24h Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the only legendary race missing from the win record of Mario Andretti who achieved his best results at Le Mans with Porsche.
Despite nine attempts, Mario Andretti has never won at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, though he has triumphed at the Daytona 500 (1967), the Indianapolis 500 (1969) and the Formula 1 World Championship (1978). In 1995, it was with a Porsche engine that he achieved his best result at Le Mans, with a second place finish shared with French drivers Eric Helary and Bob Wollek and a Courage-Porsche chassis. "I really like the Courage, it was really well-balanced and fun to drive, recalls the American driver. I was at the wheel of the first prototype to place (the race was won by the McLaren F1 GTR of Dalmas-Lehto-Sekiya, editor's note). Sure it was a class victory, but to me a prototype is indeed the car it takes to win at Le Mans."
During the 1980s, twice Mario Andretti also took the wheel of Porsche prototypes. In 1983, his teammate was his son Michael, 20 years old at the time, and French driver Philippe Alliot. They finished third at the wheel of a 956 entered by the Kremer brothers, eminent Porsche experts. In addition to the performance and joy of this third place finish shared within the family, Mario Andretti holds a great fondness for his car: "The 956, then the 962 C, are the best cars I've ever driven at the 24 Hours. I remember when I returned to Le Mans in 1988 with Michael and my nephew John, our 962 C had lost a cylinder at one in the morning. At that time, consumption rules were very strict, and Norbert Singer, designer of the 962, remarked that we had remained perfectly compliant, though the two other factory cars had consumed too much and had to slow down. We finished the race on five cylinders in sixth place, and I think we could have won had we not lost a cylinder."
Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO
Photo: Copyright - ARCHIVES ACO
Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SATURDAY & SUNDAY JUNE 11 & 12 1988, RACE. For his sole participation with a 100% family driver line-up with his son Michael and nephew John, Mario Andretti finished sixth with the Porsche 962 C.
