2001 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 2001 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 69th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 16 and 17 June 2001.

Track changes

On recommendation of the FIA following the incidents involving the Mercedes-Benz CLRs in 1999, the large hill on the third section of the Mulsanne Straight was lowered in order to decrease the likeliness of cars becoming aerodynamically unstable in that area.

Race

Audi's top two finishers had to share the podium with a Bentley interloper, but their margin over third place was formidable.

Corvette Racing's achievement of a GTS class win was sullied by a slow pace and the presence of two GT class Porsche 911s in front of them. It was the last time a Porsche team would finish in front of the GTS class until they had the class-consolidating 4.0 liter 997 GT3 RSR in their possession, in 2010.

Official results

Le Mans in 2001

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Tyre	Laps
					Engine
1	LMP900	1	Audi Sport Team Joest	Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro Tom Kristensen	Audi R8	M	321
					Audi 3.6L Turbo V8
2	LMP900	2	Audi Sport North America	Laurent Aïello Rinaldo Capello Christian Pescatori	Audi R8	M	320
					Audi 3.6L Turbo V8
3	LMGTP	8	Team Bentley	Andy Wallace Butch Leitzinger Eric van de Poele	Bentley EXP Speed 8	D	306
					Bentley (Audi) 3.6L Turbo V8
4	LMP900	16	Team PlayStation	Olivier Beretta Karl Wendlinger Pedro Lamy	Chrysler LMP	M	298
					Chrysler (Mopar) 6.0L V8
5	LMP675	38	ROC Auto	Jordi Gené Jean-Denis Délétraz Pascal Fabre	Reynard 2KQ-LM	M	284
					Volkswagen HPT16 2.0L Turbo I4
6	GT	83	Seikel Motorsport	Gabrio Rosa Fabio Babini Luca Drudi	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Y	283
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
7	GT	77	Freisinger Motorsport	Gunnar Jeannette Romain Dumas Philippe Haezebrouck	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Y	282
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
8	GTS	63	Corvette Racing	Ron Fellows Scott Pruett Johnny O'Connell	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	G	278
					Chevrolet LS7R 7.0L V8
9	GT	75	Perspective Racing	Thierry Perrier Michel Neugarten Nigel Smith	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	D	275
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
10	GT	80	Larbre Compétition	Jean-Luc Chéreau Patrice Goueslard Sébastien Dumez	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	M	274
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
11	GT	72	Team Taisan Advan	Hideo Fukuyama Atsushi Yogo Kazuyuki Nishizawa	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Y	273
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
12	GT	82	Seikel Motorsport	Tony Burgess Max Cohen-Olivar Andrew Bagnall	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	Y	272
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
13	LMP900	17	Pescarolo Sport	Sébastien Bourdais Jean-Christophe Boullion Laurent Rédon	Courage C60	M	271
					Peugeot A32 3.2L Turbo V6
14	GTS	64	Corvette Racing	Andy Pilgrim Kelly Collins Franck Fréon	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	G	271
					Chevrolet LS7R 7.0L V8
15	LMP900	6	DAMS	Wayne Taylor Max Angelelli Christophe Tinseau	Cadillac Northstar LMP01	M	270
					Cadillac Northstar 4.0L Turbo V8
16	GT	76	PK Sport Ricardo Engineering	Mike Youles Dave Warnock Stephen Day	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	D	265
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
17	GT	74	Warm-Up Luc Alphand Aventures JMB Racing	Luc Alphand Michel Ligonnet Luis Marques	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	M	265
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
18	GTS	60	Saleen-Allen Speedlab	Franz Konrad Oliver Gavin Terry Borcheller	Saleen S7-R	G	246
					Ford 7.0L V8
19	LMP675	30	Gerard Welter	Stéphane Daoudi Yojiro Terada Jean-René de Fournoux	WR LMP01	M	245
					Peugeot 2.0L Turbo I4
20	GTS	58	Larbre Compétition	Christophe Bouchut Jean-Philippe Belloc Tiago Monteiro	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	M	234
					Chrysler 8.0L V10
21 NC	GT	79	Noël del Bello Racing	Sylvain Noël Jean-Luc Maury-Laribière Georges Forgeois	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	D	193
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
22 DNF	LMP900	14	Viper Team Oreca	Seiji Ara Masahiko Kondo Ni Amorim	Chrysler LMP	M	243
					Chrysler (Mopar) 6.0L V8
23 DNF	GTS	62	Ecurie Ecosse Ray Mallock Ltd. (RML)	Johnny Mowlem Ian McKellar Bruno Lambert	Saleen S7-R	D	175
					Ford 7.0L V8
24 DNF	LMP900	9	Racing for Holland	Jan Lammers Donny Crevels Val Hillebrand	Dome S101	M	156
					Judd GV4 4.0L V10
25 DNF	LMP900	20	Team Ascari	Werner Lupberger Ben Collins Harri Toivonen	Ascari A410	G	134
					Judd GV4 4.0L V10
26 DNF	LMP900	15	Viper Team Oreca	Yannick Dalmas Stéphane Sarrazin Franck Montagny	Chrysler LMP	M	126
					Chrysler (Mopar) 6.0L V8
27 DNF	GT	70	Aspen Knolls Racing Michael Colucci Racing (MCR)	Bob Mazzuoccola Vic Rice Cort Wagner	Callaway C12-R	G	98
					Chevrolet 7.0L V8
28 DNF	LMP675	36	Dick Barbour Racing	Didier de Radiguès Sascha Maassen Hideshi Matsuda	Reynard 01Q-LM	G	95
					Judd GV675 3.4L V8
29 DNF	LMP675	32	KnightHawk Racing Roock Racing International	Claudia Hürtgen Rick Fairbanks Chris Gleason	Lola B2K/40	A	94
					Nissan 3.4L V6
30 DNF	LMP675	33	MG Sport & Racing Ltd.	Julian Bailey Mark Blundell Kevin McGarrity	MG-Lola EX257	M	92
					MG (AER) XP20 2.0L Turbo I4
31 DNF	LMP900	11	Panoz Motorsports	Klaus Graf Jamie Davies Gary Formato	Panoz LMP07	M	86
					Élan (Zytek) 4.0L V8
32 DNF	LMP900	12	Panoz Motorsports	David Brabham Jan Magnussen Franck Lagorce	Panoz LMP07	M	85
					Élan (Zytek) 4.0L V8
33 DNF	LMP900	3	Champion Racing	Johnny Herbert Didier Theys Ralf Kelleners	Audi R8	M	81
					Audi 3.6L Turbo V8
34 DNF	LMP900	10	Team Den Blå Avis Team Goh	John Nielsen Hiroki Katoh Casper Elgaard	Dome S101	G	66
					Judd GV4 4.0L V10
35 DNF	LMP900	21	Team Ascari	Klaas Zwart Xavier Pompidou Scott Maxwell	Ascari A410	G	66
					Judd GV4 4.0L V10
36 DNF	GTS	55	Paul Belmondo Racing	Vincent Vosse Vanina Ickx Carl Rosenblad	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	D	61
					Chrysler 8.0L V10
37 DNF	LMGTP	7	Team Bentley	Martin Brundle Stéphane Ortelli Guy Smith	Bentley EXP Speed 8	D	56
					Bentley (Audi) 3.6L Turbo V8
38 DNF	LMP900	5	DAMS	Éric Bernard Emmanuel Collard Marc Goossens	Cadillac Northstar LMP01	M	56
					Cadillac Northstar 4.0L Turbo V8
39 DNF	LMP900	19	SMG Compétition	Philippe Gache Jérôme Policand Anthony Beltoise	Courage C60	M	51
					Judd GV4 4.0L V10
40 DNF	GTS	56	Paul Belmondo Racing	Grégoire de Galzain Anthony Kumpen Jean-Claude Lagniez	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	D	44
					Chrysler 8.0L V10
41 DNF	GT	71	Racing Engineering	Robin Donovan Terry Lingner Chris MacAllister	Porsche 911 GT3-RS	D	44
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
42 DNF	LMP900	18	Pescarolo Sport	Emmanuel Clérico Didier Cottaz Boris Derichebourg	Courage C60	M	42
					Peugeot A32 3.2L Turbo V6
43 DNF	LMP900	4	Johansson Motorsport	Stefan Johansson Tom Coronel Patrick Lemarié	Audi R8	M	35
					Audi 3.6L Turbo V8
44 DNF	LMP675	34	MG Sport & Racing Ltd.	Anthony Reid Warren Hughes Jonny Kane	MG-Lola EX257	M	30
					MG (AER) XP20 2.0L Turbo I4
45 DNF	LMP675	37	Dick Barbour Racing	John Graham Milka Duno David Murry	Reynard 01Q-LM	G	4
					Judd GV675 3.4L V8
46 DNF	GTS	61	Konrad Motorsport	Walter Brun Toni Seiler Charles Slater	Saleen S7-R	G	4
					Ford 7.0L V8
47 DNF	GTS	57	Equipe de France FFSA Epsilon Sport Oreca	David Terrien Jonathan Cochet Jean-Philippe Dayraut	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	M	4
					Chrysler 8.0L V10
48 DNF	LMP675	35	S & R Rowan Racing Ltd.	Warren Carway Martin O'Connell François Migault	Pilbeam MP84	A	3
					Nissan (AER) VQL 3.0L V6

Statistics

• Pole Position - #2 Audi Sport North America - 3:32.427
• Distance - 4381.65 km
• Average Speed - 180.949 km/h
• Highest Trap Speed — Audi R8 - 318 km/h (race), Dome Judd S101 - 335 km/h (Practice)^[1]

References

1. ↑ Official Le Mans 2001 Annual: mulsannecorner.com