On July 9-10-11, Porsche will celebrate the 40th anniversary of its first overall win at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Some legendary cars and drivers will be reunited for the 2010 Le Mans Classic.

On July 9, the first Porsche overall winners Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood will complete a few laps with their red and white 917 K #23. The car will come from the Porsche museum in Stuttgart, and the 936 (1976) and 911 GT1 (1998) are also expected!

Three days long the great drivers of the Porsche history (Gérard Larrousse, René Metge, Hans Herrmann, Vic Elford, Laurent Aiello, to name a few) will offer autographs to the public.

Sixty-two Porsches will enter the Le Mans Classic this year in Grids 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. The oldest car will be a 1952 356, and the most recent a 1979 935. Almost 1000 models from the German make are also expected on the parking lots of the Bugatti circuit!

With 16 wins, Porsche still is the Le Mans victory record holder. But this statistic is controversial, since the 1996 and 1997 wins were scored with Porsche engines mounted on Jaguar-based chassis.

1970 – Herrmann/Attwood (Porsche 917 K)
1971 – Marko/van Lennep (Porsche 917 K)
1976 – J. Ickx/van Lennep (Porsche 936)
1977 – J. Ickx/J. Barth/Haywood (Porsche 936)
1979 – Ludwig/D. Whittington/B. Whittington (Porsche 935 K3)
1981 – J. Ickx/D. Bell (Porsche 936)
1982 – J. Ickx/D. Bell (Porsche 956)
1983 – Holbert/Haywood/Schuppan (Porsche 956)
1984 – Ludwig/Pescarolo (Porsche 956)
1985 – Ludwig/Barilla/Winter (Porsche 956 B)
1986 – D. Bell/Stück/Holbert (Porsche 962 C)
1987 – D. Bell/Stück/Holbert (Porsche 962 C)
1994 – Dalmas/Baldi/Haywood (Dauer Porsche 962 LM)
1996 – Reuter/Jones/Wurz (TWR Joest Porsche WSC95)
1997 – Alboreto/Johansson/Kristensen (TWR Joest Porsche WSC95)

Julien Hergault