1998 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 66th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 6 and 7 June 1998.

Race

1998 saw a significant increase in manufacturer involvement. Porsche and Mercedes-Benz remained, with upgraded cars in both GT1 and LMP. Toyota sent three of their new, extremely fast GT-One racing cars, while BMW, in association with WilliamsF1, launched the new BMW V12 LM. Nissan sent 4 of their new R390 GT1s. The United States was also represented properly with a two car team from Panoz, with Ford powered Esperante GTR-1s.

Porsche won the race as the faster cars from Mercedes, BMW and Toyota retired with mechanical difficulties and accident damage. The remaining Nissans and outdated McLarens were unable to match the pace of the upgraded 911 GT1s. Following this race, Porsche went into a sabbatical, rumored to be part of a plan to allow Porsche's partner Audi to develop their own sportscar without competition from within the alliance.

Porsche would return to Le Mans in 2014; they would eventually win the 2015 race.

The GT2 class win by the Chrysler Viper GTS-R was the first GT class win for an American made car since the Shelby Daytona Coupe won in 1964.

Official results

The overall winning #26 Porsche 911 GT1 '98 on display in the new Porsche Museum, Stuttgart.

Le Mans in 1998

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Tyre	Laps
					Engine
1	GT1	26	Porsche AG	Laurent Aïello Allan McNish Stéphane Ortelli	Porsche 911 GT1-98	M	351
					Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6
2	GT1	25	Porsche AG	Jörg Müller Uwe Alzen Bob Wollek	Porsche 911 GT1-98	M	350
					Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6
3	GT1	32	Nissan Motorsports TWR	Aguri Suzuki Kazuyoshi Hoshino Masahiko Kageyama	Nissan R390 GT1	B	347
					Nissan VRH35L 3.5L Turbo V8
4	GT1	40	Gulf Team Davidoff EMKA Racing	Steve O'Rourke Tim Sugden Bill Auberlen	McLaren F1 GTR	P	343
					BMW S70 6.0L V12
5	GT1	30	Nissan Motorsports TWR	John Nielsen Michael Krumm Franck Lagorce	Nissan R390 GT1	B	342
					Nissan VRH35L 3.5L Turbo V8
6	GT1	31	Nissan Motorsports TWR	Jan Lammers Érik Comas Andrea Montermini	Nissan R390 GT1	B	342
					Nissan VRH35L 3.5L Turbo V8
7	GT1	45	Panoz Motorsports Inc.	David Brabham Andy Wallace Jamie Davies	Panoz Esperante GTR-1	M	335
					Ford (Roush) 6.0L V8
8	LMP1	12	Doyle-Risi Racing	Wayne Taylor Eric van de Poele Fermín Velez	Ferrari 333 SP	P	332
					Ferrari F310E 4.0L V12
9	GT1	27	Toyota Motorsports Toyota Team Europe	Ukyo Katayama Toshio Suzuki Keiichi Tsuchiya	Toyota GT-One	M	326
					Toyota R36V 3.6L Turbo V8
10	GT1	33	Nissan Motorsports TWR	Satoshi Motoyama Takuya Kurosawa Masami Kageyama	Nissan R390 GT1	B	319
					Nissan VRH35L 3.5L Turbo V8
11	GT2	53	Viper Team Oreca	Justin Bell David Donohue Luca Drudi	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	M	317
					Chrysler 8.0L V10
12	LMP1	16	Kremer Racing	Rocky Agusta Almo Coppelli Xavier Pompidou	Kremer K8/2 Spyder	G	314
					Porsche Type-935 3.2L Turbo Flat-6
13	GT2	51	Viper Team Oreca	Olivier Beretta Pedro Lamy Tommy Archer	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	M	312
					Chrysler 8.0L V10
14	LMP1	3	Moretti Racing Inc.	Gianpiero Moretti Mauro Baldi Didier Theys	Ferrari 333 SP	Y	311
					Ferrari F310E 4.0L V12
15	LMP1	15	La Filière	Henri Pescarolo Olivier Grouillard Franck Montagny	Courage C36	M	304
					Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6
16	LMP1	24	Courage Compétition	Yojiro Terada Franck Fréon Olivier Thévenin	Courage C41	M	300
					Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6
17	GT2	64	Roock Racing	Claudia Hürtgen Michel Ligonnet Robert Nearn	Porsche 911 GT2	Y	285
					Porsche 3.8L Turbo Flat-6
18	GT2	69	Michel Nourry	Michel Nourry Thierry Perrier Jean-Louis Ricci	Porsche 911 GT2	?	276
					Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6
19	GT2	56	Chamberlain Engineering	Gary Ayles Matt Turner Hans Hugenholtz	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	D	270
					Chrysler 8.0L V10
20	GT2	68	Elf Haberthur Racing	Éric Graham Hervé Poulain Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière	Porsche 911 GT2	D	268
					Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6
21	GT2	55	Chamberlain Engineering	Ni Amorim Gonçalo Gomes Manuel Mello-Breyner	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	D	264
					Chrysler 8.0L V10
22	GT2	65	Roock Racing	Rob Schirle André Ahrlé David Warnock	Porsche 911 GT2	Y	247
					Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6
23	GT2	72	Larbre Compétition	Patrice Goueslard Jean-Luc Chéreau Pierre Yver	Porsche 911 GT2	M	240
					Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6
24 DNF	GT1	29	Toyota Motorsports Toyota Team Europe	Thierry Boutsen Ralf Kelleners Geoff Lees	Toyota GT-One	M	330
					Toyota R36V 3.6L Turbo V8
25 DNF	GT2	71	Estoril Racing Communication	Michel Maisonneuve Manuel Monteiro Michel Monteiro	Porsche 911 GT2	P	277
					Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6
26 DNF	GT1	44	Panoz Motorsports Inc. DAMS	Éric Bernard Christophe Tinseau Johnny O'Connell	Panoz Esperante GTR-1	M	236
					Ford (Roush) 6.0L V8
27 DNF	LMP1	13	Courage Compétition	Didier Cottaz Marc Goossens Jean-Philippe Belloc	Courage C51	M	232
					Nissan VRH35Z 3.0L Turbo V8
28 DNF	GT1	41	Gulf Team Davidoff GTC Competition	Dr. Thomas Bscher Emanuele Pirro Rinaldo Capello	McLaren F1 GTR	G	228
					BMW S70 6.0L V12
29 DNF	LMP1	8	Porsche AG Joest Racing	Pierre-Henri Raphanel David Murry James Weaver	Porsche LMP1-98	M	218
					Porsche Type-935 3.2L Turbo Flat-6
30 DNF	LMP1	10	Pilot Racing	Michel Ferté Pascal Fabre François Migault	Ferrari 333 SP	?	203
					Ferrari F310E 4.0L V12
31 DNF	GT2	67	Elf Haberthur Racing	Michel Neugarten Jean-Claude Lagniez David Smadja	Porsche 911 GT2	D	198
					Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6
32 DNF	GT1	28	Toyota Motorsports Toyota Team Europe	Martin Brundle Emmanuel Collard Éric Hélary	Toyota GT-One	M	191
					Toyota R36V 3.6L Turbo V8
33 DNF	LMP1	5	JB Racing	Vincenzo Sospiri Jean-Christophe Boullion Jérôme Policand	Ferrari 333 SP	M	187
					Ferrari F310E 4.0L V12
34 DNF	GT2	60	Chereau Sports Larbre Compétition	Jean-Pierre Jarier Carl Rosenblad Robin Donovan	Porsche 911 GT2	M	164
					Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6
35 DNF	GT2	62	CJ Motorsport	John Morton John Graham Harald Grohs	Porsche 911 GT2	G	164
					Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6
36 DNF	LMP1	21	Solution F	Philippe Gache Wayne Gardner Didier de Radiguès	Riley & Scott Mk III	P	155
					Ford 5.1L V8
37 DNF	LMP1	14	Courage Compétition	Fredrik Ekblom Patrice Gay Takeshi Tsuchiya	Courage C51	M	126
					Nissan VRH35Z 3.5L Turbo V8
38 DNF	LMP1	7	Porsche AG Joest Racing	Michele Alboreto Stefan Johansson Yannick Dalmas	Porsche LMP1-98	M	107
					Porsche Type-935 3.2L Turbo Flat-6
39 DNF	LMP2	22	Didier Bonnet Racing	Lionel Robert Édouard Sezionale Pierre Bruneau	Debora LMP296	M	106
					BMW S50 3.2L I6
40 DNF	GT2	61	Krauss Race Sports Intl.	Bernhard Müller Michael Trunk Ernst Palmberger	Porsche 911 GT2	D	71
					Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6
41 DNF	LMP1	1	Team BMW Motorsport	Hans-Joachim Stuck Steve Soper Tom Kristensen	BMW V12 LM	M	60
					BMW S70 6.0L V12
42 DNF	LMP1	2	Team BMW Motorsport	Pierluigi Martini Joachim Winkelhock Johnny Cecotto	BMW V12 LM	M	43
					BMW S70 6.0L V12
43 DNF	GT1	36	AMG-Mercedes	Jean-Marc Gounon Ricardo Zonta Christophe Bouchut	Mercedes-Benz CLK-LM	B	31
					Mercedes-Benz M119 5.0L V8
44 DNF	GT2	50	Viper Team Oreca	Karl Wendlinger Marc Duez Patrick Huisman	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	M	28
					Chrysler 8.0L V10
45 DNF	GT2	70	Konrad Motorsport	Franz Konrad Larry Schumacher Nick Ham	Porsche 911 GT2	D	24
					Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6
46 DNF	GT1	35	AMG-Mercedes	Bernd Schneider Mark Webber Klaus Ludwig	Mercedes-Benz CLK-LM	B	19
					Mercedes-Benz M119 5.0L V8
47 DNF	GT2	73	Konrad Motorsport	Toni Seiler Peter Kitchak Angelo Zadra	Porsche 911 GT2	D	2
					Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6

Statistics

• Pole Position - #35 AMG-Mercedes - 3:35.544
• Fastest Lap - #28 Toyota Motorsport - 3:41.809
• Distance - 4783.78 km
• Average Speed - 199.324 km/h^[1]
• Highest Trap Speed — Toyota GT-One - 345 km/h (practice)

References