2005 24 Hours of Le Mans

Background

In September 2004, the dates for the 2005 24 Hours of Le Mans were announced. It was the 73rd edition of the race and took place at the 8.482 mi Circuit de la Sarthe road racing circuit close by Le Mans, France, from 18 to 19 June. The race was first held in 1923 after the automotive journalist Charles Faroux, the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) general secretary Georges Durand and the industrialist Emile Coquile agreed to hold a test of vehicle reliability and durability. The 24 Hours of Le Mans is considered one of the world's most prestigious motor races and is part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport.

Regulation and track changes

The Le Mans regulations for the two Grand Touring (GT) categories underwent significant changes for the event. Le Mans Grand Touring Sport became Le Mans Grand Touring 1 (LMGT1), while Le Mans Grand Touring became Le Mans Grand Touring 2 (LMGT2). Both the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, the world governing body of motor racing, and the ACO required new vehicles in both classes to be homologated. In 2005, cars built to comply with the Le Mans Prototype 900 (LMP900) regulations could compete alongside newer "hybrid" cars built to comply with the updated aerodynamic regulations in the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) category for the last time. LMP900 cars had to run with a smaller air restrictor to reduce engine performance and they had to weigh more than "hybrid" cars.

The ACO recommended that LMGT1 cars lap the Circuit de la Sarthe in no less than 3 minutes, 55 seconds, and LMGT2 cars in no less than 4 minutes, 8 seconds. Had these rules not been met, the automotive group would immediately intervene to lower the performance of individual cars by altering their aerodynamic efficiency, reducing the size of the air restrictor and the fuel tank for future editions of the Le Mans race. GT2-specification vehicles could compete if at least 100 road-going cars were built by "the big manufacturers" and 25 by "the small manufacturers." The ACO would otherwise suspend homologation for the 2006 race.

The circuit was resurfaced from Mulsanne to Arnage corners from late 2004 to early 2005, and a section of road at the circuit's 89th post was levelled.

Entries

By the deadline for entries on 19 January 2005, the ACO had received 78 applications (37 for the Le Mans Prototype (LMP) classes and 41 for the GT categories). It granted 50 invitations to the race, with entries divided between the LMP1, LMP2, LMGT1, and LMGT2 categories.

Automatic entries

Teams that won their category in the 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans earned automatic entries. Teams that won Le Mans-related series and events such as the 2004 Petit Le Mans, the 2004 Le Mans Endurance Series and the 2004 American Le Mans Series were also invited. Some second-place finishers were also granted automatic entries in certain series, though none were given to the winners and runners-up of the 2004 FIA GT Championship's GT and N-GT categories, as was the case the previous year. Because entries were pre-selected to teams, they were limited to a maximum of two cars and were not permitted to change their vehicles from year to year. Entries were allowed to switch categories as long as they did not change the make of their car and the ACO granted official permission for the switch.

The ACO published its final list of automatic invitations on 18 January 2005. Audi Sport Japan Team Goh, the 2004 winners, and the runners-up Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx were among the teams to decline their automatic entries. Dyson Racing, Prodrive Racing, Barron Connor Racing, ChoroQ Racing Team, JMB Racing and Alex Job Racing also declined their automatic entries. No replacements were found.

:1. – Team declined their automatic invitations.

Entry list and reserves

The ACO announced the complete 50-car entry list for Le Mans, plus eight reserves, on 24 March 2005. Several teams withdrew their entries after they were published. Team Nasamax withdrew its two-year-old bio-ethanol-powered DM139-Judd car, citing financial difficulties causing the team to reduce its schedule for the 2005 racing season. This promoted the No. 91 T2M Motorsport Porsche 911-GT3 RSR LMGT2-class car to the race entry. Four days later, ACEMCO Motorsports withdrew its No. 63 Saleen S7-R due to aerodynamic deficiencies caused by a modification of the height of the car's rear wing at the 2004 Petit Le Mans to comply with ACO regulations. This promoted the reserve No. 76 IMSA Performance LMGT2-class Porsche to the race.

A revised entry list released by the ACO on 27 April confirmed the withdrawal of the Team Nasamax and ACEMCO Motorsports entries as well as the dropping of the Graham Nash Motorsport Saleen S7-R, Thierry Perrier's Porsche 911-GT3 RSR, a second Racing for Holland Dome S101-Judd car, a Ferrari 360 Modena GTC fielded by G.P.C. Sport and a second Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello purchased by Larbre Compétition from the reserve list. Four days before the start of scrutineering, Lucchini Engineering were unable to rectify a gearbox ratio problem in its LMP2/04 and were forced to withdraw the car, reducing the number of entries to 49.

Testing

On June 5, a mandatory two-session pre-Le Mans test day lasting eight hours was held at the circuit, with 50 entries, to work on car setup and driver orientation. Rainfall before the end of the afternoon session made it impossible for teams to lap faster. Emmanuel Collard in the No. 16 C60 Hybrid Judd car set the day's pace for Pescarolo Sport with a 3 minutes, 32.468 seconds lap. The No. 17 Pescarolo of Soheil Ayari was second, and Jonathan Cochet's No. 13 Courage Compétition car came in third. JJ Lehto's No. 3 Champion Racing Audi R8 was fourth with Seiji Ara's No. 5 Jim Gainer International Dome S101 fifth. João Barbosa's lap put the No. 18 Rollcentre Racing Dallara SP1 car in sixth place, while Franck Montagny's Team Oreca Audi was seventh. Sam Hancock led the LMP2 class in the No. 32 Intersport Racing Lola B05/40 vehicle with a time of 3 minutes, 44.426 seconds ahead of Ray Mallock's No. 32 MG-Lola EX264 of Thomas Erdos, the No. 30 Kruse Motorsport Courage C65 of Phil Bennett and Didier André's No. 37 Paul Belmondo Racing cars. led the LMGT1 category with a 3 minutes, 50.033 seconds lap from Tomáš Enge's No. 58 DBR9, with David Brabham's No. 59 car second. Christophe Bouchut's No. 61 Cirtek Motorsport Ferrari and Oliver Gavin and Johnny O'Connell's Nos. 64 and 63 Chevrolet Corvette C6.R finished third and fifth in class, respectively. Timo Bernhard's No. 90 White Lighting Racing car helped Porsche lead the LMGT2 category, followed by Robin Liddell's No. 77 Panoz Esperante GT-LM and Romain Dumas' No. 76 IMSA Performance car.

Qualifying

All entrants had eight hours of qualifying, divided into four two-hour sessions on 15 and 16 June. To qualify for the race, all entrants were required to set a time within 115% of the fastest lap set by the fastest vehicle in each of the four categories during the sessions. Rain fell during the first session's start, making the track slippery and decreasing visibility. Some drivers met the required minimum distance to drive in the race. Collard took the lead late in the session with a lap of 4 minutes, 13.526 seconds. Tom Kristensen's lap put Champion's lead Audi in second and Ryō Michigami's Jim Gainer Dome car was third. Andy Wallace was fourth in Creation Autosportif's No. 7 DBA 03S-Judd car, and Michael Krumm was fifth in his Rollcentre Dallara. Ayari's Pescarolo was provisionally sixth and Allan McNish's No. 2 Champion car was seventh. Bouchut drove the Cirtek Ferrari to provisional pole in LMGT1 with a 4 minutes, 23.885 seconds lap, more than 12 seconds ahead of the two Aston Martin cars. Andre's Paul Belmondo Courage took the LMP2 lead with a lap of 4 minutes, 24.832 seconds, and Hancock's Intersport Lola was second. Earlier, Peter Owen's No. 39 Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsport Lola caused the session to be stopped due to a loss of control at the rear while changing gears. Owen was unhurt after crashing at the exit of the second Mulsanne chicane. Mike Rockenfeller's Alex Job Porsche was fastest in LMGT2 with a 4 minutes, 37.574 seconds lap, followed by Jörg Bergmeister's No. 90 White Lighting and Dumas' No. 76 IMSA Performance entries.

When the track dried near the end of the second qualifying session, lap times decreased. Montagny put the Oreca Audi on provisional pole with half an hour remaining before falling to fourth. Lehto in the second Champion car fell to fifth. Michigami was sixth and Jota's Zytek 04S car of Sam Hignett seventh. A seal on a fuel rig braking during a pit stop caused a flash fire that damaged the Rollcentre Dallara's bodywork. The car's damage forced it to stop running early. Hancock gave the Intersport team provisional pole in the LMP2 class after displacing Andre's Paul Belmondo car, setting a time of 4 minutes, 11.719 seconds, a second faster than Ian James' second-placed No. 34 Miracle Motorsports Courage. In LMGT1, Vincent Vosse led the session with a lap of 4 minutes, 20.688 seconds, displacing the Cirtek Ferrari at the top of the time sheets. Similarly, Dumas set a lap of 4 minutes, 25.598 seconds in the IMSA Performance Porsche to lead the LMGT2 category with 35 minutes remaining.

The weather for the two qualifying sessions on 16 June was humid and dry. For the second consecutive session, Ayari's No. 17 Pescarolo vehicle improved provisional pole position to a 3 minutes, 35.555 seconds lap. Team Oreca's Audi of Montagny was second and McNish was the fastest Champion car in third. Cochet improved the No. 13 Pescarolo's time in the session's final minutes to go into fourth as Minassian's DBA 03S fell to fifth. Michigami's Jim Gainer Dome remained sixth and Barbosa's Rollcentre Dallara was seventh. The No. 16 Pescarolo C60 had its times deleted for Collard touching the car after relieving Jean-Christophe Boullion though the penalty was rescinded 40 minutes later. In LMP2, Warren Hughes' first lap of 3 minutes, 49.845 seconds in the No. 25 Ray Mallock MG-Lola was bettered by James' 3 minutes, 48.819 seconds time in the No. 34 Miracle Courage C65 to lead the category. Pedro Lamy helped Aston Martin to lead in LMGT1 with a 3-minute, 50.311-second lap, followed by Brabham's No. 59 car and Gavin and O'Connell's Corvettes. Andrew Kirkcaldy's No. 93 Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari struck a barrier at the Ford Chicane.

As temperatures cooled in the final qualifying session, three-quarters of the field improved their fastest laps, including Collard's No. 16 Pescarolo car, which set a lap of 3 minutes, 34.715 seconds on his first lap and held the place to secure pole position. Ayari was 0.840 seconds slower and joined Collard on the grid's front row. McNish's Champion car was third, Katsumoto Kaneishi improved on the Jim Gainer Dome's lap to start fourth and Montagny's Team Oreca Audi qualified fifth. A crash for Bergmeister into Tetre Rouge corner ended Flying Lizard's session early.

Post-qualifying

Despite qualifying more than 115 per cent slower than the fastest LMP2 car, the stewards declared force majeure after the team's No. 35 Courage C65 vehicle was heavily damaged in the first qualifying session. The team was granted dispensation to start at the back of the grid.

Qualifying results

Pole position winners in each class are indicated in bold. The fastest time set by each entry is denoted in gray.

Notes:

• – The No. 35 G-Force Racing entry was granted dispensation to start the race after failing to qualify within 115 per cent of the fastest LMP2 car.

Warm-up

The drivers had a 45-minute warm-up session at 09:00 Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00) to test car functionality in clear and warm weather. Boullion's No. 16 Pescarolo car was the fastest with a la of 3 minutes, 37.042 seconds. The No. 3 R8 of Kristensen and Frank Biela's No. 2 car were second and third. Sébastien Loeb was fourth in the No. 17 Pescarolo car with Jamie Campbell-Walter fifth in the No. 7 Creation Autosportif DBA vehicle. Liz Halliday's No. 32 Intersport Lola fastest LMP2 lap time was 3 minutes, 49.477 seconds. Bennett was second in class with his No. 30 Kruse Courage car. In LMGT1, Brabham's No. 59 Aston Martin was fastest and Lieb's No. 71 Alex Job Porsche led in LMGT2. The No. 8 Rollcentre Dallara emitted smoke from its left-hand exhaust system and the team changed engines. A major oversteer caused Dumas to lose control of the No. 76 IMSA Performance car and damage its front-right corner against a barrier leaving the Indianapolis turn.

Race

Start and opening hours

The weather at the start was dry and clear with an air temperature of 32 C. Approximately 230,000 people attended the race. Martin Winterkorn, Audi's president, waved the French tricolour to start of the race at 16:00 local time. Pole sitter Boullion led the field. There were 49 cars scheduled to start, but Paul Belmondo's Courage, Bouvet's Gerald Welter WR, the Rollcentre Dallara, and the Chamberlain-Synergy Lola vehicles started from the pit lane because of technical issues. Boullion led his teammate Ayari for the first three laps, pulling away from the rest of the field. Michigami's Jim Gainer Dome car passed Emanuele Pirro on the inside for third entering the Dunlop chicane. On the third lap, Auberlen overtook Rockenfeller for the lead of LMGT2. Gear selection problems forced the No. 25 Ray Mallock Lola car to the garage and Michigami lost a lap due to a minor paddle shift issue. Towards the close of the first hour the LMGT1-class-leading No. 59 Aston Martin of Turner incurred two stop-and-go penalties for driving across a white line denoting the track boundaries at the Ford Chicane, dropping the car to third.

Several cars were affected by mechanical attrition in the second hour. Owing to a loose undertray on Liddell's Panoz vehicle, Lieb's Alex Job car took the lead in LMGT2. Gavin's No. 64 Corvette slowed to 60 mph after a left-rear puncture caused by a lack of pressure on the Mulsanne Straight. He returned to the pit lane for a replacement wheel, falling to third in class after another delay caused by a water leak. Stefan Eriksson's No. 92 Cirtek Ferrari spun just before the Ford Chicanes, causing several drivers to scramble for space to avoid hitting his car.

When Campbell-Walter had a broken mechanical connection between the No. 7 DBA-Judd's paddle shift and gearbox, Enge's No. 58 Aston Martin moved into the top ten. Following high water temperatures that took 25 minutes to correct, the car dropped down the race order. LMP2 was led by Ian Mitchell's Kruse' Courage C65, which passed Hancock's Intersport Lola entry and battled the No. 37 Paul Belmondo car. Later, the Petersen Porsche passed Lieb's Alex Job car to take the lead in LMGT2. Shortly after, Comas's No. 16 Pescarolo ceded the race lead to Pirro's No. 2 Audi as a gear selection fault required a visit to the garage, dropping the car to fifth. It lost further positions as the problem persisted leaving the first Mulsanne chicane with Collard driving.

The Chamberlain-Synergy Lola began leaking oil at the end of the second hour, requiring the ACO to deploy three safety cars for 15 minutes while marshals scattered cement dust to dry the spilled oil. Pirro locked his cold tyres heavily on the run to Arnage corner as the safety cars were recalled, colliding with a tyre barrier with the No. 2 Audi's left-front corner. Marshals recovered the vehicle, and Pirro drove slowly to the pit lane for bodywork repairs. The No. 2 Audi rejoined in fifth place, with Marco Werner taking the lead and Stéphane Ortelli's Team Oreca car moving into second. A left-rear puncture on Hélary No. 16 Pescarolo C60 car midway through the lap necessitated a pit stop to repair bodywork damage. After a ten-minute pit stop, the car rejoined the race in seventh place. Krumm's recovering No. 18 Rollcentre Dallara car, which had a cured misfiring engine, was forced to enter the pit lane to repair a broken power steering pump that needed fluid replenishment.

Night

As night fell, Max Papis' No. 63 Corvette took the lead in LMGT1 as Lamy made a pit stop to give the No. 58 Aston Martin to co-driver Peter Kox. Bruce Jouanny's No. 13 Courage C60H suffered a major rear left puncture on the approach from Mulsanne corner to Indianapolis turn, removing the car's rear wing and bodywork and forcing its retirement in the garage. Ron Fellows' No. 63 Corvette was passed for the lead of the LMGT1 category by Kox's No. 59 Aston Martin entering the first Mulsanne chicane in the seventh hour and Kox began to pull away from the rest of the class field.

Not long after, Donny Crevels' No. 85 Spyker C8 caught fire at its right rear due to a broken oil line spraying oil on its warm exhaust pipe. He retired after a high speed spin into a gravel trap at Indianapolis corner. The safety cars were needed a second time to give marshals 24 minutes to dry the spilled oil with cement dust. During the safety car period, the No. 34 Miracle Courage lost its left rear wheel at the pit lane exit and coasted backwards down a small hill before re-entering the pit lane.

Halliday and later Gregor Fisken twice brought the No. 32 Intersport Lola car from the LMP2 lead straight to the pit lane with a fuel injector problem. The team lost 15 minutes and the category lead to Paul Belmondon's No. 37 Courage car. Boullion's No. 16 Pescarolo C60 vehicle took fourth when driver John Bosch entered the pit lane for debris removal from the Racing for Holland Dome's car sidepod and radiator. as the No. 32 Intersport Lola vehicle was retired with a broken engine valve. Andre lost his two-lap lead to Karim Ojjeh's sister No. 36 car and, later, Adam Sharpe. Werner's No. 3 Audi led his Champion teammate McNish by a lap as the race approached half distance after the No. 2 car made an unscheduled stop to replace a slow puncture. Comas returned to fifth when the No. 5 Jim Gainer Dome car's engine control unit was changed and fell to fourth.

Morning to early afternoon

Early in the morning, McNish's quick pace cut Kristensen's overall lead to less than a minute. After missing his braking point, Gounon lost control of the Team Oreca R8 and narrowly avoided hitting Kristensen at the Ford Chicane. Soon after, a tyre delamination sent McNish's Audi into a tyre barrier at Indianapolis, where it was beached in a gravel trap. After marshals recovered the Audi from the gravel, he returned to the track, but McNish drove straight to the garage. It took 18 minutes to repair the Audi's front-right suspension and rear bodywork. Boullion in the No. 17 Pescarolo car was promoted to second as the No. 2 Audi now driven by Biela fell to third place. Xavier Pompidou's No. 91 T2M Motorsport Porsche struck a tree at 190 km/h at Indianapolis corner after its left-rear wheel bearing failed before his braking point, forcing its retirement. Because the brunt of the impact damaged the car's right-hand corner, Pompidou was unharmed; he was transported from the circuit via a medical vehicle for a precautionary check-up. Kristsensen selected a gear too early in the No. 3 Audi and ran wide onto the grass at the second Mulsanne chicane; he kept the overall lead from Boullion's faster Pescarolo.

At the first Mulsanne chicane, Campbell-Walter locked his front-left tyre on gravel and oil strewn across the track and collided with a tyre barrier. He drove the No. 13 Creation Autosportif DBA-Judd car to the garage for a new splitter, bodywork, and brake disc before rejoining the race in 20th after 1 hour and 10 minutes. Loeb brought the No. 16 Pescarolo into the pit lane for a three-minute stop to clear debris from the car's air intakes and bodywork after going off the track onto an escape road at Indianapolis corner. Soon after, Enge's No. 58 Aston Martin sustained front splitter damage. After a five-minute pit stop to repair the damage, the car lost the LMGT1 lead to Beretta's No. 64 Corvette. Stéphane Sarrazin's No. 59 Aston Martin also passed teammate Enge for second place in the category; despite a left-rear puncture, his pit stop did not lose him second in LMGT1.

In the 19th hour, Ayari, fifth, picked up a rear puncture on a bump at the first Mulsanne chicane. He spun through 90 degrees into a tyre wall, The Zytek car held fifth until Hignett understeered across a gravel trap at Indianapolis corner and collided with a tyre barrier. Marshals freed Hignett from the barrier, and the car returned to the track in eighth overall. The attrition rate among LMP1 cars promoted the LMGT1-leading No. 64 Corvette to fifth overall. Meanwhile, Erdos' No. 25 Ray Mallock MG-Lola car spun into a gravel trap at the Ford Chicane because of a right-rear suspension failure. Erdos was able to drive the car to the pit lane for repairs. With 90 minutes remaining, the No. 59 Aston Martin entered the garage to have a water leak in its radiator repaired, while Enge's No. 58 car retired after running out of fuel on track. After an unscheduled visit to the garage to have debris removed from the radiator, Boullion's No. 16 Pescarolo began to fall off the race pace. The debris was the result of duct grilles being opened to stop the car overheating.

Finish

Unchallenged since the race's third hour, Kristensen won for the No. 3 Audi team in a time of 24:01:30.901 at an average speed of 210.216 km/h, two laps ahead of Boullion's No. 16 Pescarolo car. It was Werner's first Le Mans victory, Lehto's second and Kristensen's seventh. Kristensen eclipsed Jacky Ickx's all-time record of six overall Le Mans wins, and Werner completed the Triple Crown of endurance racing (overall wins in the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans). It was also Audi's fifth overall victory and the last for the R8. Alex Job won the LMGT2 category, unchallenged since the fifth hour of the race, two minutes ahead of White Lightning's No. 90 Porsche and seven laps ahead of Flying Lizard's No. 80 entry. The race for the LMP2 class victory continued into the final hour, with the Ray Mallock Lola car overtaking the two Paul Belmondo Courage vehicles after they experienced mechanical problems with 45 minutes remaining.

Official results

The minimum number of laps for classification (75 per cent of the overall winning car's race distance) was 277 laps. Class winners are denoted with bold.