Exciting battles at various stages of the race.
In 2015, a special battle unfolded at Le Mans: Audi and Porsche, two brands from the same Volkswagen Group, battled it out for overall victory. Audi had won the race thirteen times since 2000, most recently in 2014, and lined up as defending champions with the R18 e-tron quattro. Porsche had only returned to the top class in 2014 with the 919 Hybrid and was aiming for its first overall victory since 1998. Neel Jani set a new lap record in the Porsche as early as qualifying. In the race, Porsche ultimately secured a one-two finish. Nico Hülkenberg, Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy won in the number 19 Porsche, whilst the sister car driven by Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley finished second. The best Audi team, comprising Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer, came third. For Hülkenberg, then a regular Formula 1 driver, it was victory on his Le Mans debut.
Porsche returned to Le Mans in 2015 with three cars. These were improved versions of the 919 introduced the previous year. Surprisingly, the ‘Leader of the Pack’ was the car with start number 19 driven by Nico Hülkenberg, … and … the one you can see here thundering along the section of public road through the woods just before the right-hand bend, the approach to the sharp left-hand bend, the Indianapolis bend.
The overall victory was preceded by a thrilling battle that lasted the entire race: the battle-hardened R18s, backed by 13 victories in 15 years, and the relatively new Porsche 919 Hybrids, in only their second year of competition. Here, the intense battle between the leaders is captured as they pass through the first chicane – spectacularly illuminated by the two AF Corse Team Ferrari 458 Italia GTEs they had just overtaken. Car number 19 would go on to win the ‘High Noon duel’, whilst car number 7 would finish in third place.
#0117 “Sleepless at the Sarthe I”
A driver’s perspective on the 24 Hours of Le Mans at night. The GT1 battle between a Corvette duo, the Aston Martin DBR9 and the Saleen SR7 rages from the Ford chicane onto the start-finish straight. A typical scene once the safety car had left the track. In the GT1 class in 2007, it was ‘wheel-to-wheel’ for hours into the night. Just one small mistake and the race was over. In 2007, the Aston Martin ‘009’ secured its first GT1 victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the third attempt, thanks to incredible speed and stamina.
#0198 “Stampede”
Two ‘super-heavyweights’ from the Group C era, the Porsche 962 and the Jaguar XJR 9LM, thunder into the Mulsanne Corner. They are followed by their rivals from the Silk-Cut and Rothmanns-sponsored works teams. ‘The first six cars could have fit under a towel,’ writes Brian Laban in his book on the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as they brake into the Mulsanne bend. This line from the book inspired me to paint this picture. Porsche ultimately dominated the race. Stuck/Bell won by a margin of 20 laps. For Derek Bell, it was his fifth victory at La Sarthe.
The 1960s are regarded as one of the most exciting eras in Le Mans history. Ferrari won the race six times in a row from 1960 to 1965. Then Ford set its sights on victory at any cost and entered the GT40, a car developed specifically for the occasion. In 1966, the breakthrough came with a one-two-three finish, which was not without its controversy. Ford had its cars cross the line side by side for the photo finish. Ken Miles, who had led for much of the race, lost the victory to Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon because they had started further back on the grid and had therefore covered more distance. In 1967, Dan Gurney and A. J. Foyt won in the Ford Mk IV, and Gurney was the first to spray champagne into the crowd on the podium. In 1969, the race saw one of the closest finishes in history: after 24 hours, Jacky Ickx in the Ford GT40 beat Hans Herrmann in the Porsche 908 by just a few seconds.
