0 L engines.

Enzo Ferrari was disappointed to have to take his P4s to the museum and refused to compete for 1968, despite having an F1 engine. John Wyer had to retire his GT40 derived 5.7 L Mirage M1 as well. Wyer chose to dismantle his M1s and to build new GT40s on the Mirage chassis which was close enough to the GT40 to comply with homologation. The Gulf GT40s received some of the improvements of the Mirage, and a significant effort was made to reduce the weight of car using high-tech materials. A large part of the body was made of a very thin polyester sheet reinforced with carbon fibre. Wyer entered 3 GT40s but the team wasn't at its best. Its fastest driver, Jacky Ickx, had broken his leg practicing for the 1968 Canadian Grand Prix, and Brian Redman was still out after breaking his arm in a crash in the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.

The competition was between Wyer's Ford GT40 and the new 3.0 L Matra 630, Alpine A220 and Porsche 908. The new 2.0 L Alfa Romeo 33/2 were outsiders.

The Renault-Gordini V8 engine that powered the Alpine A220s was disappointing, giving no more than 300 hp (220 kW). With 350 hp (260 kW), the new 3.0 L air-cooled flat-8 that powered the Porsche 908 was underpowered in comparison to the new Matra V12, but the car was light, had very low drag and the highest top speed. Porsche was much more experienced in Le Mans and had an advantage in numbers, thus Porsche was the favorite.

With Ferrari protesting, the marque was represented only by privateers. The best Ferrari was a green 275LM entered in the Sport category by David Piper. This car was obsolete despite being seriously updated; most of its body was made of polyester/fiberglass instead of aluminium.

Two turbine-powered Howmet TXs were also entered in the prototype class.

Race

The start was given at 15:00 by Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli.

The Porsches began in front. Jo Siffert took the lead on the fourth lap. Then, a litany of minor electric problems slowed the new Porsche 908s, and some were eventually disqualified as the new team management had not studied the rules about repairs properly. Due to the fact that this race was held in late September instead of its traditional time in mid June, there were 5 more night time hours than usual. One of Wyer's cars had clutch failure at 17:00, the other had engine failure at 22:00. By midnight, Wyer had only one car still in race, but it was leading.

Henri Pescarolo had a stunning performance in the new Matra 630. The car started the race with mechanical problems, which sent it down to a 14th place. But Pescarolo drove the car to the second place under the rain, despite a windshield wiper failure and his teammate Johnny Servoz-Gavin refusing to drive the car in such conditions. However, during one of the last pitstops the car caught fire, and could not continue.

The victory went to the GT40 driven by Lucien Bianchi and Pedro Rodríguez. Porsche's best finisher was a private 2.2L Porsche 907 in second, followed by a works 908 in third, both just one lap behind the winning GT40. Alfa Romeo's performance was impressive with three cars finishing, the Nanni Galli/Ignazio Giunti T33 in fourth overall and winner of the 2.0L class. The two other followed as fifth and sixth.

Willy Mairesse suffered career-ending injuries in this race when his GT40 crashed on the first lap on the Mulsanne Straight, and the accident eventually led to him committing suicide.

The race saw the first overall GT class win for the Porsche 911, the platform that would become the most successful GT series in the history of Le Mans.

Official results

Le Mans in 1968

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
1	S 5.0	9	J.W. Automotive Engineering Ltd.	Pedro Rodriguez Lucien Bianchi	Ford GT40 Mk. I	Ford 4.9 L V8	331
2	P 3.0	66	Squadra Tartaruga	Rico Steinemann Dieter Spoerry	Porsche 907L	Porsche 2.2 L Flat-8	326
3	P 3.0	33	Porsche System Engineering	Jochen Neerpasch Rolf Stommelen	Porsche 908	Porsche 3.0 L Flat-8	325
4	P 2.0	39	Autodelta SpA	Ignazio Giunti Nanni Galli	Alfa Romeo T33/2	Alfa Romeo 2.0 L V8	322
5	P 2.0	38	Autodelta SpA	Carlo Facetti Spartaco Dini	Alfa Romeo T33/2	Alfa Romeo 2.0 L V8	315
6	P 2.0	40	Autodelta SpA	Mario Casoni Giampiero Biscaldi	Alfa Romeo T33/2	Alfa Romeo 2.0 L V8	305
7	S 5.0	21	David Piper Racing	David Piper Richard Attwood	Ferrari 250LM	Ferrari 3.3 L V12	302
8	P 3.0	30	Société des Automobiles Alpine	André de Cortanze Jean Vinatier	Alpine A220	Renault-Gordini 3.0 L V8	297
9	P 2.0	57	Ecurie Savin-Calberson	Alain LeGuellec Alain Serpaggi	Alpine A210	Renault-Gordini 1.5 L I4	289
10	P 1.3	52	Société des Automobiles Alpine	Jean-Luc Thérier Bernard Tramont	Alpine A210	Renault-Gordini 1.3 L I4	288
11	P 1.3	53	Trophée Le Mans	Christian Ethuin Bob Wollek	Alpine A210	Renault-Gordini 1.3 L I4	282
12	GT 2.0	43	Jean-Pierre Gaban	Jean-Pierre Gaban Roger van der Schrick	Porsche 911T	Porsche 2.0 L Flat-6	281
13	GT 2.0	64	Claude Laurent	Claude Laurent Jean-Claude Ogier	Porsche 911T	Porsche 2.0 L Flat-6	276
14	P 1.3	55	Société des Automobiles Alpine	Jean-Pierre Nicolas Jean-Claude Andruet	Alpine A210	Renault-Gordini 1.0 L I4	272
15	P 1.3	50	Donald Healey Motor Company	Roger Enever Alec Poole	Austin-Healey Sprite Le Mans	BMC 1.3 L I4	255
16	P 2.0	46	Ecurie Fiat-Abarth France	Marcel Martin Jean Mésange	Fiat Dino	Ferrari 2.0 L V6	253

Not Classified

Failed to cover 70% of the winner's distance (231 laps)

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
17	GT 1.3	61	Ecurie Léopard	Jacques Bourdon Maurice Nussbaumer Michel Pouteaux	Alpine A110	Renault-Gordini 1.3 L I4	215
18	GT 1.3	51	Bernard Collomb	Bernard Collomb François Lacarreau	Alpine A110	Renault-Gordini 1.3 L I4	167

Did Not Finish

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Engine	Laps
19	P 3.0	24	Equipe Matra Sports	Johnny Servoz-Gavin Henri Pescarolo	Matra MS630	Matra 3.0 L V12	283
20	P 3.0	27	Ecurie Savin-Calberson	Mauro Bianchi Patrick Depailler	Alpine A220	Renault-Gordini 3.0 L V8	257
21	P 2.0	45	Jean-Pierre Hanrioud	Jean-Pierre Hanrioud André Wicky	Porsche 910	Porsche 2.0 L Flat-6	248
22	GT 2.0	44	Auguste Veuillet	Guy Chasseuil Claude Ballot-Léna	Porsche 911T	Porsche 2.0 L Flat-6	224
23	S 5.0	20	Scuderia Filipinetti	Herbert Müller Jonathan Williams	Ferrari 250LM	Ferrari 3.3 L V12	212
24	S 5.0	14	North American Racing Team (NART)	Masten Gregory Charlie Kolb	Ferrari 250LM	Ferrari 3.3 L V12	209
25	S 2.0	42	Christian Poirot	Christian Poirot Pierre Maublanc	Porsche 906 Carrera 6	Porsche 2.0 L Flat-6	202
26	P 3.0	29	Société des Automobiles Alpine	Jean Guichet Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Alpine A220	Renault-Gordini 3.0 L V8	185
27	GT +2.0	4	Scuderia Filipinetti	Jean-Michel Giorgi Sylvain Garant	Chevrolet Corvette	Chevrolet 7.0 L V8	157
28	P 2.0	41	Autodelta SpA	Nino Vaccarella Giancarlo Baghetti	Alfa Romeo T33/2	Alfa Romeo 2.0 L V8	150
29	P 3.0	35	Alex Soler-Roig Squadra Tartaruga	Alex Soler-Roig Rudi Lins	Porsche 907/8	Porsche 2.2 L Flat-8	145
30	S5.0	6	Jackie Epstein	Jackie Epstein Edward Nelson	Lola T70 Mk. III	Chevrolet 5.0 L V8	143
31	S 5.0	12	Strathaven Limited	Mike Salmon Eric Liddell	Ford GT40 Mk. I	Ford 4.7 L V8	131
32	P 3.0	34	Porsche System Engineering	Joe Buzzetta Scooter Patrick	Porsche 908	Porsche 3.0 L Flat-8	115
33	P 3.0	32	Porsche System Engineering	Gerhard Mitter Vic Elford	Porsche 908	Porsche 3.0 L Flat-8	111
34	S 5.0	10	J.W. Automotive Engineering Ltd.	Paul Hawkins David Hobbs	Ford GT40 Mk. I	Ford 4.9 L V8	107
35	P 2.0	37	Racing Team VDS	Teddy Pilette Rob Slotemaker	Alfa Romeo T33/2	Alfa Romeo 2.0 L V8	104
36	P 3.0	67	Philippe Farjon	Robert Buchet Herbert Linge	Porsche 907/8	Porsche 2.2 L Flat-6	102
37	S 5.0	19	Paul Vestey	Paul Vestey Roy Pike	Ferrari 250LM	Ferrari 3.3 L V12	99
38	P 3.0	22	Howmet Corporation	Richard Thompson Ray Heppenstal	Howmet TX	Continental 3.0 L Turbine	84
39	GT +2.0	17	Scuderia Filipinetti	Jacques Rey Claude Haldi	Ferrari 275 GTB/C	Ferrari 3.3 L V12	78
40	P 1.3	56	Société des Automobiles Alpine	Jean-Louis Marnat Jean-François Gerbault	Alpine A210	Renault-Gordini 1.0 L I4	71
41	P 3.0	23	Howmet Corporation	Bob Tullius Hugh Dibley	Howmet TX	Continental 3.0 L Turbine	60
42	P 3.0	28	Société des Automobiles Alpine	Henri Grandsire Gérard Larrousse	Alpine A220	Renault-Gordini 3.0 L V8	59
43	P 3.0	31	Porsche System Engineering	Jo Siffert Hans Herrmann	Porsche 908	Porsche 3.0 L Flat-8	59
44	P 2.0	36	North American Racing Team (NART)	François Chevalier Bernard Lagier de Giuseppe	Ferrari Dino 206S	Ferrari 2.0 L V6	54
45	GT +2.0	3	Scuderia Filipinetti	Umberto Maglioli Henri Greder	Chevrolet Corvette	Chevrolet 7.0 L V8	53
46	S 5.0	7	Sportscars Unlimited	Ulf Norinder Sten Axelsson	Lola T70 Mk. III	Chevrolet 5.0 L V8	47
47	P 2.0	49	Chris J. Lawrence	Chris Lawrence John Wingfield	Deep Sanderson 302	Ford 1.6 L I4	35
48	GT 2.0	60	Wicky Racing Team	Willy Meier Jean de Mortemart	Porsche 911T	Porsche 2.0 L Flat-6	30
49	P 3.0	25	John Woolfe Racing	John Woolfe Digby Martland	Chevron B12	Repco 3.0 L V8	27
50	P 2.0	47	Donald Healey Motor Company	Clive Baker Andrew Hedges	Healey SR	Coventry Climax 2.0 L V8	20
51	S 5.0	11	J.W. Automotive Engineering Ltd.	Brian Muir Jackie Oliver	Ford GT40 Mk. I	Ford 4.9 L V8	15
52	P 2.0	65	Racing Team VDS	Serge Trosch Karl von Wendt	Alfa Romeo T33/2	Alfa Romeo 2.0 L V8	7
53	P 1.3	54	André Moynet	Max Jean René Ligonnet	Moynet XS	Simca 1.2 L I4	6
54	S 5.0	8	Claude Dubois	Willy Mairesse Jean Blaton	Ford GT40 Mk. I	Ford 4.7 L V8	0

Statistics

• Pole Position - #31 Porsche System Engineering - 3:35.40
• Fastest Lap - #33 Porsche System Engineering - 3:38.10
• Distance - 4452.88 km
• Average Speed - 185.536 km/h

Trophy Winners

• Index of Performance - #55 Société des Automobiles Alpine
• Index of Thermal Efficiency - #52 Société des Autombiles Alpine