Bentley Takes LeMans Victory 73 Years On

15 June 2003

A new page in the history of the 24 Heures du Mans was written this weekend. By coming first and second in this 71st Le Mans 24 hour race, Bentley earn their sixth victory in La Sarthe, demonstrating how much the English car manufacturer and the greatest endurance race in the world are linked.

At the 1st race, in 1923, Bentley was the only non-French manufacturer, and went on to win in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 & 1930, then retired. In 2001, Bentley came to Le Mans with a three year plan. In 2001, they finished third, then fourth in 2002, before winning this year's race. This victory puts an end to seven consecutive German wins in Le Mans.

The crew of the winning #7 car is Tom Kistensen, Rinaldo Capello and Guy Smith who dominated the race from start to finish. The three men were in the lead for 370 out of the 377 laps, as they took permanent control from the 27th lap. It's the first win for Smith and Capello (who has twice come in second). Tom Kristensen becomes part of the Le Mans history by being the first driver to win four consecutive years. With a total of five victories (1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003) in only seven participations, the Dane joins Derek Bell in the hall of fame (5 victories in 26 participations), and is only one victory short of Jacky Ickx's record (6 victories in 15 participations). Second in this race, the #8 Bentley (Herbert/Blundell/Brabham) finished 2 laps down, never getting close to its sister car. Johnny Herbert can comfort himself knowing that he put in the best race lap time (3'35"529).

The Audi R8s, who were unbeatable over the last three years, could not match the Bentley consistency. The #6 Team Champion car (Pirro/Lehto/Johansson) finished third, 5 laps down, the #5 Audi Japan Team Goh car coming in fourth, 7 laps down.

In its last appearance in LMP 900, Panoz equals its best result in Le Mans, with the #11 car coming in fifth. This result was obtained after a tense battle with the #13 Courage in the last hour of the race. Near 3.20 p.m., Gunnar Jeanette was holding off Jean Marc Gounon. The two drivers battled to the last lap just in front of Jan Lammers who had caught up to the pair. In the next to last lap, Lammers took 6th place from the Courage and the three drivers received a standing ovation as they crossed the finish line.

On the other hand, the #16 Dome had less luck and was already a ways behind. At 3.18 p.m., Tristan Gommendy had a violent off at Indianapolis. The French driver was able to limp the car back to the pits but the damage was too much to carry on. The retirement was officially announced at 3.45 p.m.

The Courage Peugeots managed solid 8th and 9th places.

Each year looks very much like the previous one for Noël Del Bello Racing in LMP 675. Like last year (and in 2001 with the ROC team), the #29 Reynard-Lehman wins class victory after a trouble free race. Out of the seven starting cars, only three made it to the finish (#26 DBA comes in second, #24 WR third).

For its fiftieth anniversary, Corvette wanted a third win in a row in LMGTS, however the Veloqx Prodrive Ferrari showed their strength, even if only one of them made it to the finish. The #88 550 Maranello driven by Enge/Davies/Kox, which finished 10th overall, won class victory, leaving the #50 and #53 Corvettes 10 laps behind.

In LM GT, for the fifth consecutive year, a Porsche 911 GT3 wins class victory. The German cars took the top 6 positions in the category. The #93 Alex Job Racing car driven by Collard/Luhr/Maassen won, with the #87 Orbit Racing car coming second, and the #75 Thierry Perrier car was third.

Visit the official LeMans site at www.LeMans.org

Visit the official Bentley site at www.teambentley.com