When the 24 Hours of Le Mans debuted, it seemed evident that no one man could take on such an endurance race alone. But...

In 1923, each of the 33 cars at the start were shared by two drivers for the obvious reason of fatigue. However, in a few rare occasions, certain drivers have shown incredible fortitude. That's the case of Raymond Sommer who, in 1932, won the race in an Alfa Romeo after spending 20 hours at the wheel after his teammate, Luigi Chinetti became indisposed. The latter would make up for it after the War, in 1949, driving 23 hours at the wheel of his Ferrari to take the win. His teammate that year, British driver Peter Mitchell-Thompson had, apparently, drunk too much Cognac before the start…

The first three-man squad (Nicolas Koob, Gunther Huber, Erwin Kremer) finished 10th in 1971 with a Porsche 911 S. In 1977, Jacky Ickx, Hurley Haywood and Jürgen Barth (Porsche) were the first trio to win the race. This format became the norm in the early 1980s and no duo has won since Klaus Ludwig and Henri Pescarolo (Porsche) in 1984.

The last voluntary tandem of drivers came in 1997 with drivers Fabien Giroix and Jean-Denis Deletraz, who were unfortunately unable to qualify their Lotus Elise GT1. Recently, in 2009, Charles Zwolsman and André Lotterer were forced to share their Audi R10 without help from teammate Narain Karthikeyan after the Indian driver hurt his should while crossing the pitlane wall only minutes before the start.

Although certain endurance races, such as the 24 Hours of Daytona, currently allow up to five drivers per car, there has never been a four-man driver lineup entered at La Sarthe. Le Mans, a man's race? Hardly. In 1930, Marguerite Mareuse and Odette Siko finished seventh in a Bugatti without their male counterparts!

Julien HERGAULT / ACO - Translated by Rainier Ehrhardt / ACO