1997 24 Hours of Le Mans explained

The 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 65th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 14 and 15 June 1997.

It was won by teammates Michele Alboreto, Stefan Johansson, and Tom Kristensen.^[1]

The race saw the first of a record (as of 2024) 9 wins at Le Mans for Danish driver Kristensen, on what was his La Sarthe debut.

Pre-race

The Dunlop chicane was modified slightly in order to slow speeds again but also accommodate larger gravel traps as runoff area for the protection of motorcycle riders using the Bugatti Circuit. Frenchman Sébastien Enjolras lost his life in a pre-qualifying accident in his Welter Racing WR LM97-Peugeot.

Qualifying

The race’s governing body, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), decided that the starting order would be decided by the fastest LMP cars lining up in the odd positions of the grid, and the fastest GT1 cars lining up in the even positions.

Class leaders are in bold.

Pos	No.	Team	Car	Class	Time	Gap	Grid
1	7	Joest Racing GmbH	TWR Porsche WSC-95	LMP	3:41.581		1
2	25	Porsche AG	Porsche 911 GT1	LMGT1	3:43.363	+1.782	2
3	22	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan R390 GT1	LMGT1	3:45.324	+3.743	4
4	42	BMW Motorsport	McLaren F1 GTR	LMGT1	3:45.402	+3.821	6
5	26	Porsche AG	Porsche 911 GT1	LMGT1	3:45.490	+3.909	8
6	27	BMS Scuderia Italia	Porsche 911 GT1	LMGT1	3:45.913	+4.332	10
7	21	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan R390 GT1	LMGT1	3:46.228	+4.647	12
8	30	Kremer Racing	Porsche 911 GT1	LMGT1	3:46.389	+4.808	14
9	3	Moretti Racing Inc.	Ferrari 333 SP	LMP	3:46.431	+4.850	3
10	44	Team Lark McLaren	McLaren F1 GTR	LMGT1	3:47.108	+5.527	16
11	32	Roock Racing Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT1	LMGT1	3:47.314	+5.733	18
12	33	Schübel Engineering	Porsche 911 GT1	LMGT1	3:47.428	+5.847	20
13	13	Courage Compétition	Courage C41	LMP	3:47.662	+6.081	5
14	23	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan R390 GT1	LMGT1	3:47.745	+6.064	21
15	10	Courage Compétition	Courage C36	LMP	3:48.011	+6.430	7
16	43	BMW Motorsport	McLaren F1 GTR	LMGT1	3:48.057	+6.476	22
17	52	Société DAMS	Panoz GTR-1	LMGT1	3:48.123	+6.542	23
18	29	Scoiété JB Jabouille Bouresche	Porsche 911 GT1	LMGT1	3:48.341	+6.760	24
19	41	Gulf Team Davidoff McLaren	McLaren F1 GTR	LMGT1	3:48.369	+6.788	25
20	49	GT1 Lotus Racing	Lotus Elise GT1	LMGT1	3:48.395	+ 6.814	26
21	8	La Filiére Elf	Courage C36	LMP	3:48.651	+7.070	9
22	39	Gulf Team Davidoff McLaren	McLaren F1 GTR	LMGT1	3:48.665	+7.084	27
23	40	Gulf Team Davidoff McLaren	McLaren F1 GTR	LMGT1	3:49.330	+7.749	WD
24	28	Konrad Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT1	LMGT1	3:49.465	+7.884	28
25	46	Newcastle United Lister Storm	Lister Storm GTL	LMGT1	3:49.563	+7.982	29
26	55	David Price Racing	Panoz GTR-1	LMGT1	3:49.699	+8.118	30
27	45	Newcastle United Lister Storm	Lister Storm GTL	LMGT1	3:50.398	+8.817	31
28	54	David Price Racing	Panoz GTR-1	LMGT1	3:50.852	+9.271	32
29	4	Moretti Racing Inc.	Ferrari 333 SP	LMP	3:51.092	+9.511	11
30	50	GT1 Lotus Racing	Lotus Elise GT1	LMGT1	3:51.373	+9.792	DNQ
31	9	Courage Compétition	Courage C36	LMP	3:51.378	+9.797	13
32	5	Kremer Racing	Kremer K8	LMP	3:55.981	+14.400	15
33	15	Team TDR	Kudzu DLM-4	LMP	3:56.122	+14.541	17
34	14	Pacific Racing	BRM P301	LMP	3:56.734	+15.153	19
35	6	Kremer Racing	Kremer K8	LMP	3:56.929	+15.348	DNQ
36	62	Société Viper Team Oreca	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	LMGT2	4:04.589	+23.008	33
37	61	Société Viper Team Oreca	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	LMGT2	4:04.654	+23.073	34
38	67	Saleen/Allen Speedlab	Saleen Mustang	LMGT2	4:06.922	+25.341	35
39	77	Société Chereau	Porsche 993 GT2	LMGT2	4:07.137	+25.556	36
40	74	Roock Racing	Porsche 993 GT2	LMGT2	4:07.153	+25.572	37
41	63	Société Viper Team Oreca	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	LMGT2	4:08.081	+26.500	38
42	66	Saleen/Allen Speedlab	Saleen Mustang	LMGT2	4:09.801	+28.220	39
43	60	Agusta Racing Team	Callaway Corvette LM	LMGT2	4:10.048	+28.467	40
44	84	Stadler Motorsport	Porsche 993 GT2	LMGT2	4:10.094	+28.513	41
45	73	Roock Racing	Porsche 993 GT2	LMGT2	4:10.479	+28.898	42
46	75	Société Larbre Compétition	Porsche 993 GT2	LMGT2	4:10.903	+29.322	43
47	78	Elf Haberthur Racing	Porsche 993 GT2	LMGT2	4:11.134	+29.553	44
48	80	GT Racing Team AG	Porsche 993 GT2	LMGT2	4:11.630	+30.049	45
49	70	Team Marcos	Marcos LM600	LMGT2	4:11.904	+30.323	46
50	79	Konrad Motorsport	Porsche 993 GT2	LMGT2	4:11.911	+30.330	47
51	64	Chamberlain Engineering	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	LMGT2	4:12.696	+31.115	48
52	71	Team Marcos	Marcos LM600	LMGT2	4:22.904	+41.323	DNQ

• The no. 40 Team Davidoff McLaren was withdrawn from the race after being damaged in a fire during Saturday morning warm-up.

Race

The 1997 race was won by the same chassis as had won in 1996, marking the second time that Joest had won back-to-back Le Mans with the same chassis (previously done in 1984 and 1985). They were able to beat factory teams in the GT1 and LMP classes from Porsche, BMW and Nissan. The TWR-Porsche was not the fastest on track during the race, but was able to take advantage of the leading Porsche 911 GT1's and McLaren F1 GTR's mechanical problems, allowing the Joest Racing machine to claim victory by one lap.

Official results

Class winners in bold.^{[2] [3] [4]}

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Tyre	Laps
					Engine
1	LMP	7	Joest Racing GmbH	Michele Alboreto Stefan Johansson Tom Kristensen	TWR Porsche WSC-95		361
					Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6
2	LMGT1	41	Gulf Team Davidoff McLaren	Jean-Marc Gounon Pierre-Henri Raphanel Anders Olofsson	McLaren F1 GTR		360
					BMW S70 6.0 L V12
3	LMGT1	43	BMW Motorsport	Peter Kox Roberto Ravaglia Éric Hélary	McLaren F1 GTR		358
					BMW S70 6.0 L V12
4	LMP	13	Courage Compétition	Didier Cottaz Jérôme Policand Marc Goossens	Courage C41		336
					Porsche Type-935 3.0L Turbo Flat-6
5	LMGT1	33	Schübel Engineering	Pedro Lamy Armin Hahne Patrice Goueslard	Porsche 911 GT1		331
					Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6
6	LMP	3	Moretti Racing Inc.	Gianpiero Moretti Didier Theys Max Papis	Ferrari 333 SP		321
					Ferrari F310E 4.0 L V12
7	LMP	8	La Filière Elf	Henri Pescarolo Jean-Philippe Belloc Emmanuel Clérico	Courage C36		319
					Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6
8	LMGT1	27	BMS Scuderia Italia	Pierluigi Martini Christian Pescatori Antônio Hermann	Porsche 911 GT1		317
					Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6
9	LMGT2	78	Elf Haberthur Racing	Michel Neugarten Guy Martinolle Jean-Claude Lagniez	Porsche 911 GT2		307
					Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6
10	LMGT2	74	Roock Racing	André Ahrlé Andy Pilgrim Bruno Eichmann	Porsche 911 GT2		306
					Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6
11	LMGT2	73	Roock Racing	Manuel Mello-Breyner Tomaz Mello-Breyner Pedro Mello-Breyner	Porsche 911 GT2		295
					Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6
12	LMGT1	23	Nissan Motorsport	Kazuyoshi Hoshino Érik Comas Masahiko Kageyama	Nissan R390 GT1		294
					Nissan VRH35L 3.5 L Turbo V8
13	LMGT2	80	GT Racing Team AG	Claudia Hürtgen John Robinson Hugh Price	Porsche 911 GT2		280
					Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6
14	LMGT2	63	Société Viper Team Oreca	Justin Bell Pierre Yver John Morton	Chrysler Viper GTS-R		278
					Chrysler 8.0 L V10
15	LMGT2	64	Chamberlain Engineering	Hans Hugenholtz Jr. Jari Nurminen Chris Gleason	Chrysler Viper GTS-R		269
					Chrysler 8.0 L V10
16	LMP	10	Courage Compétition	Fredrik Ekblom Jean-Louis Ricci Jean-Paul Libert	Courage C36		265
					Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6
17	LMP	15	Team TDR	Yojiro Terada Jim Downing Franck Fréon	Kudzu DLM-4		263
					Mazda R26B 2.6 L 4-Rotor
DNF	LMGT1	26	Porsche AG	Emmanuel Collard Ralf Kelleners Yannick Dalmas	Porsche 911 GT1 Evo		327
					Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6
DNF	LMGT1	39	Gulf Team Davidoff McLaren	Ray Bellm Andrew Gilbert-Scott Masanori Sekiya	McLaren F1 GTR		326
					BMW S70 6.0 L V12
DNF	LMGT2	61	Société Viper Team Oreca	Philippe Gache Olivier Beretta Dominique Dupuy	Chrysler Viper GTS-R		263
					Chrysler 8.0 L V10
DNF	LMGT1	25	Porsche AG	Hans-Joachim Stuck Thierry Boutsen Bob Wollek	Porsche 911 GT1 Evo		238
					Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6
DNF	LMGT1	42	BMW Motorsport	JJ Lehto Steve Soper Nelson Piquet	McLaren F1 GTR		236
					BMW S70 6.0 L V12
DNF	LMGT1	29	Société JB Jabouille Bouresche	Jürgen von Gartzen Olivier Thévenin Alain Ferté	Porsche 911 GT1		236
					Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6
DNF	LMGT1	54	David Price Racing	Andy Wallace James Weaver Butch Leitzinger	Panoz GTR-1		236
					Ford-Roush 6.0 L V8
DNF	LMGT1	30	Kremer Racing	Christophe Bouchut Andy Evans Bertrand Gachot	Porsche 911 GT1		207
					Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6
DNF	LMGT2	75	Société Larbre Compétition	Patrick Bourdais Peter Kitchak André Lara-Rezende	Porsche 911 GT2		205
					Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6
DNF	LMP	9	Courage Compétition	Mario Andretti Michael Andretti Olivier Grouillard	Courage C36		197
					Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6
DNF	LMGT1	52	Société DAMS	Franck Lagorce Éric Bernard Jean-Christophe Boullion	Panoz GTR-1		149
					Ford-Roush 6.0 L V8
DNF	LMGT1	55	David Price Racing	David Brabham Perry McCarthy Doc Bundy	Panoz GTR-1		145
					Ford-Roush 6.0 L V8
DNF	LMGT1	21	Nissan Motorsport	Martin Brundle Jörg Müller Wayne Taylor	Nissan R390 GT1		139
					Nissan VRH35L 3.5 L Turbo V8
DNF	LMGT1	28	Konrad Motorsport	Franz Konrad Mauro Baldi Robert Nearn	Porsche 911 GT1		138
					Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6
DNF	LMGT2	67	Saleen/Allen Speedlab	Steve Saleen Price Cobb Carlos Palau	Saleen Mustang SR		133
					Ford 5.9 L V8
DNF	LMGT2	79	Konrad Motorsport	Toni Seiler Larry Schumacher Michel Ligonnet	Porsche 911 GT2		126
					Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6
DNF	LMGT1	22	Nissan Motorsport	Riccardo Patrese Eric van de Poele Aguri Suzuki	Nissan R390 GT1		121
					Nissan VRH35L 3.5 L Turbo V8
DNF	LMGT1	49	GT1 Lotus Racing	Jan Lammers Mike Hezemans Alexander Grau	Lotus GT1		121
					Chevrolet LT5 6.0 L V8
DNF	LMP	5	Kremer Racing	Tomás Saldaña Carl Rosenblad Jürgen Lässig	Kremer K8 Spyder		103
					Porsche Type-935 3.0 L Turbo Flat-6
DNF	LMGT2	84	Stadler Motorsport	Enzo Calderari Lilian Bryner Angelo Zadra	Porsche 911 GT2		98
					Porsche 3.6 L Turbo Flat-6
DNF	LMGT1	44	Team Lark McLaren	Akihiko Nakaya Keiichi Tsuchiya Gary Ayles	McLaren F1 GTR		88
					BMW S70 6.0 L V12
DNF	LMGT2	77	Société Chereau	Jean-Luc Chéreau Jack Leconte Jean-Pierre Jarier	Porsche 911 GT2		77
					Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6
DNF	LMGT1	46	Newcastle United Lister Storm	Julian Bailey Thomas Erdos Mark Skaife	Lister Storm GTL		77
					Jaguar 7.0 L V12
DNF	LMGT2	62	Société Viper Team Oreca	Tommy Archer Soheil Ayari Marc Duez	Chrysler Viper GTS-R		76
					Chrysler 8.0 L V10
DNF	LMGT2	60	Agusta Racing Team	Almo Coppelli Rocky Agusta Éric Graham	Callaway Corvette LM-GT2		45
					Chevrolet LT1 6.2 L V8
DNF	LMGT2	66	Saleen/Allen Speedlab	David Warnock Rob Schirle Allen Lloyd	Saleen Mustang SR		28
					Ford 5.9 L V8
DNF	LMGT1	45	Newcastle United Lister Storm	Geoff Lees Tiff Needell George Fouché	Lister Storm GTL		21
					Jaguar 7.0 L V12
DNF	LMP	4	Pilot Racing	Michel Ferté Adrián Campos Charlie Nearburg	Ferrari 333 SP		18
					Ferrari F310E 4.0 L V12
DNF	LMGT2	70	Team Marcos	Cor Euser Takaji Suzuki Harald Becker	Marcos Mantara LM600		15
					Chevrolet 5.9 L V8
DNF	LMGT1	32	Roock Racing Motorsport	Stéphane Ortelli Allan McNish Karl Wendlinger	Porsche 911 GT1		8
					Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6
DNF	LMP	14	Pacific Racing	Harri Toivonen Eliseo Salazar Jesús Pareja	BRM P301		6
					Nissan 3.0 L Turbo V6
DNS	LMGT1	40	Gulf Team Davidoff McLaren	John Nielsen Thomas Bscher Chris Goodwin	McLaren F1 GTR		-
					BMW S70 6.0 L V12

Statistics

• Pole Position - #7 Joest Racing - 3:41.581
• Fastest Lap - #7 Joest Racing - 3:45.068
• Distance - 4909.6 km
• Average Speed - 207 km/h
• Highest Trap Speed — Porsche GT1-Evo - 326 km/h (qualifying)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Michele Alboreto wins the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans . Motorsport.com . 12 February 2024.
2. Web site: 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans . 23 February 2024 . Racing-Reference . NASCAR Digital Media, LLC.
3. Web site: 1997 Le Mans 24 Hours . 23 February 2024 . Motor Sport.
4. Web site: 24 Hours of Le Mans 1997 Le Mans 24h Classification . 23 February 2024 . Motorsport Stats.