2006 24 Hours of Le Mans explained

The 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 74th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place over 17–18 June 2006. The winners of the race were Frank Biela, Marco Werner, and Emanuele Pirro, driving the Audi R10 TDI. For the first time in the history of the race, the winner was a diesel-powered car.

Pre-race

Prior to this race the ACO redeveloped the area around the Dunlop Curve and Dunlop Chicane, moving the Dunlop Curve in tighter to create more run-off area, while also turning the Dunlop Chicane into a larger set of turns. As part of the development, a new extended pit lane exit was created for motorcycles running the Bugatti Circuit. This second pit exit re-enters the track just beyond the Dunlop Chicane and before the Dunlop Bridge.

Before the official test days, the FIA requested that the sportscars should also use this new pit lane, and mandated a 60 km/h speed limit for the entire 450m length, instead of using the normal pit exit in the Dunlop Curve as planned. This was originally used for the Le Mans test days, but due to complaints from the teams, the ACO decided to return to the old pit lane exit for the race.

Qualifying

In the LMP1 category, during Wednesday's wet-weather qualifying Pescarolo C60 took the top two spots. Then, a day later, during dry weather conditions the new Audi R10 TDIs overtook the Pescarolos to claim the top two positions.

In LMP2, the Ray Mallock Ltd. Lola ran two seconds quicker than the new Intersport Lola.

In LMGT1, the Aston Martin factory squad swept the front row, with the #64 Corvette right behind them.

In GT2, the French IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche took the quickest time; however, Luca Riccitelli took the car off at Nord du Karting at the end of the session, injuring his ankle and badly damaging the chassis of the car. In a unique move, the ACO went against its own rules and granted permission for the team to replace the chassis with a brand new car. The car was still forced to start at the back of the grid. The Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari 430 thus started at the front for the GT2 class.

Qualifying times

Class leaders and the fastest lap time on each day are in bold.

Pos	No.	Team	Car	Class	Day 1	Day 2	Behind
1	7	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	4:17.189	3:30.466	Leader
2	8	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	4:17.676	3:30.584	+0.118
3	16	Pescarolo Sport	Pescarolo C60 Hybrid-Judd	LMP1	4:13.832	3:32.584	+2.118
4	17	Pescarolo Sport	Pescarolo C60 Hybrid-Judd	LMP1	4:14.447	3:32.990	+2.524
5	13	Courage Compétition	Courage LC70-Mugen	LMP1	4:25.582	3:34.120	+3.654
6	14	Racing for Holland	Dome S101Hb-Judd	LMP1	4:22.873	3:34.864	+4.398
7	9	Creation Autosportif	Creation CA06/H-Judd	LMP1	4:22.021	3:36.459	+5.993
8	2	Zytek Engineering	Zytek 06S	LMP1	4:27.754	3:39.252	+8.786
9	5	Swiss Spirit	Courage LC70-Judd	LMP1	4:23.727	3:40.182	+9.716
10	19	Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport	Lola B06/10-AER	LMP1	4:37.362	3:40.467	+10.001
11	12	Courage Compétition	Courage LC70-Mugen	LMP1	4:35.943	3:40.722	+10.256
12	25	Ray Mallock Ltd.	MG-Lola EX264-AER	LMP2	4:34.940	3:41.555	+11.089
13	33	Intersport Racing	Lola B05/40-AER	LMP2	4:34.160	3:43.869	+13.403
14	22	Rollcentre Racing	Radical SR9-Judd	LMP2	4:43.803	3:44.324	+13.858
15	39	Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport	Lola B05/40-AER	LMP2	4:37.362	3:45.732	+15.068
16	32	Barazi-Epsilon	Courage C65-AER	LMP2	4:27.357	3:47.467	+17.001
17	37	Paul Belmondo Racing	Courage C65-Mecachrome	LMP2	4:45.086	3:48.846	+18.380
18	27	Miracle Motorsports	Courage C65-AER	LMP2	4:56.168	3:50.826	+20.360
19	6	Lister Storm Racing	Lister Storm LMP Hybrid-Chevrolet	LMP1	4:31.565	3:50.940	+20.476
20	007	Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	4:31.179	3:52.015	+21.559
21	009	Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	4:32.053	3:52.561	+22.095
22	64	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	GT1	4:51.557	3:53.100	+22.534
23	20	Pir Competition	Pilbeam MP93-Judd	LMP2	4:25.398	3:53.285	+22.819
24	69	BMS Scuderia Italia	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	4:35.531	3:53.611	+23.145
25	67	Convers MenX Team	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello	GT1	4:33.561	3:53.781	+23.315
26	63	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	GT1	4:54.941	3:53.993	+23.327
27	66	ACEMCO Motorsports	Saleen S7-R	GT1	4:35.016	3:54.476	+24.010
28	72	Luc Alphand Aventures	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	GT1	4:42.545	3:55.629	+25.163
29	24	Binnie Motorsports	Lola B05/42-Zytek	LMP2	4:51.872	3:56.123	+25.657
30	35	G-Force Racing	Courage C65-Judd	LMP2	4:48.714	3:56.452	+25.986
31	36	Paul Belmondo Racing	Courage C65-Mecachrome	LMP2	4:50.408	3:56.460	+25.994
32	62	Team Modena	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	4:35.789	3:57.776	+27.310
33	61	Cirtek Motorsport	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello	GT1	4:40.097	3:59.822	+29.356
34	53	JLOC Isao Noritake	Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT	GT1	4:58.656	4:00.287	+29.821
35	30	Gerald Welter	WR LMP04-Peugeot	LMP2	5:15.480	4:00.775	+30.309
36	50	Larbre Compétition	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello	GT1	4:47.924	4:01.920	+31.454
37	76	IMSA Performance Matmut	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	GT2	4:41.623	4:03.438	+32.972
38	87	Scuderia Ecosse	Ferrari F430 GT2	GT2	4:52.423	4:04.596	+34.130
39	83	Seikel Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	GT2	4:53.695	4:04.897	+34.431
40	80	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	GT2	4:46.888	4:05.266	+34.800
41	90	Krohn Racing	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	GT2	4:39.912	4:05.700	+35.234
42	85	Spyker Squadron BV	Spyker C8 Spyder GT2-R-Audi	GT2	4:48.691	4:06.299	+35.833
43	77	Multimatic Team Panoz	Panoz Esperante GT-LM-Ford	GT2	4:55.638	4:06.642	+36.176
44	86	Spyker Squadron BV	Spyker C8 Spyder GT2-R-Audi	GT2	4:45.916	4:07.939	+37.473
45	89	Sebah Automotive Ltd.	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	GT2	4:54.946	4:08.688	+38.222
46	81	Team LNT	Panoz Esperante GT-LM-Ford	GT2	4:50.424	4:12.043	+41.577
47	93	Team Taisan Advan	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	GT2	5:05.305	4:14.477	+44.011
48	73	Ice Pol Racing Team	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	GT2	4:57.096	4:16.246	+45.780
49	91	T2M Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	GT2	5:06.716	4:17.342	+46.876
50	98	Noël del Bello Racing	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR	GT2	5:07.105	4:23.547	+53.081

Race

This race marked the first Le Mans win for a diesel engined sports car, the Audi R10 TDI, and the second time that a diesel-powered sports car won a major international motorsports event, following the Audi R10 TDI's win at the 2006 12 Hours of Sebring. BMW was however the first brand to successfully enter a diesel-powered racing car in an international event when they won the Nürburgring 24 Hours, already back in 1998, with their 320d.

This race also marked the first time since the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans that Porsche (or a Porsche-powered prototype) did not win at least one class. A Panoz Esperante was successful in upsetting the contingent of Porsches in the GT2 class.

Corvette Racing's 355 lap pace in their GT1 class win became the record for a homologated GT vehicle.

Race results

Class winners are marked in bold. Cars not completing 70% of the winner's distance are listed as Not Classified (NC).

Pos	Class Pos.	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Tyre	Laps
						Engine
1	1	LMP1	8	Audi Sport Team Joest	Frank Biela Marco Werner Emanuele Pirro	Audi R10 TDI		380
						Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)
2	2	LMP1	17	Pescarolo Sport	Sébastien Loeb Éric Hélary Franck Montagny	Pescarolo C60 Hybrid		376
						Judd GV5 S2 5.0L V10
3	3	LMP1	7	Audi Sport Team Joest	Rinaldo Capello Tom Kristensen Allan McNish	Audi R10 TDI		367
						Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)
4	1	GT1	64	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta Jan Magnussen	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R		355
						Chevrolet LS7R 7.0L V8
5	4	LMP1	16	Pescarolo Sport	Emmanuel Collard Érik Comas Nicolas Minassian	Pescarolo C60 Hybrid		352
						Judd GV5 S2 5.0L V10
6	2	GT1	007	Aston Martin Racing	Tomáš Enge Darren Turner Andrea Piccini	Aston Martin DBR9		350
						Aston Martin 6.0L V12
7	3	GT1	72	Luc Alphand Aventures	Luc Alphand Patrice Goueslard Jérôme Policand	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R		346
						Chevrolet LS7R 7.0L V8
8	1	LMP2	25	Ray Mallock Ltd. (RML)	Mike Newton Thomas Erdos Andy Wallace	MG-Lola EX264		343
						AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4
9	4	GT1	62	Russian Age Racing Team Modena	Antonio García David Brabham Nelson Piquet Jr.	Aston Martin DBR9		343
						Aston Martin 6.0L V12
10	5	GT1	009	Aston Martin Racing	Pedro Lamy Stéphane Sarrazin Stéphane Ortelli	Aston Martin DBR9		342
						Aston Martin 6.0L V12
11	6	GT1	66	ACEMCO Motorsports	Johnny Mowlem Terry Borcheller Christian Fittipaldi	Saleen S7-R		337
						Ford 7.0L V8
12	7	GT1	63	Corvette Racing	Ron Fellows Johnny O'Connell Max Papis	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R		327
						Chevrolet LS7R 7.0L V8
13	2	LMP2	24	Binnie Motorsports	William Binnie Yojiro Terada Allen Timpany	Lola B05/42		326
						Zytek ZG348 3.4L V8
14	3	LMP2	27	Miracle Motorsports	Andy Lally John Macaluso Ian James	Courage C65		324
						AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4
15	1	GT2	81	Team LNT	Lawrence Tomlinson Tom Kimber-Smith Richard Dean	Panoz Esperante GT-LM		321
						Ford (Élan) 5.0L V8
16	2	GT2	83	Seikel Motorsport Farnbacher Racing	Lars-Erik Nielsen Pierre Ehret Dominik Farnbacher	Porsche 911 GT3-RS		320
						Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
17	3	GT2	87	Scuderia Ecosse	Andrew Kirkaldy Chris Niarchos Tim Mullen	Ferrari F430 GT2		311
						Ferrari F136 4.0L V8
18	4	GT2	80	Flying Lizard Motorsports	Johannes van Overbeek Patrick Long Seth Neiman	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR		309
						Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
19	4	LMP2	33	Intersport Racing	Clint Field Liz Halliday Duncan Dayton	Lola B05/40		297
						AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4
20	5	LMP2	22	Rollcentre Racing	Martin Short João Barbosa Stuart Moseley	Radical SR9		294
						Judd XV675 3.4L V8
21	6	LMP2	32	Barazi-Epsilon	Juan Barazi Michael Vergers Neil Cunningham	Courage C65		294
						AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4
22	5	GT2	93	Team Taisan Advan	Kazuyuki Nishizawa Shinichi Yamaji Philip Collin	Porsche 911 GT3-RS		291
						Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
23	6	GT2	73	Gordon Racing Team Ice Pol Racing Team	Christian Lefort Romain Iannetta	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR		282
						Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
24	5	LMP1	2	Zytek Engineering Team Essex Invest	John Nielsen Casper Elgaard Philip Andersen	Zytek 06S		269
						Zytek ZB408 4.0L V8
25	6	LMP1	19		Bob Berridge Gareth Evans Peter Owen	Lola B06/10		267
						AER P32T 3.6L Turbo V8
26 NC	7	LMP2	20	Pir Competition	Marc Rostan Simon Pullan Chris MacAllister	Pilbeam MP93		244
						Judd XV675 3.4L V8
27 NC ^[1]	8	GT1	53	JLOC Isao Noritake	Marco Apicella Koji Yamanishi Yasutaka Hinoi			283
						Lamborghini L535 6.0L V12
28 DNF	7	GT2	89	Sebah Automotive Ltd.	Christian Ried Xavier Pompidou Thorkild Thyrring	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR		256
						Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
29 DNF	7	LMP1	9	Creation Autosportif Ltd.	Felipe Ortiz Giuseppe Gabbiani Jamie Campbell-Walter	Creation CA06/H		240
						Judd GV5 S2 5.0L V10
30 DNF	9	GT1	50	Larbre Compétition	Patrick Bornhauser Jean-Luc Blanchemain Gabriele Gardel	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello		222
						Ferrari F133 5.9L V12
31 DNF	8	GT2	76	IMSA Performance Matmut	Raymond Narac Luca Riccitelli Romain Dumas	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR		211
						Porsche 3.8L Flat-6
32 DNF	9	GT2	86	Spyker Squadron b.v.	Jeroen Bleekemolen Mike Hezemans Jonny Kane	Spyker C8 Spyder GT2-R		202
						Audi 3.8L V8
33 DNF	10	GT1	67	Convers MenX Team	Alexey Vasilyev Robert Pergl Peter Kox	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello		196
						Ferrari F133 5.9L V12
34 DNF	10	GT2	91	T2M Motorsport	Yutaka Yamagishi Jean-René de Fournoux Miro Konopka	Porsche 911 GT3-RS		196
						Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
35 DNF	8	LMP2	39	Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport ASM Team Racing for Portugal	Miguel Amaral Warren Hughes Miguel Ángel de Castro	Lola B05/40		196
						AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4
36 DNF	8	LMP1	6	Lister Storm Racing	Gavin Pickering Nicolas Kiesa Jens Møller	Lister Storm LMP Hybrid		192
						Chevrolet LS1 6.0L V8
37 DNF	9	LMP1	14	Racing for Holland	Jan Lammers Alex Yoong Stefan Johansson	Dome S101Hb		182
						Judd GV5 5.0L V10
38 DNF	10	LMP1	12	Courage Compétition	Sam Hancock Alexander Frei Gregor Fisken	Courage LC70		171
						Mugen MF458S 4.5L V8
39 DNF	11	GT2	90	White Lightning Racing Krohn Racing	Jörg Bergmeister Niclas Jönsson Tracy Krohn	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR		148
						Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
40 DNF	9	LMP2	30	Gerard Welter	Patrice Roussel Frédéric Hauchard Julien Briché	WR LMP04		134
						Peugeot 2.0L Turbo I4
41 DNF	11	LMP1	5	Swiss Spirit	Harold Primat Marcel Fässler Philipp Peter	Courage LC70		132
						Judd GV5 S2 5.0L V10
42 DNF	11	GT1	61	Russian Age Racing Cirtek Motorsport	Tim Sugden Nigel Smith Christian Vann	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello		124
						Ferrari F133 5.9L V12
43 DNF	12	GT2	98	Noël del Bello Racing	Adam Sharpe Patrick Bourdais Tom Cloet	Porsche 911 GT3-RSR		115
						Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
44 DNF	10	LMP2	36	Paul Belmondo Racing	Claude-Yves Gosselin Karim A. Ojjeh Pierre Ragues	Courage C65		84
						Ford (Mecachrome) 3.4L V8
45 DNF	11	LMP2	37	Paul Belmondo Racing	Jean-Bernard Bouvet Didier André Yann Clairay	Courage C65		48
						Ford (Mecachrome) 3.4L V8
46 DNF	12	LMP2	35	G-Force Racing	Franck Hahn Jean-François Leroch Ed Morris	Courage C65		47
						Judd XV675 3.4L V8
47 DNF	13	GT2	85	Spyker Squadron b.v.	Donny Crevels Peter Dumbreck Tom Coronel	Spyker C8 Spyder GT2-R		40
						Audi 3.8L V8
48 DNF	12	LMP1	13	Courage Compétition	Shinji Nakano Jean-Marc Gounon Haruki Kurosawa	Courage LC70		35
						Mugen MF458S 4.5L V8
49 DNF	14	GT2	77	Multimatic Motorsport Team Panoz	Gunnar Jeannette Scott Maxwell Tommy Milner	Panoz Esperante GT-LM		34
						Ford (Élan) 5.0L V8
50 DNF	12	GT1	69	BMS Scuderia Italia	Fabrizio Gollin Fabio Babini Christian Pescatori	Aston Martin DBR9		3
						Aston Martin 6.0L V12

Statistics

• Fastest Lap - #7 Audi Sport Team Joest - 3:31.211
• Distance - 5187.0 km
• Average Speed - 215.409 km/h
• Highest trap speed - #14 Racing for Holland - 331 km/h (warm-up), #9 Creation Autosportif - 332 km/h (qualifying)

Notes and References

1. The #53 JLOC Isao Noritake entry failed to complete the last lap of the race and was thus not classified as a finisher in the final race results.