Porsche at Le Mans

Porsche at Le Mans – The Ultimate Guide to Every Year & Every Result

Circuit de la Sarthe is situated 130 miles/209 km west of Paris beside the city of Le Mans in the Sarthe county. The circuit is mostly a combination of country roads closed for the race, but also parts of permanent Bugatti circuit. Porsche is the most successful automobile manufacturer at Le Mans with 16 outright victories plus one as a Dauer plus 2 with Porsche engine in TWR chassis. Until now, there have been 14 track variations and Porsche has competed on the last 12 of them. 814 Porsches have started the twice-around-the-clock-race between 1951 and 2019.

The first 24 hour race was in 1923 and the track length was 17262 m. First change to track was made in 1929 an the new track length was 16340 m (-922 m). In 1932 the track length was decreased to 13492 m (-2848 m) which it more or less has kept ever since. New for the third variant of the Circuit de la Sarthe was the fast corner combination called the Esses leading into the Tertre Rouge right-hander just before the long Hunaudières straight.