Successful marques and drivers[edit] For a list of winning drivers, teams, and cars, see List of 24 Hours of Le Mans winners. The most successful participant of all time at Le Mans, Danish driver Tom Kristensen, has nine wins (7 with Audi), the latest one in 2013. Over the years, many manufacturers have managed to take the overall win, while even more have taken class wins. The most successful marque in the history of the race is Porsche, which has taken sixteen overall victories, including seven in a row from 1981 to 1987. Audi is next with thirteen wins,[15][16] and Ferrari follows with nine, also including six in a row from 1960 to 1965. Since 2000 the Audi marque has dominated the event, winning overall 13 times in 15 years it has participated.[17] Audi and Team Joest have had two hat-tricks, the first being in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Jaguar has seven wins, while Bentley, Alfa Romeo, and Ford all managed to win four races in a row, with Bentley recording two other victories in other years as well. The only Japanese marque to win the race so far has been Mazda, although nearly every major Japanese manufacturer has made attempts at the race. Mazdas 1991 victory is the only win by a rotary engine, one of Mazdas hallmarks. Three drivers stand apart for their number of victories. Initially Jacky Ickx held the record at six, scoring victories between 1969 and 1982, earning him an honorary citizenship to the town of Le Mans. His frequent racing-partner, Derek Bell, trailing by a single win, with 5. However, Dane Tom Kristensen has beaten this record with nine wins between 1997 and 2013, including six in a row. Three-time winner Woolf Barnato (1928 to 1930) and American racing legend AJ Foyt (1967) are still the only drivers to have won every Le Mans they participated in. Henri Pescarolo has won the race four times, and holds the record for the most Le Mans appearances at 33. Japans Yojiro Terada is still active as a driver, and holds the record for the most Le Mans starts without an overall win. Graham Hill is the only driver to win the so-called Triple Crown of Motorsport which is defined as winning the Indianapolis 500 (won by Hill in 1966), Monaco Grand Prix (1963, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1969) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1972)[18][19]
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 01:09:26 +0000
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